“Drishyam” Film Series: The Full Story

A sequel to Bollywood’s 2015 blockbuster crime-thriller “Drishyam”, translated as “Visual”, has finally released. Titled “Drishyam 2”, this sequential crime-thriller stars Ajay Devgn and Akshaye Khanna. In this feature, I will narrate the stories of Drishyam (2015) and Drishyam 2 (2022) before coming up with my electrifying review of Drishyam 2. Do not read this if you hate spoilers!

Drishyam (2015): The Murder Mystery

Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn) lived happily with his family comprising his wife Nandini (Shriya Saran) and two daughters, Anju (Ishita Dutta) and Anu (Mrunal Jadhav). On October 2, 2014; a storm surrounded his family. That “storm” was none other than a high school student named Sameer Deshmukh (Rishab Chadha).

As Vijay’s elder daughter Anju had gone nature camping, Sameer had secretly video-recorded her removing her clothes and taking a shower. After doing this heinous act, he visited The Salgaonkar’s house to blackmail Anju to have sex with him in return for her nude video clip which he had on his cell phone.

Vijay was not present in the house at that moment. Vijay’s wife Nandini pleaded before Sameer to delete the video clip and leave her family alone. However, Sameer refused to delete the video clip unless his sexual demands are fulfilled. And how wicked can he get?! The perverted Sameer now turned his eyes on Nandini, who was his mother’s age, and demanded to have sex with her in return for the clip! He accepted to delete the video clip only if Nandini had sex with him.

Seeing her mother’s plight, Anju attacked Sameer. She and Nandini then tried to snatch the cell phone from him and break it. In an attempt to break the offending cell phone, Anju swung at him with a lead pipe, but she struck him in the head instead, killing him instantly.

Vijay arrived at that moment and found Sameer dead. What’s worse, Sameer happened to be the only son of the Inspector General (IG) of Goa Meera Deshmukh (Tabu). Vijay planned to save his family from the murder offense before it was too late. So, he decided to hide Sameer’s corpse at some secret place where nobody, not even the police, will be able to locate it.

So, he devised a foolproof plan. He disposed of the broken cell phone as well as Sameer’s car. The next day, he took his family out on a trip to Panaji in Goa where they visit a monastery, watched a film, and ate at a restaurant. All this was part of his plan.

However as fate had it, Sub-Inspector Laxmikant Gaitonde (Kamlesh Sawant), who has a grudge against Vijay had seen him driving Sameer’s car as he was going to dispose of it. So, this aroused IG Meera Deshmukh’s curiosity in Vijay and his family, and she called them for interrogation with regard to her missing son.

Vijay predicted that the police would come calling eventually, so he coached his wife and daughters on how to face the interrogations without raising suspicion. When questioned individually, the family stuck to the individual stories of their traveling by bus, monastery visit, and having lunch at a restaurant. This confused the police even more. Vijay even produced bus tickets, movie tickets, lodging, and restaurant bills as proof of the family’s visit to Panji. So, if they were in Panaji on that day, how could they be involved in the disappearance of Sameer?

Meera even questioned the owners of the establishments they had been to, and their statements proved Vijay’s alibi. Suddenly she realized that on the day of the incident, Vijay had actually manipulated the minds of the establishment owners using his wit, and made them unwittingly lie to the police.

This made her call Vijay and his family for a serious investigation, and this time it was physical! The police mercilessly beat up the entire family including his little daughter Anu. Anu, being a child, couldn’t take the police brutality and confessed that her father had buried Sameer’s corpse in their backyard.

Meera and her entire police team rushed to Vijay’s backyard, and the digging began. But instead of Sameer’s corpse, they found the decaying carcass of a dog! Vijay then manipulated the public present there by yelling at them that the monster Sub-Inspector Gaitonde had laid hands on his little daughter while forcing them to admit a crime that they hadn’t committed. It is well known that the Indian public knows no mercy, whether you be a cop or a criminal! The public pounced on Sub-Inspector Gaitonde, and beat him up black and blue.

