Vijay Salgaonkar and his family haven’t yet escaped the horror of accidentally killing Sam, the son of IG Meera Deshmukh and her husband Mahesh. The case gets murkier and darker with the arrival of SP Crime Branch Rajveer Singh Tomar. As Drishyam 3, directed by Abhishek Pathak, comes closer to its October 2 release, screenwriter Aamil Keeyan Khan spoke exclusively to Zoom about building the world of the Ajay Devgn-led crime thriller from scratch. He confirmed that the Hindi version is original and was written before they read Jeethu Joseph’s Malayalam movie’s script.
Aamil Keeyan Khan says Ajay Devgn’s Drishyam 3 is original
Aamil told us, “When we started writing, neither of the drafts were ready; this was after Drishyam 2. It was just an attempt. Their (Malayalam Drishyam 3) draft was happening. We wanted to see if we were writing the film, where we could take the story. There was a lot of brainstorming. Abhishek is a rigorous, hard taskmaster. He won’t move until he’s satisfied with the idea. Once we were ready with the draft, we read Jeethu sir’s draft. For the Malayalam audience, that was a better narrative, but for the Hindi audience we felt our story was a better structure.”
Aamil further shared that building a new world in the Drishyam franchise was a major responsibility, as its prequels were iconic and are a part of a larger pop culture picture. He said to conclude the franchise and deliver an original script was the top priority. “We weren’t thinking ki kuch alag karna hai; we were conscious of the demand of the film,” he shared.
Aamil Keeyan Khan on difference between Hindi and Malayalam Drishyam 3
Khan then said the sensibilities of the Hindi and Malayalam audiences are different, and the settings of both films are varied to cater to each. “The language and tonality also make it a different experience. Ajay sir and Mohanlal sir’s performances already set them apart. The difference between Malayalam and Hindi is that the latter is original. Abhishek was clear that he wanted to make a thriller, and Jeethu sir’s version was more of a drama. Here, the film has thriller elements and is loaded with family emotions. The idea was to make a gripping thriller in continuation of the second. After reading the Malayalam draft, we were sure to go ahead with our version and Ajay sir also agreed,” he said.
Drishyam 3 stars Ajay Devgn, Shriya Saran, Tabu, Rajat Kapoor, Ishita Dutta, Jaideep Ahlawat, Mrunal Jadhav, Kamlesh Sawant, Saurabh Shukla and many others. The film releases in theatres on October 2.