Drishyam

It stars Mohanlal and Meena, as well as Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Asha Sharath, Siddique, Roshan Basheer and Neeraj Madhav in supporting roles. The film was produced by Antony Perumbavoor for Aashirvad Cinemas. It is the first installment to the series followed by Drishyam 2. It follows the struggle of Georgekutty and his family, who come under suspicion when Varun Prabhakar, the son of the IG Geetha Prabhakar, goes missing.

Drishyam
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jeethu Joseph
Written by	Jeethu Joseph
Produced by	Antony Perumbavoor
Starring	Mohanlal Meena Asha Sarath Ansiba Hassan Esther Anil Siddique
Cinematography	Sujith Vaassudev
Edited by	Ayoob Khan
Music by	Songs: Vinu Thomas Anil Johnson Background Score: Anil Johnson
Production company	Aashirvad Cinemas
Distributed by	Maxlab Cinemas and Entertainments
Release date	19 December 2013 (2013-12-19) (India)
Running time	164 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	₹3.5–5 crore
Box office	est.₹72 crore

The film began principal photography in the first week of October 2013 at Thodupuzha in Kerala, where the film was extensively shot. Filming was completed in 44 days which was originally scheduled for 52 days. The cinematography was done by Sujith Vaassudev and was edited by Ayoob Khan. The soundtrack of the film was composed by Anil Johnson and Vinu Thomas.

Released on 19 December 2013 in Kerala, Drishyam received widespread critical acclaim with critics praising the screenplay, the performances and direction. It was the first Malayalam film to collect ₹50 crore at the box office. The film grossed over ₹75 crore worldwide and ran for more than 150 days in theatres. It remained the highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time until it was surpassed by Pulimurugan in 2016. It also became the longest-running film in the United Arab Emirates, running 125 days.

Drishyam won numerous accolades, including the Kerala State Film Award for Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value and the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Malayalam and screened at the 45th International Film Festival of India and the 8th Asian Film Festival.

It was remade into four other Indian languages: Drishya (2014) in Kannada, Drushyam (2014) in Telugu, Papanasam (2015) in Tamil and Drishyam (2015) in Hindi. It was also remade in Sinhala language as Dharmayuddhaya (2017) and in Chinese as Sheep Without a Shepherd (2019) thereby becoming the first Indian film to be remade in Mainland China. The Indonesian remake was announced in September 2021, making it the first Indian film to be remade in Indonesian. The Korean remake was announced in May 2023, first Indian film to be remade in Korean. A sequel Drishyam 2 was released in 2021.

Georgekutty is an orphan who had dropped out of school after his 4th standard. He is now a businessman running a cable television service in the village of Rajakkad. He is married to Rani and they have two daughters, Anju, a plus two student and Anu, a 6th standard student. His only interest apart from his family is watching films. He spends most of his time in front of the TV in his small office. Due to his knowledge of his films, he is respected by the locals.

During a nature camp, Anju gets photographed in the bathroom by a hidden cell phone. The culprit Varun Prabhakar, is the son of Inspector General of Police Geetha Prabhakar. Varun meets Anju and blackmails her for sexual favors. That same night, he arrives at their house and attempts to blackmail Anju. Rani is informed by Anju and pleads Varun to leave Anju alone. He agrees on the condition that Rani have sex with him instead. Anju strikes Varun in the head, accidentally killing him. They bury his body in a compost pit, which is witnessed by Anu. Rani informs Georgekutty about the incident and he devises a way to save his family from the police. He removes the broken cell phone and disposes of Varun's car, which is seen by police constable, Sahadevan, who has a grudge against Georgekutty. Georgekutty takes his family on a trip to attend a religious retreat, watch a movie and eat at a restaurant. Geetha, realising that Varun has gone missing starts an investigation.

After a preliminary investigation, Geetha calls Georgekutty and his family for questioning. Georgekutty had predicted that this would happen and taught his family how to change their alibi at the time of murder. When questioned individually, they reply the same thing and they had also shown the bill of the restaurant, the movie's and bus journey's tickets as a proof of their alibi. Geetha questions the owners of the establishments they have been to and their statements prove Georgekutty's alibi. Geetha realises that on the day of the incident, Georgekutty had taken the tickets and the bill, made acquaintance with the owners and had gone for the trip with his family the next day, thus proving his alibi and making the owners unwittingly tell the lie.

