IBTimes India Rating: 2.5
"Drishyam" is sated with surprises and also a refreshing change from the usual rot Bollywood has been feeding us with, but the build-up takes far too much time.
Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn) is a near-illiterate, orphaned cable-operator. He lives in a tastefully designed villa in a Goan village with his family – wife Nandini (Shriya Saran), and daughters Anu, Anju.
What could possibly go wrong with this set-up? Everything.
An accidental crime brings unimaginable doom on the happy four.
Here on begins the cat-and-mouse game, which could've have been crafted better had the narrative not languidly strolled along.
Enter, no-nonsense cop IG Meera (Tabu), who will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of the act being staged by the Salgaonkars.
What fails this could-have-been stunning thriller is Jeethu Joseph's script, which has been remade in 'n' number of languages, and so, somewhere, the charm is lost and spoilers out.
Ajay broods, broods and broods more. So much so that, at one point it seems he can ace the characters in "Pushpak" (the silent film made in 1987).
However, what works as a good damage control is his sincerity, which adds some weight to the film and also helps him redeem a career that took a nose-dive straight after he happily played the fool in a gem called "Action Jackson".
Tabu brings some serious feistiness on the table with Meera, and mouths dialogues like she means business. Shriya is more of a misfit, and struggles to arrive in the film.
Director Nishikant Kamat does well in bringing out the protagonist's struggle to keep his family afloat and away from the claws of law, but the trappings of the genre restricts his reach.
In a nutshell, it's a one-time watch if you haven't got your hands on Mohanlal's Malayalam version of the film, yet.
