Onkar Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; December 27, 2022)

The audience welcomed Vijay Salgaonkar with open arms once again at the theatres in Drishyam 2. At a time when many were questioning the relevance of remakes as they were failing to work at the box office, Drishyam 2 saw impressive footfall and went on to become a massive hit. The film pitted Ajay Devgn against Tabu and Akshaye Khanna. In a conversation with BT, producer Kumar Mangat Pathak and his son, director of the film Abhishek Pathak talk about the movie’s success, how they handle remakes and Drishyam 3. Excerpts:

Drishyam 2 worked at a time when Hindi films were struggling to bring the audience to the theatres. Were you expecting the kind of response it got at the box office?
Abhishek Pathak (AP): Drishyam is a brand we have always been happy about. The script and cast of Drishyam 2 were fantastic. From the word go, we were very confident that it would do extremely well. The response I got from the focus groups (during trial screenings) was fabulous, and so we knew where we were heading.
Kumar Mangat Pathak (KMP): Haan, mujhe pura confidence tha. I am happy that not just nationally, the film has worked well in international markets, too. In the coming days, we will release the movie in some other countries. Abhishek and the team put in a lot of effort. Toh yeh sab dekhke bharosa tha ki yeh film successful hogi hi.

What do you think has clicked with the audience?
AP: Drishyam is a cult film and a cult brand. Vijay Salgaonkar has a huge fan following. The way Ajay Devgn has played the part, the audience felt that they are part of his family. Also, I think the trailer clicked big time with the audience. Some people say that the thriller genre is not theatre-friendly, but we proved them wrong. I visited a theatre on the Friday and Saturday after its release to see the reaction and I could see people of all age groups and genders enjoying it thoroughly.
KMP: Bahut dino baad audiences ko ek aisi film mili jo woh poore family ke saath dekh sakte hain. There has been a lot of repeat audience, too. I believe that after the success of Drishyam, the audience was eagerly waiting for Drishyam 2 and as soon as it released, the love just poured in.

One of the reasons remakes are not working is because they are easily accessible online. The original Drishyam 2, starring Mohanlal, was already streaming, did that make you doubt the feasibility of making it in another language?
AP: I was a bit nervous, but the Malayalam version was available online without Hindi subtitles and was not dubbed in Hindi. I believe that people don’t really enjoy watching films with subtitles. Also, after seeing Drishyam, the Hindi audience wanted to see the journey of Vijay Salgaonkar and his family. That apart, I introduced a few changes to the original script. The idea behind remaking a film is not to redo it the way it has already been made. The idea is you tell the same story in a different way to a different audience. If you don’t have that perspective, then there is no point in remaking a film. Instead of the easy cut-copy-paste job, you can just buy dubbing rights, which are comparatively cheaper and dub it in your preferred language. The idea of a remake is that you love a story, and you want to tell the story in your own way. Today, a copy-paste job won’t work as there is easy access to films of all languages on the internet.
KMP: Yes, the key is to give your own twist. I believe when a film is made in a certain language, the filmmaker should make it as per the sensibility of that audience.

There is a buzz that unlike the previous parts, Drishyam 3 in Malayalam and Hindi will release on the same date to maintain that suspense factor since it’s a thriller film...
AP: We have just started discussing how to collaborate in terms of writing. Once that is sorted, we will think about when to start the shoot and how to go about it. The idea is that we want to collaborate. We are going to write, shoot and eventually release the film together. This way, Drishyam 3 will become a very big franchise coming into theatres together in Malayalam and Hindi.