Drishyam 2

When you see the initial bits of Drishyam 2, which has this detailing in dialogues that might remind you of radio dramas, the chances of you getting irritated are high. But Jeethu Joseph was casting the same spell he used for the first one, distracting you into believing that this will be ordinary. I remember watching the first movie on the first day of its release. At the interval point, I was expecting the film to become a melodramatic tragedy and the twists in the second half were too good. Drishyam 2 also uses the same structure, but yet it managed to create unpredictable moments.

The story is happening six years after the Varun Prabhakar missing case. Georgekutti now owns a theatre as well, and he has plans to produce a film. His elder daughter hasn’t really recovered from the incidents’ shock, while his wife is still worried about how it will affect their future. The developments in this case when the police get a lead to reopen it is what we see in Drishyam 2.

SPOILER ALERT! I generally have a problem with the level of drama in the dialogues in any Jeethu Joseph movie. It feels way too stiff when he tries to make it look natural on screen. The radio play level detailing and the cliched structuring feel unappealing when the content isn’t making any significant changes to the story. But where Jeethu Joseph scores are in creating the twists and drama. From the moment IG Thomas Bastin appears in the movie, Jeethu stops idling with the script, and the gears are shifting aggressively. He creates a kind of twist that would guide the audience to predict similar twists in further proceedings. And just when you think your pattern is working, he would take a deviation. This slight deviation that creates a significant change in the predicted path makes Drishyam 2 an extremely compelling watch.

Despite the initial cringe-worthy dialogues, despite Georgekutti’s advocate’s overdose of awkward English inside the court and despite Antony Perumbavoor’s desperate attempt to improve his acting skills through voice modulation, you will feel extremely satisfied as a viewer when you finish watching Drishyam 2, and the credit goes to the script written by Jeethu Joseph. He is planting many things in the script casually, which eventually plays a crucial role in this movie’s climax. In terms of the film’s visual craft, I would say that the first part is quite evidently the superior one. The revealing of the secrets had that charismatic sync between edits, visuals, and dialogues in the first part. Here it was more towards the dialogues, and yet it was thoroughly gripping. Much like Drishyam, it is the second half of the movie that gives you excitement.

As the totally different-looking Georgekutti, Mohanlal maintains that same level of earnestness in the performance. It’s a character that has fear and determination. He convincingly underplays the cunningness of Georgekutti, and there is a layer of helplessness evident in his performance. As the loud and concerned Rani, Meena hasn’t lost the pitch of the character (credit should be given to the dubbing artist as well). Esther as Anu was smooth while Ansiba was just about okay as the moody Anju. Murali Gopy was a good choice as the new IG in charge of the case. Asha Sarath, in certain emotional outburst scenes, fumbles. Many of the actors were trying to utter the dialogues precisely how it was written, which did reduce the charm of their performances.

Drishyam 2 is a smartly structured sequel that respects the intelligence of the audience. I am calling it smart because, for a reasonable amount of time, it will make you feel that you are in for a family drama, and it is only towards the middle of the story that they reveal the true intentions. And rather than making the hero a purely good guy, Jeethu ends the film by making us think about the disturbed psyche of Georgekutti and his emotionally challenging future.