Drishyam

     A little disappointed after hearing that the guy  who made "Mumbai Meri Jaan" and "Force" has made a remake of a Malyalam Film of the same name, I went to watch this one for the other working departments - Avinash Arun's cinematography, Gulzar's lyrics and Vishal Bharadwaj's Music.

     However, I was not at all skeptical while watching the film, I was excited as always I am for watching any movie and even if I was skeptical, the film would have changed my way of looking at it. The original story of Jeethu Joseph, the writer and the director of the original Malyalam film, Drishyam, which stars Mohanlal, is way too good. Though the film I saw yesterday was Nishikanth Kamat directed Drishyam, made in Hindi, I would still praise Jeethu Joseph who had written the original screenplay for the Malyalam original. It is written very well after a careful and in-depth study of the situations and characters.

     Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgan) is a 4th grade failed orphan, who has made his way by trying out various businesses and has now settled at providing Cable connections in Pondulim Goa. He has a family of two daughters with a significant age difference Anju Salgaonkar (Ishita Dutta - the elder one), Anu Salgaonkar (the younger one) and a wife Nandhani Salgaonkar (Shriya Saran) and it is his hobby of watching one film every night in his office. A very contend family with hand to mouth earning comes across a serious problem leading to an accident that takes place as they defend themselves, which makes the Salgaonkar family take some further courageous steps, that then holds the attention of the local Police, Inspector Gaitonde (Kamlesh Sawant), the Inspector General of Goa, Mrs. Meera Deshmukh (Tabu), her husband (Rajat Kapoor), the religious guru Swami Chinmayanand, the Media, the entire village and the curiosity of the audience.

     Ajay Devgan initially feels disinterested in his role with the dialogues that are slow and are forced to be crispy and light. And even worse is the dialogue delivery of Shriya Saran. Even the first picnic song, Carbon-Copy, is not that great except the symphony part of it.
But as that "accident" takes place, the film takes a solid grip, the actors then become the artists for which they have been casted and every one fits the mould just perfectly. Even the journey song that is just a playback, sung by Rekha Bharadwaj is impactful.

     Principal Photography is very well done. The stylized shots are put at crucial stages in the midst of very simple and traditional way of shooting a film. As the story clenches us and with the rising graph, the high-speed, the zero cuts forms and match cutting shots come to life, giving out an impact of us smiling over the unexpected twists in the story. Avinash Arun is my favourite and he stays on that level. Of course the magic he has brought in shooting Killa is not here, but then Killa was his own directorial venture, he will keep something unique in it for sure.

     Aarif Sheikh's Editing is fine. Fine enough where you do not have anything to complain about. The film stretches up to  long 163 minutes. We do feel the length and the stretch coz of the first half that is very slow. However, the whole first half is just the establishment of the sped up, gripping and impactful second half.

     Ultimately the film is a thriller and it goes closer to the attitude of "A Wednesday" on the lines of what a common man is capable of doing if it comes to doing it for the thing of utmost importance to him. Tabu is very very impressive. As always she just gulps in the character and that reflects on every inch of her body language and expressions. Rajat Kapoor looks Rich and mature. It is one difficult role to play coz he has no defined character, the actor either had to be a director's puppet or design and implement a character for himself. The change in the emotions in his eyes in the 2nd last scene near Vagatore Beach is you know why it is Rajat Kapoor for that role. Shirya Saran looks convincing only when she is scared.

     About the direction, I havent seen how the Malyalam original by Jeetu Joseph is made, or even the rest of the remakes in Tamil, Kannad and Telugu, but this one is a must watch. It is a simple story that raises its graph higher and higher. The conflicts are the ones that keep coming in keeping us on the edge of our seats. The level of curiosity keeps going up. The last scene of Rajat, Tabu and Ajay is the scene which is amazingly written. That can be one of the examples of most appropriate situational dialogues written. Of course the super twist at the end is something that makes you love the film even more.

     The film talks about many other between the lines stuff. Maybe the writers didn't mean to put them but the concept of Karma is what I saw in this film. How situations make their ways so that the circle of Karma completes itself.  Maybe it is not what the writers wanted to give out, but it is there.

However the Hero of the film is The Script. Worth a make in Five different languages.

Verdict - 8.2/10