Drishyam Movie Details:
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
| Genre | Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller |
| Release date | 19 December 2013 (India) |
| Running time | 2hr 44min |
| Certificate | U |
| Starring | Mohanlal Meena Asha Sarath Ansiba Hassan Esther Anil Siddique |
| Directed by | Jeethu Joseph |
| Written by | Jeethu Joseph |
| Produced by | Antony Perumbavoor |
| Cinematography by | Sujith Vaassudev |
| Edited by | Ayoob Khan |
| Music by | Songs: Vinu Thomas Anil Johnson Background Score: Anil Johnson |
| Production Company | Aashirvad Cinemas |
| Distributor | Maxlab Cinemas and Entertainments |
Drishyam Movie Cast & Characters:
- Mohanlal as Georgekutty, a local cable TV operator
- Meena as Rani George, Georgekutty’s wife and Anju’s and Anu’s mother
- Ansiba Hassan as Anju George, George’s and Rani’s elder daughter
- Esther Anil as Anumol George (Anu), George’s and Rani’s younger daughter
- Asha Sharath as IG Geetha Prabhakar IPS, Prabhakar’s wife and Varun’s mother
- Siddique as Prabhakar, Geetha’s husband and Varun’s father
- Kalabhavan Shajon as Constable Sahadevan, a corrupt police constable and the main antagonist
- Neeraj Madhav as Monichan
- Irshad as SI Suresh Babu
- Roshan Basheer as Varun Prabhakar, Geetha’s and Prabhakar’s son who is the secondary antagonist
- Aneesh G. Menon as Rajesh, Rani’s brother and Georgekutty’s brother-in-law
- Kunchan as Head constable S. Madhavan, a police officer who is supportive to Georgekutty
- Kozhikode Narayanan Nair as Sulaiman, Owner of the Tea Shop
- Baiju V. K. as Soman
- P. Sreekumar as Rani’s father
- Shobha Mohan as Rani’s mother
- Koottickal Jayachandran as Bus owner
- Kalabhavan Rahman as Bus conductor
- Kalabhavan Haneef as Theatre owner
- Balaji Sharma as Restaurant owner
- Sony G Solomon as Hotel owner
- Pradeep Chandran as New Sub-Inspector
- Antony Perumbavoor as Antony, a police officer
- Mela Raghu as Raghu, Waiter at the Tea Shop
- Arun S. Panackal as Alex, Varun’s friend at Nature Camp
- Nisha Sarang as School Principal
- Jeethu Joseph as Contractor of New Police Station
Storyline:
Georgekutty (Mohanlal) is a cable-TV network owner in a remote hilly village in Kerala. He lives a happy life with his wife and two daughters. The first half revolves around the depiction of their happy family. Anju (Ansiba), Georgekutty’s daughter, goes on a school trip between the proceedings. After a few days, a guy who had been at the school trip with her meets Anju. He blackmails her with a video of her that he had captured during the school trip. In the course of events he is accidentally killed by Rani (Meena) and Anju. Georgekutty on returning home is appraised of the events and thus begins a cat and mouse game as the murdered person is the son of IG Geeta Prabhakar (Asha Sharath) and Prabhakar (Siddique). How the family weathers the storm that ensues during the murder investigation forms the rest of the story leading to a deeply satisfying and unexpected climax
Drishyam Movie Box Office Collection & Budget:
| Budget | ₹3.5–5 crore |
| Worldwide Collection | ₹72 crore |
About Drishyam Movie:
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 roadside 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 released on 19 December 2013 in Kerala, Drishyam received widespread critical acclaim with critics praising the screenplay, the performances, and the 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, the 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.
