Release date:
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December 19, 2013
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Director:
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Jeethu Joseph
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Cast:
Language:
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Mohanlal, Meena,
Ansiba Hassan, Esther, Asha Sarath
Malayalam
|
Drishyam is a thriller that packs in some wonderful and some
troublesome unstated observations on the hazards of modern technology and of the
family in a patriarchal social set-up. The film stars Mohanlal as Georgekutty, a
movie-crazy small-time businessman who grew up as an orphan in rural Kerala. Georgekutty
watches films in all languages, at all times of day, deriving knowledge from
them and even inspiration for his real life from various scenarios he has
witnessed on screen. His wife Rani (Meena) is a homemaker whose immense fondness
for her husband does not stop her from repeatedly pulling his leg about his
movie mania. Their daughters Anju and Anu enjoy the perennial affectionate
banter flowing between their parents.
Despite his eccentricities, Georgekutty is well-liked in
the area by everyone except a local policeman Sahadevan (Kalabhavan Shajon) who
is confronted for his corrupt practices by our leading man. Elsewhere in the
picture is a wayward boy called Varun (Roshan Basheer) whose mother, Inspector
General of Police Geetha Prabhakar (Asha Sarath), is blind to her child’s ruinous
ways despite warnings from her more level-headed husband (Siddique).
Georgekutty’s blissful existence is rocked when these two worlds collide
unexpectedly one day.
Since Drishyam was
released in Kerala a few months back, I assume most of the Malayali film buffs
among you have watched it. For the benefit of those who’ve not (after all, it’s
just a December 2013 release) I’ll avoid giving away too much of the plot. Let’s
just say that it involves an unauthorised shoot on a cellphone, blackmail, the
potential shaming of the victim rather than the perpetrator, an accidental
murder and ingenious cover-up. Writer-director Jeethu Joseph’s storytelling style is so smooth
that it’s hard not to be completely immersed in the film until that final, breathtakingly
revelatory scene comes around right at the end.
Aiding him in this
journey is some wonderfully apt casting and his own straightforward, unornamented,
largely balanced writing. For instance, while it is a cellphone camera that
creates havoc in the lives of the players in this film, Joseph does not fall
into the trap of damning all new technology in an unthinking manner as so many
conservatives tend to do. Likewise, while there is no doubt who the boss is in
Georgekutty’s household – as it would be in any patriarchal family in the real
world – we are also pointed in the direction of another reality: of Prabhakar
and IG Geetha Prabhakar’s more liberal home where husbands and wives are equal
partners, as they should be.
Where Drishyam displays undertones of gender
prejudice is in the fact that while the good children in the film are children
of a traditional middle-class family where the Mum does not work outside the home,
the bad kid who destroys their peace of mind is Geetha Prabhakar’s son. Yes
yes, I know some of you may point out that the narrative does not at any point,
in so many words, accuse Ms Prabhakar of being a negligent working mother; nor
does it lecture us, in so many words, about the neglect of children in homes
where mothers are busy professionals; yet in a society where this is a prevalent notion, it would be naïve to deny this subliminal message being sent
out by the film. The writer could have made the villainous Varun’s mother a
stay-at-home mom, and his dad could have been the influential IG, without
affecting the flow of events one bit; Georgekutty’s wife Rani could very well
have been working outside the house; neither of these altered elements in the
story would have made an iota of a difference to the impact on us of
Georgekutty’s actions, but sadly – whether intentionally or unintentionally – Drishyam cashes in on widely
held social stereotypes.
That being said, this is
an incredibly enjoyable thriller. Drishyam
is riveting from start to finish. In media interviews, Jeethu Joseph has
insisted that – contrary to speculation in film viewing circles – his story was
not inspired by the Japanese novel The
Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino, which too was about the admirably
systematic, highly calculated, perfect cover-up of an unplanned crime. I
suppose one has to give Team Drishyam
the benefit of the doubt on this one since Joseph insists that he was inspired
instead by a certain real-life incident; however unconvincing that claim may seem.
The acting performances in this film are
uniformly powerful, with the ever-dependable Mohanlal getting to flex his
histrionic muscles in the sort of role we don’t see often enough from him these
days. The children, Ansiba and Esther, have the natural ease of veterans before
a camera. My pick of the cast though is Asha Sarath as Geetha Prabhakar. Her
character is the least likeable of the four adult leads yet she manages to
garner empathy with the shades of gray she summons up where a lazier actor may
have settled for black and white.
The duality of the
social comment emerging from the film is unfortunate and an important matter
that merits debate; what’s beyond debate though is the fact that Drishyam is a captivating, enthralling
entertainer. It’s the sort of film where you fear going out to buy popcorn
during the interval because you may miss a second or two of the proceedings
after the break. There’s no greater compliment than that for a thriller.
Rating (out of five): ***3/4 (Stars out of 5)
CBFC Rating (India):
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U
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Running time:
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165 minutes
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