Drushyam 2(Telugu, Amazon Prime Video)
Starring Venkatesh, Meena, Nadhiya, Naresh, Kruthika, Esther Anil
Rating: ***
A diligently faithful remake of a cult film that I felt was overrated, is not quite what one needs at the moment. Nonetheless, as far as faithful remakes go, Drushyam 2 reprising in Telugu, pretty much the whole scenario, lock stock and barrel, from the original Malayalam film, is a job competently done.
Veteran Venkatesh has lately been seen in some socially relevant films, notably Narappa(also on Amazon) which was a more flexible remake of a Tamil film Asuran.
Drushyam 2 doesn’t budge an inch from the Malayalam original. Which is not a bad thing, considering the plot’s watertight alibi for a remake is its protagonist’s watertight alibi for a murder that he committed six year earlier, in the first part of the Drushyam /Drishyam franchise.
For Rambabu(Venkatesh) it is still family first.He will do anything to protect his wife and daughters from harm even if it means killing and burying a boy who harassed Rambabu’s daughter.
I have never been too fond of the plot’s Good Murderer –Bad Murderer distinction that writer Jeetu Joseph makes .The thesis of Joseph’s dubious morality gets an even thornier thrust in Part 2 with cops who are made to feel guilty for trying to trick Rambabu and his family into a confession as he gets away with murder, quite literally.
The end-game in Drushyam 2 is all about moving around the pieces on the chess board until the law enforcers are check mated. In keeping with the law-is-an-ass spirit of the original here too the investigating cop is left fuming and swearing to get Rambabu the next time.
Sampath Raj as the investigating cop is a welcome addition to the original cast in a film that adheres stubbornly to the original’s (twisted) mindbend to the extent of seeming like a blind copy. We can mute the dialogues of this Telugu version and it is interchangeable with the Malayalam original.
For me the main attraction of the unadventurous transition from the Malayalam original to Telugu is the lead performance. While Mohanlal in the Malayalam version played the reluctant killer as an inscrutable genius of sorts, Venkatesh is a more flustered guilt-ridden protagonist, a common man wondering how he got into this uncommon situation.They are both film buffs.But in the Malayalam original Mohanal seemed a fan of Mohanlal only. Vankatesh plays the secret killer with a lack of smugness.
The supporting cast is adequate though unremarkable , with a bevy of junior artistes behaving as if they are street loiterers caught behaving like a Shakespearean chorus. Finally Drushyam 2 feels like it’s too clever for its own good. Getting away with murder is all very fine. Gloating about it is something else.