Abhishek Pathak, director of “Drishyam: The Conclusion,” says the Hindi franchise’s third installment tells an entirely new story unconnected to the Malayalam original, with Ajay Devgn returning as Vijay Salgaonkar for what Pathak calls the character’s darkest chapter yet. The “Drishyam” franchise centers on a family man who covers up an accidental killing to protect his wife and daughters, then finds himself locked in a battle of wits with the police officer investigating the case. It’s nothing to do with Malayalam.
It’s a very different film altogether,” Pathak tells Variety of the Hindi-language film film, which departs from Jeethu Joseph’s Malayalam “Drishyam 3” after the point where both franchises’ second installments ended. Pathak, who produced the first Hindi “Drishyam” and directed “Drishyam 2,” says the new title signals a definitive ending rather than a setup for a fourth film, even though the Malayalam version left that door open. The screenplay took about two years to complete, a process Pathak began after “Drishyam 2” opened in 2022.
He says he spent time reading fan theories online before identifying gaps in Vijay Salgaonkar’s story to build the new plot around. He adds that he is not worried about box office numbers specifically, arguing that audiences reward good content regardless. He notes that the Malayalam “Drishyam 2” was available on a streaming platform while the Hindi “Drishyam 2” was still running in theaters, yet he did not see audiences posting spoilers online after watching the Hindi version on its opening weekend.
He credits that restraint to viewers wanting to protect the experience for others rather than any ability to control what gets shared. Pathak describes Vijay Salgaonkar as increasingly morally ambiguous across the three films, anchored by one constant. Of Devgn’s performance, Pathak points to restraint rather than the physicality the actor is known for elsewhere.
It’s all about him just thinking,” he says, noting Vijay Salgaonkar never resorts to violence across all three films. Jaideep Ahlawat (“Paatal Lok”) joins the cast as a new investigating officer. I don’t think he’s done something like this before,” Pathak says.
The “Drishyam” story has traveled widely since Jeethu Joseph’s original Malayalam film starring Mohanlal opened in 2013. It was remade in Kannada as “Drishya” and in Telugu as “Drushyam,” both in 2014, and in Tamil as “Papanasam” in 2015, with Kamal Haasan in the lead and Joseph again directing. The Hindi version, starring Devgn and Tabu, also arrived in 2015, followed by a Sinhala remake and the Chinese adaptation “Sheep Without a Shepherd” in 2019.
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