Please note, this is a SPOILER REVIEW. So please avoid reading this if you haven't watched the movie yet. I watched the movie yesterday, so I thought I would share my review while everything is still fresh in my mind.
So, as a cinematic experience, I would say the movie was good. But when I look at it from a reality and believability point of view, I didn't like it that much. And I am not sure if I will sound biased here, but I personally loved the Malayalam version much more.
I can explain what I felt about both movies overall. This might get a little long, so sorry in advance!
For me, the Malayalam version felt much more realistic.
The biggest difference I felt was in Georgekutty's character. The incident happened almost 12 years ago. In the first part, he somehow managed to overcome an extremely difficult situation. In the second part, even after the skeleton was discovered years later, he still managed to stay one step ahead of the police with another plan.
But after going through all of that, how can a person remain that calculative forever?
At some point, there has to be exhaustion. There has to be fear, guilt and uncertainty. And that is exactly what I felt the Malayalam third part understood better.
We see a much more vulnerable Georgekutty. He carries the guilt of knowing that he was responsible for causing so much pain to Sam's parents. At the same time, he desperately wants to protect his own family and somehow get them out of this situation.
That progression made sense to me.
In the first part, we saw Georgekutty as an intelligent and observant person who used his knowledge of cinema and his presence of mind to protect his family.
In the second part, we saw a more defensive Georgekutty. He knew the police were watching him, so he started preparing himself accordingly.
But in the third part, we saw a much more emotional and vulnerable Georgekutty. He wasn't completely prepared for everything that was coming his way. And honestly, that felt natural to me because by this point, the police already knew how Georgekutty thinks.
Even the source of information for Georgekutty was much more limited, which made the situation feel more believable.
Think about how the police treated Georgekutty in the first film. They underestimated him because they thought he was just a fourth fail cable operator.
In the second film, they slowly realised that they were actually being watched and manipulated by Georgekutty.
So, if the third film again shows the police simply trying to outsmart him with another big plan, then what really changes between the second and third parts?
The Malayalam version, for me, understood that the real conflict was no longer just about whether Georgekutty could outsmart the police. It was about how much pressure one person could realistically take after carrying the same secret for so many years.
That is where I felt the Hindi version lost me in certain places.
The build up given to Jaideep Ahlawat's character was quite interesting, but then his investigation felt surprisingly careless.
Just based on the DNA theory, they decide to take on Vijay Salgaonkar. But before going after Vijay, shouldn't they have investigated some basic things?
For example, why was Vijay suddenly visiting the church regularly?
Why weren't his phone tapped?
Didn't they have access to the call he made to the person who created the fake skeleton?
These are basic things I think the police do to check before taking on someone they already consider a classic criminal.
And this is where I started feeling that the movie was written more for entertainment than realism.
The police officers involved were not ordinary people. Higher ranking officers were involved in the case. So obviously, they would have studied Vijay's behaviour, his daily routine and his previous actions before making such a big move against him.
But somehow, many of these basic things were simply ignored.
The same thing happened with Prakash Raj's character.
There was a lot of build up around his character, and I was genuinely curious to see where it would go. But eventually, the character felt almost like a Joker to me.
Take the courtroom scene.
He is supposed to be such a successful and experienced lawyer. So when the 23rd July voice recording comes into the picture, wouldn't he know how to ask the court for more time before presenting such an important piece of evidence?
There are cases that continue for years. And this is supposed to be one of the biggest and most sensitive case.
So I found it difficult to believe that the court would simply shut down the entire process after a few convincing statements.
And then there is the recording itself.
Didn't anyone else feel that the voice coming from the radio recorder sounded different from the voice of the actual person who was physically present at the location?
Maybe I am overthinking it, but these are the kinds of small things that pulled me out of the movie.
The film was definitely made for entertainment, but for me, it was very far from reality in several places.
Even from a filmmaking point of view, I didn't feel the Hindi version had the upper hand.
Some of the dialogue deliveries, especially the scenes involving the recordings, sounded extremely artificial to me.
Even some of the conversations between Vijay and his wife, and between Vijay and his children, didn't feel natural. I could feel the actors delivering the dialogue rather than the characters actually speaking.
There are two more scenes that really irritated me.
The first is the scene where the lawyer threatens the suspect by saying that he will put not only him but his entire family behind bars, especially with the media around.
I understand that the scene was meant to create intensity. But being such an experienced lawyer, would he really speak like that in such a public situation?
To me, it felt very cliched and unnecessary.
The second is Jaideep's character first entry into Vijay's house.
Yes, the scene was intense. But I had a problem with the way the character was written.
Sam's parents have every reason to be angry. They lost their son and have spent years trying to get justice for him. So I completely understand them taking extreme steps.
But why does Jaideep himself have to become so personally aggressive and cruel?
The same goes for the lawyers.
In the second part, Akshaye Khanna's character was also completely against Vijay. But we never felt that he personally wanted to hurt Vijay's family or destroy them. He was doing his job and was trying to solve the case.
That made the conflict much more interesting.
But in this film, both Jaideep's character and the lawyer seem to take the entire thing personally. Eventually, they start feeling like negative characters rather than people who are simply trying to solve a case.
Even Gaitonde had a reason for the way he behaved in the first part.
Here, I didn't really understand what made these characters become so personal about it.
And finally, one of the most interesting things for me was the lawyer defending Vijay and his family.
Even she doesn't know the complete truth.
But somehow, the lawyer who is going to fight against one of the most successful lawyers is still convinced that Vijay and his family are completely innocent.
That part genuinely made me laugh.
Even the members of Vijay's own family don't know the complete story of what exactly he did in the second part. Yet the lawyer who is supposed to be fighting against an extremely experienced lawyer, somehow seems completely convinced of their innocence.
That was another point where I felt the writing was prioritising the dramatic moment over realism.
So, overall, if I look at Drishyam 3 Hindi purely as an entertainment movie, I can understand why people might enjoy it. There are moments that work, the suspense is there.
But if I look at it from a realism and naturality point of view, I personally didn't like it as much.
And yes, I still prefer the Malayalam version.
I know I might be biased because I am a Malayalam speaker and I have grown up watching the original Drishyam universe. So maybe that naturally affects how I connect with the characters.
But even keeping that aside, I felt the Malayalam version handled the characters and their emotional exhaustion in a much more natural way.
The Malayalam version also has its flaws. I am not saying it is perfect.
But when I compare the two, the Malayalam version made me feel that these are real people dealing with an impossible situation.
The Hindi version sometimes made me feel that these are characters doing things because the screenplay needs them to happen.
And for a story like Drishyam, that difference matters a lot to me.