Georgekutty and his family are arrested and Sahadevan brutally hits them, including Anu to make the truth come out. Geetha learns from Sam's friend Alex about the Anju's video created by Varun. Eventually, Anu gives in and reveals the place where the body is buried. After digging the compost pit, they find the carcass of a cow, indicating that Georgekutty had moved the body. Before Geetha and Sahadevan could react to it, Georgekutty and Anu goes to the media and complains that Sahadevan brutally tortured them for a crime they didn't do. Enraged, Sahadevan tries to hit Georgekutty but Rani's brother Rajesh and the villagers saves them and subdues Sahadevan. Anu complaints about Sahadevan, who is later suspended and Geetha resigns from her post. Georgekutty and his family are proven innocent. Geetha and her husband Prabhakar meet Georgekutty to ask forgiveness for their rude and violent behavior. Georgekutty suspects there might be foul play involved and still does not reveal directly that his family has committed a crime. Georgekutty, now in remand, signs a register at the newly constructed local police station and leaves. As the police inspector tells him that he will find the body and that the police are not fools, Georgekutty replies by telling the officer he believes that the police are there to help the people.

As he exits the police station, it is revealed that Georgekutty had buried Varun's body beneath the police station.

Development

In July 2013, it was reported that Jeethu Joseph will be directing a film titled My Family with Mohanlal in the lead. In August 2013, Jeethu clarified that the film was titled Drishyam. A thread similar to that of Drishyam has been with the director since the early 1990s. He was inspired by a conversation he had overheard about the plight of two families involved in a legal battle. Jeethu had penned the story of Drishyam even before Memories (2013). He says, "I started working on the subject some two years back. But I wanted to stick to the planned order and hence postponed the project till I finished Memories". The script was initially planned to be filmed by another director but since that director could not find a producer, Jeethu took back the script and decided to direct it himself. Drishyam contrasts from the director's previous films. He says, "Different films require different treatment. I toiled hard while filming Memories as the film was full of twists and turns and the handling of the subject mattered a lot. But Drishyam is a complete script-oriented film that does not require any special effort. We shot the film sticking completely to the script, and the shooting was completed effortlessly."

Casting

Jeethu had initially approached Mammootty to play the lead, but he was unable to commit and asked Jeethu to proceed with the film with another actor. According to the director, Mammootty was instrumental in casting actress Meena for the film. The director, in an interview with The New Indian Express, stated that he wrote the screenplay with Mohanlal in mind and that the character was tailor-made for Mohanlal. He later added that no changes were made in the script when Mohanlal agreed.

Kalabhavan Shajohn, who previously worked in the industry as a comedian and the sidekick of the lead actors, was chosen for the main antagonistic role. The director stated, "I had two-three actors in mind, but at last decided to pick Shajon. I was very clear that I did not want anyone who has played negative characters so far to do the role. Shajon was a total revelation." Roshan Basheer, who debuted through Plus Two (2010), was chosen after conducting a screen test. Asha Sarath was later signed for the role of a police officer. Child actors Ansiba Hassan and Esther Anil, along with Siddique, Irshad, Kunchan and Koottickal Jayachandran were also cast to play major supporting roles.

Filming

Drishyam commenced principal photography in the first week of October 2013. Mohanlal joined the sets only from 10 October. The film was shot at Thodupuzha in Kerala. The road-side house shown in the film, which was a major location, is situated at Vazhithala, near Thodupuzha. The shooting had to be halted for a while as Meena fainted on the location. Drishyam was initially planned to be filmed in 52 days, though it was completed in 44 days.

A reviewer from The Hindu noted, "The film takes off as a typical family drama. The first half of the film is intentionally slow-paced and shows to the audience the lighter moments in the family of Georgekutty. This half combines the elements of drama and comedy genres. The audience gets completely absorbed in the twist of events that begin to unfold from the end of the first half. The second half is more like a thriller and is about how the family, despite the vengeful villainy of a corrupt cop, stands its ground even as the law takes its course." When asked whether this change in narrative style post-interval was intentional, Jeethu replied: "I really don't understand when people say the first half lacked pace. A story or a film has its own way of progression and it does travel in a zig-zag away, capturing all the ups and downs of our lives. Right from the start if you accelerate the pace, sooner or later, the story-telling will lose its steam."

