When ‘Drishyam’ released in 2013, it changed the course of Malayalam cinema, especially the thriller genre. Directed by Jeethu Joseph and starring Mohanlal as Georgekutty, the thriller became a historic blockbuster and its climax was something never before tried in Mollywood.Now, 13 years after the film’s release, Jeethu Joseph has made a surprising confession. The director said he believes he made a mistake while writing the first part of ‘Drishyam’. He shared this during an interview released by Aashirvad Cinemas as part of the promotions for ‘Drishyam 3’.
The real-life incident behind ‘Drishyam’
Jeethu Joseph revealed that the seed for Drishyam came from a real-life conflict between two families. The issue involved a boy and a girl and eventually turned into a police case.“I got the idea from a disagreement between two families. It involved an issue between a boy and a girl, which eventually turned into a police case. At that time, someone told me that both families were right in some ways and wrong in others. The question was: whose side would you take?”
A thought that stayed with him
The filmmaker said the comment stayed in his mind for years. He began to wonder how viewers would react if such a morally complex situation was presented on screen.“He personally knew both families. This was back in 2000, before I entered the film industry. I wondered that if such a situation were shown in a theatre, whom would the audience support? Their minds would keep swinging between both sides, wouldn’t they? That thought eventually evolved into Drishyam.”
Why Jeethu Joseph feels he was wrong
After completing the film, Jeethu realized his assumption did not play out the way he had expected. Instead of being divided, audiences overwhelmingly supported Georgekutty and his family.“After watching the movie, I realized I had made a mistake because that balancing didn’t happen. Everyone stood firmly with Georgekutty and his family.”Jeethu Joseph also defended Geetha Prabhakar, the grieving mother searching for her missing son, “If you think about it, can we really blame Geetha Prabhakar? Her son has gone missing, and she is desperately trying to uncover the truth. From her perspective, Georgekutty is manipulating everything. How could she tolerate that? Her son never confessed his wrongdoing to her, so she still isn’t ready to believe what actually happened. As a mother, she does not know the truth. That was the original spark behind Drishyam.”The ‘Drishyam’ franchise is now preparing for its next chapter. ‘Drishyam 3’ is scheduled to release on May 21.
