By now, we all know Georgekutty would do anything to protect his family. And Mohanlal would do anything to preserve his precious franchise. In its third segment, Drishyam creaks and groans like a door whose hinges need to be oiled. But no one is doing it. Everyone is happy just walking through that door into familiar territory, where one man, one actor, outwits the police repeatedly.
Georgekutty can get away with it. But can Mohanlal? It is a yes and a no. No, because a large portion of the sluggish plot doesn’t really speak to us. The setup and the protagonist’s determination to protect his family at any cost, this time seems like a tired refrain to a song which has long outlived its golden days. It’s like the popular song ‘Buddha mil gaya’ is actually growing old.
The initial portions of the plotting are so sluggish, it feels like writer-director Jeethu Joseph is thinking of what to do next while Georgekutty and family eat and banter, waiting for the screenplay to push them further. Characters from the earlier two films keep dropping in for chai and gossip, reminding us that the case against Georgekutty is not over.
It should be, though. This thought crossed my mind several times, as I watched Mohanlal’s dependable presence struggling to keep the guests entertained at a party where the drinks have dried up, and everyone just wants to go home.
While some of the old characters seemed to pop up unannounced (and unnecessarily), the new characters , like a sly investigative journalist, Yamini (Veena Nandakumar, who seems to be everywhere where she is unwanted , like all mediapersons in the movies), are conveniently produced from the magician’s hat, although the magician has clearly run out of tricks.
I was beginning to wonder why the women in the plot seem so irrelevant! Asha Sarath, who plays the murdered boy’s raging mother, is here reduced to a shadowy apostrophe in an over-punctuated plot.
There are numerous characters whispering to Georgekutty about how he must move on from the crime (after all, which parent wouldn’t kill to protect his daughter?). But Georgekutty refuses to move on; he keeps telling his friends that someone is trying to bring him down. Does he mean the Franchise?
That he is proven right is not a hunch. It is a green traffic signal on a road where the vehicular movement has clogged the route to a destination that grows hazy with time. Jeethu Joseph threshes his way to the midpoint, where suddenly the characters shed their indolence and get down to the business of getting our attention. The background music is on read alert as Georgekutty’s daughter Anju’s wedding must not be stopped at any cost.
And to hell with the traffic! Incidentally, the background music gets trippy and comedic intermittently when Georgekutty is with his family, to remind us they are having fun playing a Sooraj Barjatya Hum Saath Saath Hai with a murder attached to the bursting arteries of oneness in a family that ‘slays’ together.
The momentum in the climax is more energetic than the rest of the film. Of course, Georgekutty (he is mentioned as many times in this review as his omnipresence in the plot demands) wins against his adversaries at the end.
There is the problem of his daughter’s messed up wedding and missing groom. Never mind! It can be sorted in the next Drishyam. Didn’t I tell you? Part 4 is clearly announced. Groan as much as you like, but it’s not over until Georgekutty says it’s over. Don’t forget: he is smarter than all of us.
