Drishyam 3 Review:

“Are you watching closely?” Christian Bale asks in The Prestige (2006). Across three films, the Drishyam franchise has taught the audiences how to consume it. You lean forward, sit on the edge of the seat and take in all the strokes of the picture. Remember this throwaway dialogue, this glance, this dangling plot point. It is a contest between you and the film. But will you really enjoy it if you win?

Director: Abhishek Pathak

Writers: Abhishek Pathak, Aamil Keeyan Khan, Parveez Shaikh

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Jaideep Ahlawat, Prakash Raj, Tabu, Rajat Kapoor, and Shriya Saran

Rating: 3.5 stars

Six months after the events of the second film, it seems that the Deshmukhs have finally moved on from the murder of their son, Sam. But soon Meera (Tabu) has the muzzle of a gun up her neck. Troubled by his wife’s dwindling mental health, Mahesh (Rajat Kapoor) seeks to reopen the case against the Salgaonkars. Enter the pensively-smoking Rajveer Singh Tomar (Jaideep Ahlawat), a crime branch officer who prides himself as the shani. He moves fast and concludes that if they can’t prove a murder has been done, they can at least prove that evidence has been hidden.

Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn) is also hurriedly tying up loose ends from the previous instalment, lest the cops unravel his web of lies. He has been frequenting a local church, an old man keeps pestering him to do what he promised, and he has an outstanding payment for some film production equipment. Every detail matters.

Drishyam 3 sets up well. Like a crime scene, the evidence has been sprinkled all over. To prevent you from raking your brain too much there is the fan-favourite, Marathi-accented cop Gaitonde (Kamlesh Sawant), whose one-liners are a hoot. The background music is minimally and masterfully used. It stirs up the tension when needed and disappears when the dialogues do the talking. The direction by Abhishek Pathak is so assured, so reigned that you find yourself in able hands. I liked how you hang on the words of every character. In the era of passive viewing on OTT and loud spectacles in theatres, Drishyam 3 provides such a cerebrally engaged viewing experience which has become a rarity.

It’s commendable to see the film not relaxing on the laurels of its previous instalments. The callbacks are smart and the movie ably subverts the audiences expectations. Even the small characters are given funny, interesting bits. Case in point being Ajeet Singh’s Raghu, the guard at a forensic lab whom Ajay’s Vijay befriends. He moonlights as a theatre actor and his scenes provide giggles in an otherwise focused and riveting plot.

As a last-minute addition, Jaideep Ahlawat offers a formidable antagonist in Rajveer. The actor has such an expansive screen presence, you can’t help but notice every small move he makes. He is joined by the always-impressive Prakash Raj, who plays a calculating lawyer building a case against the Salgaonkars. The performances complement the narrative and each actor provides a fine balance between playing the crowd and playing to the crowd.

Drishyam 3 rides and relies on momentum. It is such a rollercoaster of twists, turns and thrills that you might miss the fact that you already know the destination. You trust the invincibility of Vijay and the question is never will he be able to get away with it but how will he actually pull it off. After watching the film, when I replayed it in my head it actually seemed much more straightforward. There are some holes and even some wild swings. But for those 150 minutes the film did manage to engross me in its world. You were the spectator the magician pulled up on the stage to inspect the hat but the hare actually pops out from your bag, and you smile even when you realise you got fooled. You were watching closely, but were you looking in the wrong place?