Drishyam

• • In July 2013, it was reported that Jeethu Joseph will be directing a film titled My Family with Mohanlal in the lead. In August 2013, Jeethu clarified that the film was titled Drishyam.

• • Jeethu had initially approached Mammootty to play the lead, but he was unable to commit and asked Jeethu to proceed with the film with another actor.

• • According to the director, Mammootty was instrumental in casting actress Meena for the film. The director, in an interview with The New Indian Express, stated that he wrote the screenplay with Mohanlal in mind and that the character was tailor-made for Mohanlal. He later added that no changes were made in the script when Mohanlal agreed.

• • Jeethu had penned the story of Drishyam even before Memories (2013). He says, “I started working on the subject some two years back. But I wanted to stick to the planned order and hence postponed the project till I finished Memories”.

• • The script was initially planned to be filmed by another director but since that director could not find a producer, Jeethu took back the script and decided to direct it himself.

• • Drishyam commenced principal photography in the first week of October 2013. Mohanlal joined the sets only from 10 October.

• • The film was shot at Thodupuzha in Kerala. The road-side house shown in the film, which was a major location, is situated at Vazhithala, near Thodupuzha.

• • The shooting had to be halted for a while as Meena fainted on the location.

• • Drishyam was initially planned to be filmed in 52 days, though it was completed in 44 days.

• • Drishyam was eleased on 19 December 2013 in Kerala, Drishyam received widespread critical acclaim with critics praising the screenplay, the performances and direction.

• • It was the first Malayalam film to collect ₹50 crore at the box office. The film grossed over ₹75 crore worldwide and ran for more than 150 days in theatres. It remained the highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time until it was surpassed by Pulimurugan in 2016. It also became the longest-running film in the United Arab Emirates, running 125 days.

• • It was also remade in Chinese as Sheep Without a Shepherd (2019) and became the first Indian film to be remade in Mainland China.

• • The Indonesian remake was announced in September 2021, making it the first Indian film to be remade in Indonesian.

• • The Korean remake was announced in May 2023, first Indian film to be remade in Korean.

• • Drishyam 2 was officially announced by Mohanlal on his 60th birthday, 21 May 2020. Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba, Esther, Asha Sarath, Siddique, Kozhikode Narayanan Nair, Mela Raghu, Aneesh G Menon, Shoba Mohan, and Antony Perumbavoor reprise their roles from Drishyam.

• • Principal photography began on 21 September 2020 and was shot for 46 days in Kochi and Thodupuzha and it was concluded on 6 November 2020. The film was released directly through the OTT platform Amazon Prime Video on 19 February 2021.
  • Drishyam was released on 19 December 2013 in India. It also received a theatrical release in the United States, United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates on 3 January 2014. The film was selected to be screened in the Indian Panorama at the 45th International Film Festival of India. It was also screened at the 8th Asian Film Festival held in Jeddah in 2015, representing India.
  • Drishyam was released on Blu-ray Disc, DVD, and VCD on 9 May 2014. The film created a new record in the DVD and VCD sales on the first day of release itself. The film’s satellite rights were reported to be bought by Asianet for a record amount of ₹65 million (US$810,000). The record was previously held by Kadal Kadannu Oru Maathukutty (2013) which was bought for ₹57.5 million (US$720,000) by the same channel. It had its global television premiere on 7 September 2014 at 6 pm. IST.

Plagiarism allegations

In August 2014, film director Satheesh Paul filed a copyright infringement suit against the makers, saying that it had similarities to his script titled Oru Mazhakkalathu, written in 2013. The court passed an order saying that the movie had prima facie similarities to Satheesh’ script, but allowed the making of the Tamil version Papanasam to proceed, on the condition that the makers of Drishyam produce a ₹10 lakh bank guarantee before the court to ensure the compensation. The case was dismissed in March 2015 as it was proved that Jeethu had written the script in 2011.

Drishyam Tracklist

No.	Title	Music	Singer(s)	Length
1.	“Maarivil”	Vinu Thomas	Najim Arshad	04:13
2.	“Nizhale”	Anil Johnson	Vijay Yesudas	06:07
Total length:				10:20

Accolades

Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
2013 Kerala State Film Awards	Best Popular Film	Drishyam	Won
	Special Jury Award	Kalabhavan Shajon	Won
61st Filmfare Awards South	Best Film	Drishyam	Won
	Best Director	Jeethu Joseph	Nominated
	Best Actor (Male)	Mohanlal	Nominated
	Best Actor (Female)	Meena	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor (Male)	Siddique	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor (Female)	Asha Sarath	Won
3rd South Indian International Movie Awards	Best Film	Drishyam	Won
	Best Director	Jeethu Joseph	Won
	Best Actor (Male)	Mohanlal	Nominated
	Best Actor (Female)	Meena	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor (Female)	Asha Sarath	Nominated
	Best Actor in a Negative Role	Kalabhavan Shajon	Won
	Best Child Actor	Esther Anil	Nominated
	Best Playback Singer (Male)	Najim Arshad	Nominated
Amrita Film Awards	Best Film	Drishyam	Won
	Best Director	Jeethu Joseph	Won
	Best Actor (Male)	Mohanlal	Won
	Best Producer	Antony Perumbavoor	Won
	Best Supporting Actor (Female)	Asha Sarath	Won
	Best Playback Singer (Male)	Najim Arshad	Won
Asianet Film Awards	Best Film	Drishyam	Won
	Millenium Actor	Mohanlal	Won
	Best Supporting Actor (Male)	Siddique	Won
	Best Supporting Actor (Female)	Asha Sarath	Won
	Best Character Actor (Female)	Meena	Won
	Best Actor in a Negative Role	Kalabhavan Shajon	Won
Asiavision Awards	Best Popular Film	Drishyam	Won
	Best Supporting Actor (Male)	Siddique	Won
	Best Supporting Actor (Female)	Asha Sarath	Won
Kerala Film Critics Association Awards	Best Film	Drishyam	Won
	Best Director	Jeethu Joseph	Won
	Best Actor (Male)	Mohanlal	Won
	Best Choreography	Sabu Ram	Won
	Best Playback Singer (Male)	Najim Arshad	Won
Vanitha Film Awards	Best Film	Drishyam	Won
	Best Director	Jeethu Joseph	Won
Vayalar Film Awards	Best Script	Jeethu Joseph	Won
	Best Actor (Female)	Meena	Won
	Best Cinematography	Sujith Vaassudev	Won

Remakes

Language	Name	Cast	Director	Box office
Kannada	Drishya (2014)	Ravichandran, Navya Nair, Asha Sharath	P. Vasu.
Telugu	Drushyam (2014)	Venkatesh, Meena, Nadhiya	Sripriya	₹45.6 crore
Tamil	Papanasam (2015)	Kamal Haasan, Gautami, Asha Sharath	Jeethu Joseph	₹105 crore
Hindi	Drishyam (2015)	Ajay Devgan, Shriya Saran, Tabu	Nishikant Kamat	₹107.8 crore
Sinhala	Dharmayuddhaya (2017)	Jackson Anthony, Dilhani, Kusum Renu	Cheyyar Ravi	₹5.07 crore
Mandarin Chinese	Sheep Without a Shepherd (2019)	Xiao Yang, Tan Zhuo, Joan Chen	Sam Quah	US$ 199 million
Indonesian	TBA (2023)	TBA	TBA
Korean	TBA (2023)	TBA	TBA