This Evergreen Suspense Thriller….., Redefined Indian Crime Cinema, Leaving Audiences Guessing till the End
This Evergreen Suspense Thriller....., Redefined Indian Crime Cinema, Leaving Audiences Guessing till the End
This Malayalam original left audiences guessing till the end, earning 22 awards and global acclaim
Suspense thrillers are known for their gripping pace, emotional twists, and unpredictable endings. But very few manage to hold the audience’s attention with such intensity that missing even a single scene feels like a loss. Drishyam, a 2-hour-36-minute Malayalam-language film released in 2013, does exactly that and more.
Directed and written by Jeethu Joseph, Drishyam opens with a murder mystery and closes with a climax that leaves the viewer stunned. The film keeps twisting at every corner, misleading the audience into thinking the mystery is solved—only to shatter that belief in the next scene. This deliberate web of deception makes the film a masterclass in suspense storytelling.
Drishyam stars Mohanlal and Meena in lead roles and has earned an impressive IMDb rating of 8.2. It has also won 22 awards and was the first Malayalam film to cross ₹50 crore at the box office, eventually grossing around ₹62 crore worldwide.
The story revolves around a father whose daughter is sexually harassed by the son of a high-ranking police officer. What follows is a chain of events that includes a murder and a carefully constructed cover-up. Unlike the average murder mystery where the question is who did it, the puzzle in Drishyam is how did he do it. Or more precisely, how did he cover it up.
While the audience initially believes the father is responsible for the killing, the truth keeps evolving until the very end, making it impossible to look away or predict the outcome.
Due to its strong script and universal appeal, Drishyam was later remade in multiple languages, including Hindi, where it featured Ajay Devgn and Tabu in the lead roles. The Hindi version also became a box-office success and led to a sequel.
For those who haven’t watched the original, Drishyam is currently available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video. It’s a suspense thriller that not only challenges the audience’s perception at every turn but also reaffirms the power of tight storytelling in Indian cinema.
