Review of Drishyam (2013) by D Arkness D — 30 Mar 2014

Synopsis - Georgekutty (Mohanlal) leads a family life comprising of Rani (Meena) & 2 kids, Anju (Ansiba) & Anu (Esther). Life changes with an incident entering to their lives uninvited.

Script & Direction - I seriously believe Jeethu Joseph has done some kinda magic on himself. After a terrific "Memories", he came up with an astonishing piece of work in the same year in form "Drishyam". When I saw the censor certificate displaying 164 minutes, I thought pace will be an issue. But I cannot remember a movie in recent times which made me sit onto the edge of the seat for more than 2 hrs after a relaxing 40 odd minutes. There wasn't a single unnecessary scene and no complaints regarding the pace of the movie. Its will require a list to mention the positives of this movie. The theme of the movie is slightly familiar but the brilliant presentation followed but terrific execution by the actors and the technical side made this movie much superior to Memories. One place I was personally impressed was the movie provided moments for Mohanlal to rejuvenate himself. The character possessed a certain amount of freshness (Despite of being a common man) that enabled him to attain it. The actor in Lal was projected completely onscreen and its a treat to watch him handling the role using his trademark charisma. Mohanlal playing his age and Meena playing his wife was a masterstroke as far as casting is concerned and I cannot imagine any other young actress handling that role. Despite of being a thriller, the film doesn't carry those usual ingredients like twists n turn. Yet it thrilled me more than any branded thrillers in recent times. The movie also carried a good message regarding family values and estimating people. Jeethu smartly shown how cinema can influence an ordinary man. The unique experience which thrills you and yet play with your emotions at the same time is a novel experience. For eg --> The scene where Irshad makes an onscreen entry was one of the best scene I have seen in recent times. It conveys many meanings without any dialogues. Terrific Work..Jeethu Joseph!!! As far as the climax is concerned...I thought Jeethu might ran out of steam because of the extraordinary work he did till then...Well..It was Kick@$$ Stuff!!! The dialogues of this movie plays a huge role in concealing as well as revealing the motives of each character especially Georgekutty. After the experience, you will start to get the real meaning of many lines.

Cast & Performance - I am slightly inclined towards M S Dhoni as a cricketer these days!! After the experience, it was like watching an M S Dhoni Final Over ODI Thriller where he finishes off on a high note. Mohanlal did exactly the same!! It required not only a success but a good movie, good character to silence his critics n detractors. Well Lal had something better...replaced good with "Outstanding". Just cleared off all those mishaps of this year. His performance and Jeethu Joseph's presentation complimented each other you can see how actors use their experience in scenes where they tend to overact. Meena stole the show in the interval scene and the major highlight as far as casting is concerned. We know she is one of the many actresses who shares great chemistry with Mohanlal....That worked out well for the movie. The kids, Ansiba & Esther completed the image of the family with their terrific performances especially Esther. Kalabhavan Shajon delivered his best performance as the police officer. Siddhique, despite of a few scenes, left a mark. While the film's only negative happens to be the performance from Asha Sharath who seems to have not gelled with "behaving" in place of "expressive". Sukumar,Shobha Mohan,Kunjan,Irshad,Roshan Basheer,Narayanan,Kuttikal Jayachandran etc etc played the supporting roles quite well.

Songs & Background Score - "Maarivil.." is a feel good number which depicts the happy hours of the Georgekutty's family while "Nizhale.." was played during a very important portiont of the movie. The background score was apt n was never loud by any means.

Technical Expertise - Sujith Vassudev's cinematography's work was commendable and slowly n steadily, he climbing up to the league. I loved the aerial shots during many important scenes which added to the impact. Ayoob Khan's editing was crisp and close to perfect. The climax and Irshad scene cuts were topnotch. Rest of the departments did a great job.

Bottomline --> What you guys are waiting for?..Grab the next tickets for the best movie of this season...or in recent times.