When asked whether he had kicked off a new genre in Malayalam—family thriller, a genre which combines the elements of a family drama and thriller, Jeethu replied, "I still believe it belongs to the genre 'drama', not a thriller." He also stated in another interview, "We usually brand a film as a thriller, simply because there is some mystery in the narrative or the story unfolds through an investigation. But I don't subscribe to this. Although there are some twists in the tale and some suspense as well, Drishyam is essentially the story of a family."

The film has also been said to be inspired by The Devotion of Suspect X, a Japanese novel written by Keigo Higashino. Ekta Kapoor, who had purchased the Hindi movie rights of the novel, sent a legal notice to the makers of the film. However, the director clarified, "After Ekta's legal team sent us the letter, I watched the Japanese film, Suspect X, which is an adaptation of the Japanese novel. There could be similarities between my film and that Japanese film, but my film is neither an adaptation nor a copy. The Japanese film is also about a murder cover-up and hence the allegation. Similarities are quite common in the works of creators and that shouldn't be made into an issue." Rashomon (1950) was also cited as an inspiration for the film.

The film was criticised for the use of some "sexist dialogues" in the first half which were playing to a certain "new generation" audience. Sowmya Rajendran of Sify criticised the same and stated about one of such scenes in the film, "it is such banter, which we often dismiss with a laugh, that helps perpetuate rape culture." When asked about this, the director replied, "I firmly believe such conversations are part of our lives. I don't want to elaborate, but it also throws an insight into each character featured in the sequences. Yes, frankly, I was a bit worried how the family audience would react to those scenes. But then I read out that part of the script to a select group of women and they nodded their heads in approval."

There were also allegations that Drishyam might provoke murder. Kerala ADGP T.P.Senkumar IPS claimed that two people accused of murdering a woman from Nilambur in February 2014 admitted that their methods for disposing of the victim's body and mobile phone SIM card were influenced by the film. The murder of a young girl in Irinjalakuda by her father and his mistress was also said to be influenced by Drishyam.

Drishyam's soundtrack album features two songs used in the film, each of them were composed by Anil Johnson and Vinu Thomas, with lyrics penned by Santhosh Varma; the former provided the background score for the film. The album was released on 25 November 2013 by Muzik 247.

Veeyen of NowRunning noted in his review of the film that the songs "have a refreshingly delightful tenor to them that deserve an applause for certain." The reviewer of IndiaGlitz called the score "refreshing" and stated that it "builds the tempo" for the film.

Theatrical

Drishyam released on 19 December 2013 in India. It also received a theatrical release in the United States, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates on 3 January 2014. The film was selected to be screened in the Indian Panorama at the 45th International Film Festival of India. It also screened at the 8th Asian Film Festival held in Jeddah in 2015, representing India.

Home media

Drishyam was released on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and VCD on 9 May 2014. The film created a new record in the DVD and VCD sales on the first day of release itself.

Plagiarism allegations

In August 2014, film director Satheesh Paul filed a copyright infringement suit against the makers, saying that it had similarities to his script titled Oru Mazhakkalathu, written in 2013. The court passed an order saying that the movie had prima facie similarities to Satheesh' script, but allowed the making of the Tamil version Papanasam to proceed, on the condition that the makers of Drishyam produce a ₹10 lakh bank guarantee before the court to ensure the compensation. The case was dismissed in March 2015 as it was proved that Jeethu had written the script in 2011.

Critical response

 

Mohanlal attracted positive reviews for his performance.

Sify's reviewer rated the film as "Excellent" and stated, "It is not often that you sit in a theatre with bated breath, never wanting to miss a moment of the film on screen. Writer director Jeethu Joseph's Drishyam is one such film, a gripping tale that leaves you spellbound with its skillful craft." Veeyen of NowRunning rated the film 3/5 and commented, "In Drishyam Jeethu attempts a stunning mix of the real with the imaginary, and the result is an unpredictable cinematic artichoke that takes you by surprise at every turn." Rating the film 3.5/5, Paresh C Palicha of Rediff said, "Drishyam can be credited for bringing Mohanlal back to form and pushing director Jeethu Joseph into the big league as he has made a cracker of a thriller." Jabir Mushthari of The Hindu wrote: "It takes craft, intelligence, and the superior acumen of a genuine storyteller to pull off a film in such an engaging manner." He also noted that the film's "thread and treatment are new to Malayalam cinema in many ways" and its "principles go against the set rules film goers here are familiar with".