Finding no evidence against Vijay and his family the case of the missing Sameer was closed, much to Meera’s dismay. Vijay and his family walked free.

And oh! The town had a newly constructed police station whose foundation was being laid on the day Vijay had disposed of Sameer’s body. Nobody knows where he really disposed it. But a flashback reveals him digging and burying the body. After burying the body, he existed the place, which was none other than the then under-construction police station!

Drishyam 2 (2022): The Murder Case Reopens

It was that very night of October 2, 2014. A man named David (Siddharth Bodke) fled from the police after murdering his brother-in-law. Hiding behind an under-construction police station, he had witnessed Vijay Salgaonkar exit. Afterward, David ended up getting arrested.

Seven years later, Vijay and his family were living in peace. Vijay had now opened a movie theater and was on his pursuit of producing a movie with screenwriter Murad Ali (Saurabh Shukla). As a result of her trauma over her involvement in Sameer’s murder, Anju was experiencing epilepsy.

Vijay had become a rich man. Jealous of the family’s rise in wealth, the locals resorted to spreading rumors about Anju being in a relationship with Sameer, much to her mother Nandini’s distress. Nandini’s only solace was her friendly neighbor Jenny (Neha Joshi) who was constantly abused by her alcoholic husband Shiv (Nishat Singh). Meanwhile, the newly appointed IG of Goa, Tarun Ahlawat (Akshaye Khanna), who happened to be Meera’s colleague, planned to avenge Sameer’s murder.

At the same time, David was released from prison. He was a witness to Vijay’s exit from the under-construction police station on October 2, 2014, the day Sameer was murdered. After hearing David’s verdict, Tarun summoned Meera who was residing in London. The police station was dismantled. The digging work proceeded, and eventually, a human skeleton was discovered. Vijay became aware of this and feared the worst.

Vijay and his family were summoned for questioning and Meera revealed a voice recording of Nandini’s confession to Jenny, thus exposing the truth. It was also revealed that Jenny and Shiv were married undercover cops, who were assigned by Tarun to eavesdrop on the family. Meera then turned to question Anju, who out of anxiety suffered a seizure. Seeing his daughter’s plight, a distraught Vijay falsely claimed that he was the culprit in Sameer’s murder. The police were satisfied with Vijay’s confession. They released his family and arrested him instead.

Meanwhile, Vijay’s screenwriter Murad learned about his arrest. He paid a visit to Meera and Tarun and revealed that during one of his business coalitions with Vijay, the latter had fabricated a script for a future crime-thriller loosely based on Sameer’s murder. He also revealed that the script was converted into a novel although it was published under Murad’s name for copyright protection.

The story takes a twist as Vijay pleaded not guilty during the court trial! His lawyer claimed that the police had used the novel’s plot as a scheme to incriminate him. Furthermore, the judge revealed that the DNA on the dead body, which had been discovered buried under the police station, did not match Sameer’s DNA, much to everyone’s shock!

Then Murad revealed that Vijay had created an alternative climax in his script in which the hero (indicating Vijay) had procured the remains of another young male of the same age as Sameer by befriending the gravedigger of a local cemetery. The plot of the novel further goes that he would keep the remains with him for three years before befriending a security guard of a local morgue under the pretext of offering him a role in his film. On the same night, the remains would be excavated from the police station and sent to the morgue. The hero would then swap the remains before the DNA analysis took place.

Due to a lack of evidence, Vijay was released on bail. The police were prohibited from bothering him and his family. With all cases against Vijay closed, Murad revealed to Tarun and Meera that the novel’s climax has a tail ending in which the hero would hand over the remains of the villain to the bereaved parents. As Murad finished his sentence, Vijay handed Sameer’s cremated remains to Meera and her husband and solemnly left the venue.

Drishyam 2 (2022) Official Trailer:

Watch Out for my electrifying review of this mega-blockbuster crime-thriller COMING SOON!