Family drama interspersed with thrilling elements may sound new or
different, at least for the Tollywood landscape. You might expect a
multi-layered thriller with many intriguing sub-plots, but all you get to see a
simple storyline in a linear format, which rides high on the drama quotient.
Some may call it a new genre or no genre, and few may term it as a
genre-defying stint. This narrative pattern has been effortlessly portrayed by
Sripriya on the celluloid in her directorial venture Drushyam, which is
a remake of a Malayalam namesake.
Most of the key elements of the film are borrowed from the Malayalam
original. The buildings, the architecture, the production design and even the
natural surroundings are recreated to relive the same experience. So, if you
have not seen the original, this may call for a different experience, and if
you seen the Malayalam version, still it’s a great watch for the thunderous
performance of Venkatesh and Nadhiya. Though a faithful remake, this version
comes with some local baggage to appease the crowds. Moreover, it carries the
tag of an intelligent family drama, which keeps the movie afloat.
Director Sripriya never let the movie slip out of her hands. The movie
goes through a heavy patchwork later on, so as to cover few dull moments and
bring the audience into the world of inevitable emotional highs and lows. The
first half takes a back seat with a relaxed narration creating the mood and
ambiance for the film and as it inches towards the interval the few characters
and convolutions pave way for a well construed mystery. The director could have
got some blame for making a frame-to-frame copy. However, the gripping
screenplay and overblown drama make you enjoy the product rather than finding
similarities and flaws.
Drushyam creates a
fun-filled milieu with its lead characters that are not well educated and
belong to a middle-class family. As the film progresses, these initial
fixations help them to get a proper character arc. Venkatesh playing a naïve
Rambabu takes the path of truth and when he is drained out of all the options
to shield his family’s righteousness, he imbibes an opportunistic trait as it’s
the need of the hour. Similarly, the character of Geetha is initially adamant
to learn the truth about her son, but later on when she untangles the mesh of
events, her fragile core comes to the fore.
Despite some illogical constructions, Drushyam flies high for the
way it showcases the eternal scuffle between being correct and being correct in
the books of law. It stands as a reflection of a common man in the most
uncommon scenarios – some simple and some utterly cinematic. The high point for
Drushyam is telling so much of a story with very few characters. All
this is backed by stellar performances of the actors and a watertight
narration. If you are looking for any other high points, then the entire film
stands tall as a high point.
My Rating: Expectation - 6/10; Reality - 7/10
This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.
An edited version of this piece can be found here.
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