Shibu B S of The New Indian Express wrote, "For his latest outing Drishyam, Jeethu attempts a splendid mix of emotions, relationships, suspense and thrill. End result: a spectacular cinematic experience." Dalton L of Deccan Chronicle gave the film a 3-star rating, writing, "The limelight belongs entirely to Mohanlal. Like the versatile greats of Hollywood, this actor possesses such a vast repertoire that he isn't required to always attempt the radically new to stamp his towering persona." Mythily Ramachandran wrote in her review for Gulf News: "Drishyam is an unforgettable picture, shorn of irrational fight sequences and mindless dance numbers." Aswin J Kumar of The Times of India said, "Drishyam is an elegantly crafted piece of film which Lal and Joseph can proudly hold close to their hearts."

Unni R. Nair noted in his review for Kerala9.com, "The care with which the script is done, the finesse with which the direction part is executed and the characterization and performance plus the thoughtful placing of the songs makes Drishyam worth real appreciation. That the film has almost zero-'filmy' humour is also worth noting. It's the logical manner in which the story unfolds and the very convincing manner in which the characters behave makes it impressive." The critic rated the film three in a scale of five. IndiaGlitz's reviewer rated the film 8/10 and stated, "Drishyam is undoubtedly cladded with exceptional story telling combined with bravura performances. An undoubtedly exceptional film as far the content is concerned, the movie is a must watch for all the audiences of family and thriller movies."

Box office

According to Sify, the film "started on a low key" but "swept the box-office" from its second day of release. The film grossed ₹38 million in its first eight days. In less than one month following its release, Drishyam became the highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time, beating the record of Twenty:20 (2008). The film ran for more than 150 days in Kerala, with collections of over ₹430 million.

The film also grossed around ₹100 million from rest of India. It showed for 100 days in Tamil Nadu. It also had a 100-day theatrical run in multiplexes in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. The collection from the overseas markets was more than ₹40 million, with around ₹10 million from England alone. Drishyam became the second film to complete 100 days in the UAE after Titanic (1997) and later emerged as the longest running film in the UAE by completing 125 days, beating the 110 days run of Titanic. The film completed 100 days in 60 theaters in Kerala and rest of India.

Drishyam was the first Malayalam film to collect ₹600 million from its theatrical box office collections, remake rights, satellite and television rights. The film collected more than ₹580 million in its theatrical run worldwide. Drishyam held the record for box office gross until 2016 when Pulimurugan overtook it.

Accolades

Drishyam was remade into several languages. The Indian remake rights of the film were sold for ₹155 million. All the versions were commercially successful. Drishya (2014) in Kannada, Drushyam (2014) in Telugu, Papanasam (2015) in Tamil and Drishyam (2015) in Hindi. It was also remade in Sinhala language as Dharmayuddhaya (2017) and in Chinese as Sheep Without a Shepherd (2019) thereby becoming the first Indian film to be remade in Mainland China. The Indonesian remake was announced in September 2021, making it the first Indian film to be remade in Indonesian, The Korean remake was announced in May 2023, first Indian film to be remade in Korean.

Jeethu Joseph and Mohanlal were filming for Ram prior to the COVID-19 lockdown in India, however the shooting of the film was stalled as some sequences they want to film in foreign locations, such as London and Cairo. As the crew realised that the filming would take time to continue, Jeethu decided to start the works for Sequel. Drishyam 2 was officially announced by Mohanlal on his 60th birthday, 21 May 2020. Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil, Asha Sarath, Siddique, Kozhikode Narayanan Nair, Mela Raghu, Aneesh G Menon, Shobha Mohan and Antony Perumbavoor reprise their roles.

Principal photography began on 21 September 2020, and was shot for 46 days in Kochi and Thodupuzha and it was concluded on 6 November 2020. The film was released directly through the OTT platform Amazon Prime Video on 19 February 2021.