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Though 11 years have passed since its release, director Jeethu Joseph’s Drishyam remains a benchmark in the crime-thriller genre. The first Malayalam film to gross more than Rs 50 crore worldwide, Drishyam reshaped the trajectory of Malayalam cinema, helping it garner international recognition. The film was also remade in numerous Indian and foreign languages, and an official English remake is also in the pipeline. Featuring Mohanlal, Meena, Asha Sarath, Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil and Siddique in key roles, its sequel Drishyam 2 premiered in 2021 to widespread acclaim, much like its predecessor.
“When we planned Drishyam 2 six years later, Covid hit,” he recalled, explaining how they had to forego a theatrical debut due to the pandemic and opted for a direct-to-OTT release. However, this decision proved beneficial for the movie, as it opened to worldwide acclaim, with people from various parts of the globe watching it online, propelling the Malayalam film industry to greater heights. “People all over the world watched Drishyam. I was shooting in Gujarat recently and many Gujarati people on the flight spoke to me about the movie. It brought Malayalam cinema pan-Indian recognition. Now, we are trying to come out with Drishyam 3,” he revealed, hinting at the franchise’s future.
Both Drishyam and its sequel were remade into several languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, with Ajay Devgn, Kamal Haasan, Venkatesh and Ravichandran reprising the role originally played by Mohanlal. Interestingly, the original version also received international remakes, including Dharmayuddhaya (2017) in Sinhala and Sheep Without a Shepherd (2019) in Mandarin Chinese. Plans are also underway to remake the movie in English, Korean, and Spanish. However, Mohanlal admitted he hasn’t watched any of these remakes in full, not even featuring Kamal. “I haven’t watched any remake of Drishyam, not even Kamal’s or Ajay’s. I’ve seen parts of all these movies, but not entirely,” he confessed.
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