{"id":620053,"date":"2026-09-10T05:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T05:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/620053\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T05:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T05:34:13","slug":"drishyam-the-conclusion-director-on-ajay-devgns-darker-turn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/620053\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Drishyam: The Conclusion’ Director on Ajay Devgn’s Darker Turn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAbhishek Pathak, director of \u201cDrishyam: The Conclusion<\/a>,\u201d says the Hindi franchise\u2019s third installment tells an entirely new story unconnected to the Malayalam original, with Ajay Devgn<\/a> returning as Vijay Salgaonkar for what Pathak calls the character\u2019s darkest chapter yet.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cDrishyam\u201d franchise centers on a family man who covers up an accidental killing to protect his wife and daughters, then finds himself locked in a battle of wits with the police officer investigating the case.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s completely different. It\u2019s a new story. It\u2019s nothing to do with Malayalam. It\u2019s a very different film altogether,\u201d Pathak tells Variety of the Hindi-language film film, which departs from Jeethu Joseph\u2019s Malayalam \u201cDrishyam 3\u201d after the point where both franchises\u2019 second installments ended.<\/p>\n

\n\tPathak, who produced the first Hindi \u201cDrishyam\u201d and directed \u201cDrishyam 2,\u201d says the new title signals a definitive ending rather than a setup for a fourth film, even though the Malayalam version left that door open. \u201cThis is where I\u2019m ending the film beautifully, where all the resolution comes to an end eventually,\u201d he says, adding he has not written a story that would extend the franchise further, though he stops short of ruling it out entirely.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe screenplay took about two years to complete, a process Pathak began after \u201cDrishyam 2\u201d opened in 2022. He says he spent time reading fan theories online before identifying gaps in Vijay Salgaonkar\u2019s story to build the new plot around. \u201cThat\u2019s the main game of screenplay writing,\u201d he says, describing the challenge of staying ahead of an audience he says has grown sharper with each installment at predicting the character\u2019s next move. He adds that he is not worried about box office numbers specifically, arguing that audiences reward good content regardless. \u201cNumbers are going berserk right now,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you give them a good, entertaining film, they come to watch it in theaters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPathak also points to the spoiler culture around theatrical releases as a challenge distinct from the writing itself. He notes that the Malayalam \u201cDrishyam 2\u201d was available on a streaming platform while the Hindi \u201cDrishyam 2\u201d was still running in theaters, yet he did not see audiences posting spoilers online after watching the Hindi version on its opening weekend. He credits that restraint to viewers wanting to protect the experience for others rather than any ability to control what gets shared.<\/p>\n

\n\tPathak describes Vijay Salgaonkar as increasingly morally ambiguous across the three films, anchored by one constant. \u201cThat\u2019s been the core of this film from part one itself, anything for family,\u201d he says, adding the character grows more intense and \u201cevolved into more darker shades\u201d while audiences continue to root for him despite his actions falling outside the law.<\/p>\n

\n\tOf Devgn\u2019s performance, Pathak points to restraint rather than the physicality the actor is known for elsewhere. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t speak much as a character in the film. It\u2019s all about him just thinking,\u201d he says, noting Vijay Salgaonkar never resorts to violence across all three films.<\/p>\n

\n\tJaideep Ahlawat (\u201cPaatal Lok\u201d) joins the cast as a new investigating officer. \u201cYou will see a very different Jaideep Ahlawat. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s done something like this before,\u201d Pathak says.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cDrishyam\u201d story has traveled widely since Jeethu Joseph\u2019s original Malayalam film starring Mohanlal<\/a> opened in 2013. It was remade in Kannada as \u201cDrishya\u201d and in Telugu as \u201cDrushyam,\u201d both in 2014, and in Tamil as \u201cPapanasam\u201d in 2015, with Kamal Haasan in the lead and Joseph again directing. The Hindi version, starring Devgn and Tabu, also arrived in 2015, followed by a Sinhala remake and the Chinese adaptation \u201cSheep Without a Shepherd\u201d in 2019. Joseph\u2019s Malayalam sequel arrived in 2021, with Pathak\u2019s Hindi \u201cDrishyam 2\u201d following in 2022. The Malayalam \u201cDrishyam 3\u201d opened earlier this year and has grossed INR239 crore ($25 million). Panorama Studios, which holds the Hindi and international remake rights, is now developing Korean, Spanish and English versions of the franchise, while limiting its own Indian-language output to Hindi.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are done with the Korean script right now. We are going to shoot right now. There\u2019s a Spanish one which is starting off, and there\u2019s an English version which we are working on right now at the same time,\u201d Pathak says, adding that international collaborators have responded quickly once they read the screenplay. Locally, he says Panorama has no plans for versions in other Indian languages.<\/p>\n

\n\tPathak began his career as a director, assisting Anurag Kashyap and Luv Ranjan before returning from film school in New York in 2008. The following year, he wrote, directed and edited the short film \u201cBoond,\u201d a 26-minute Hindi-language drama set in a future village stricken by water scarcity, which won the Indian National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film. He then moved into producing, including Ranjan\u2019s \u201cPyaar Ka Punchnama,\u201d before stepping back into the director\u2019s chair with \u201cDrishyam 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a producer, Pathak has just announced a horror film starring Devgn. On the directing side, he says he is developing ideas spanning science fiction and horror, and will not begin writing until he settles on a story. He says he is interested in long-form streaming projects eventually but feels Indian streaming content still lags behind global standards.<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about franchise spinoffs, Pathak points to the recurring supporting character Gaitonde as an example of the world\u2019s potential to expand. \u201cThere\u2019s obviously interesting characters which we have in the film. Gaitonde, for example, has been a quirky character throughout all the parts,\u201d he says, though he adds there are no current plans for a spinoff or derivative project.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDrishyam: The Conclusion\u201d is produced by Panorama Studios and releases Oct. 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Abhishek Pathak, director of \u201cDrishyam: The Conclusion,\u201d says the Hindi franchise\u2019s third installment tells an entirely new story…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[15311,255539,93,61,60,4375,270],"class_list":["post-620053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ajay-devgn","tag-drishyam-the-conclusion","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mohanlal","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}