Movie: Drishyam
Director: Sripriya Rajkumar
Cast: Venkatesh, Meena, Nadiya, Naresh, Ravi Kale, Chaitanya Krishna
Rating: ***1/2
Even if you aren’t among the lot that has watched the Malayalam original, you needn’t be super-smart to trace the source of Drishyam. From the building architecture to the natural surroundings, sans any prior knowledge, you can conveniently distinguish that set of aspects retained from the Mohan Lal starrer to those regional coatings that have been integrated to please the crowds here. In totality, you’ll be surprised to label it an intelligent family film which can necessarily sound a misnomer for a work widely marketed as a clean watch.
Thankfully, even if the translation for an audience- base isn’t as authentic as you expect it to be, it’s a rare offering that creates a chill in your throat as you leave your seat. The drama in it could have easily been an overblown balloon amidst the deceivingly constructed mystery. You can sound happy that Sripriya doesn’t go all out to make this her directorial showcase. Though she deserves a share of brickbats for the lazy recreation of the underplayed setting, the better part she can be proud of is the narrative grip that’s rarely lost. She parts with the forceful commercial add-ons that her earlier film as a director had, i.e. 22 Malini Palayamkottai, a remake of another Malayalam release. The care to not fiddle with the core is better now.
Drishyam’s lead characters are barely educated but the victims in the story belong to an established sect. Ram Babu barely passes his fourth grade with his wife being slightly ahead in academic terms. They never quite look at it with regret. More aware than their educated counterparts, they are happy to head an ethical middle-class family whose tensions are about monthly budgets and moral habits.
The father reasoning a conflict with a constable says that he’ll never fall in trouble as he simply mouths truth in the earlier part of the film. He admits of being opportunistic and generalises it as a humanly trait when he has no option but to guard his family’s honor later. He loses the plot of good and wrong then. Drishyam is more or so a vulnerability check for all the age-groups you see in the film. Geetha Prabhakar, the IPS officer is stubborn and cold hearted to know the truth about her son. When she’s close to unlocking the clues about his absence, you see her no better than a delicate mother.
Ram Babu even in the most prickly situations doesn’t lose his cool. He puts the cinema fanatic in him at work to resolve his issues. A comparison to Chattaniki Kallu Levu won’t exactly hurt. The primary attention surrounding the domestic little-things stretches its purpose. The language is native but not at many instances you are reminded of it. In the hush to get crucial sequences right, the maximum you are enlightened about the nearby Vijayanagaram town is the occasional shopping complex, the restaurant and the theater.
Drishyam works in spite of its fallacies for simple reasons of being street smart, dramatic and mysterious, all only when needed. The film mirrors the tussle between correctness and lawfulness alluringly. It’s deservedly backed by the cast, especially Venkatesh who has chosen the right film to age with grace. So are Nadiya and Meena who are as significant to the proceedings. The ones who talk about originality may not take this kindly though. It is however a lesson that universal facets of any family when explored on the celluloid can strike a chord without barriers and predefined norms. A fine piece of riveting cinema this!
Review by Srivathsan N. First published in Cinegoer.net
