‘Drishyam 3’: More of the same, but interesting in parts

By now, we all know that Georgekutty would do anything to protect his family. And Mohanlal would do anything to preserve his precious franchise. In its third segment, ‘Drishyam’ creaks and groans like a door whose hinges need to be oiled, but no one takes the initiative. Everyone is happy just walking through that door into familiar territory, where one man repeatedly outwits the police.

Georgekutty can get away with it. But can Mohanlal? It is both a yes and a no. No, because a large portion of the sluggish plot doesn’t really speak to us.

The setup and the protagonist’s determination to protect his family at any cost seem, this time, like a tired refrain from a song that has long outlived its golden days. The initial portion of the plotting is so sluggish that it feels as though writer-director Jeethu Joseph is thinking of what to do next, while Georgekutty and his family eat and banter, waiting for the screenplay to push them further. Characters from the earlier two films keep dropping in for chai and gossip, reminding us that the case against Georgekutty is not over. It should be, though.

This thought crossed my mind several times as I watched Mohanlal’s dependable presence struggling to keep the guests entertained at a party where the drinks have dried up and everyone just wants to go home. While some of the old characters seem to pop up unannounced — and unnecessarily — the new characters, like a sly investigative journalist named Yamini (Veena Nandakumar, who seems to appear everywhere she is unwanted, like all mediapersons in movies), are conveniently produced from the magician’s hat, although the magician has clearly run out of tricks. I began to wonder why the women in the plot seem so irrelevant. Asha Sarath, who plays the murdered boy’s raging mother, is reduced to a shadowy apostrophe in an over-punctuated plot.

Numerous characters whisper to Georgekutty that he must move on from the crime (after all, which parent wouldn’t kill to protect his daughter?). But Georgekutty refuses to move on; he keeps telling his friends that someone is trying to bring him down. Does he mean the franchise? That he is proven right is no surprise.

It is a green traffic signal on a road where vehicular movement has clogged the route to a destination that grows hazier with time. Jeethu Joseph threshes his way to the midpoint, where suddenly the characters shed their indolence and get down to the business of grabbing our attention. The background score goes on red alert as Georgekutty’s daughter Anju’s wedding must not be stopped at any cost. And to hell with the traffic!

Incidentally, the background music turns trippy and comedic intermittently when Georgekutty is with his family, reminding us that they are having fun playing Sooraj Barjatya’s ‘Hum Saath-Saath Hain’, albeit with a murder attached to the bursting arteries of togetherness in a family that ‘slays’ together. The momentum in the climax is more energetic than the rest of the film. Of course, Georgekutty — mentioned as many times in this review as his omnipresence in the plot demands — wins against his adversaries in the end. There is the problem of his daughter’s messed-up wedding and missing groom.

Never mind. It can be sorted out in the next ‘Drishyam’. Didn’t I tell you? Part 4 is clearly announced.

Groan as much as you like, but it’s not over until Georgekutty says it’s over. Don’t forget: he is smarter than all of us.