Drishyam (2015)

Drishyam more like Drish-yummmm. (Sorry, but I had to.) Also, trigger warning for police brutality in the movie.

First of all, disclaimer: I have not seen the Malayalam original, or the Telugu and Tamil remakes. This was my first entry to the world of Drishyam, and inshallah, there will be many more, because I loved the story so much that I can't wait to watch the other versions too.

Second of all, TABU IS QUEEN OF ACTING AND EVERYTHING ELSE AND NEEDS TO BE RECOGNISED FOR BEING SO UNFORGETTABLE AND INTERESTING AND TALENTED AND AMAZING. She is the best part of the movie, and I'm honestly a little upset that we never got a Drishyam version with her and my love, Victory Venkatesh. Khair, no use crying over spilt milk, especially because Ajay Devgn was amazing too, I am just biased because of my overflowing love for Tabs and Venky, and my desperation to see them in a movie together. 

Okay, I promise I'm going to talk about the movie now. I think I said in my Andhadhun (2018) review that one is doomed to a lifetime of accurately guessing thriller movies after reading almost the entire Agatha Christie bibliography in one's teens, but even after guessing the final piece of the intricate jigsaw puzzle that is the plot of this movie, I could not help but be completely shook by the ending. The credit for that goes to the keeps-you-on-your-toes direction, and of course, the brilliant acting by everyone. I particularly loved Shriya Saran as Nandini Salgaonkar. 

I think my favourite part of the movie was how it subtly shows the great class divide between the families of a "chauthi fail" (4th grade dropout) cable operator, and of the Inspector General of an entire state. It is obviously no coincidence that the elite, aspirational school that Nandini wants to send her elder daughter Anju to, is the same school where Sameer "Sam" Deshmukh (Rishab Chadha), the son of the aforementioned IG (Queen T) studies. Just more proof of the toxic masculinity that such schools and their entitled students propagate. Very reminiscent of the latest "bois locker room" scandal (lmao I watched another movie around that time where Tabdi plays a cop). Also, comparing the elite’s lack of foresight to the “gavaar” who literally thought of everything is an interesting exercise in psychology- rich people rarely have to carefully consider the consequences of their actions, but the less advantaged have to constantly plan and strategise, because of the unequal access to resources and opportunities. 

Not gonna lie, I want to talk about Tabu's acting some more. The way she conveys everything through a movement of her eyes- my favourite example from this movie has to be when Mahesh (Rajat Kapoor) asks her to tell Gaitonde (Kamlesh Sawant) to stop, and she dismisses him with a powerful eye-roll. That's literally all the proof you need to certify this movie as ACAB. Also, the way she walks the bitchslapping cop but also anxious mom tightrope is stupendous. TCU >>>>>>>>>>>

To sum up, here are my only 2 moods while watching the movie, courtesy the love of my life Sunil:



PS- Gaitonde getting beaten up by the entire town redefined "catharsis" to me.

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