Drishyam
Rent & Buy
When his family stares down the barrel of criminal charges, a commoner channels his street smarts and knowledge of action films to tie the long arm of the law into an investigative Gordian knot.
What critics thought
Most critics found Drishyam a genuinely tense, well-constructed crime thriller, with the screenplay's cat-and-mouse mechanics drawing particular praise for keeping audiences second-guessing even when the plot's shape is visible. The main fault line runs through the central performances: Tabu is almost universally highlighted, but Ajay Devgn's lead divided critics sharply, with some finding him a convincing everyman hero and others calling him stiff and unconvincing alongside his co-stars. A handful of reviewers also felt the film's pacing dragged in its early stretches.
“There is no single moment in the film suffers a lag ... As for the taut screenplay (Upendra Sidhye), it keeps on playing with your mind all the time. You know what happened but even then you are taken for a ride and start believing in it.”
Bollywood Hungama
“Ajay, who is the prey here, shines in his role of the protective father ... Tabu [is] outstanding as his predator.”
Meena Iyer·The Times of India
“There are no loose ends in the plot; every character, every situation is well planned and visualised to perfection. The background score is evocative though a song highlighting the trauma of the characters seemed eminently forgettable.”
Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary·Gulf News
“the film is clumsily written, with dialogue that sounds wooden.”
Raja Sen·Rediff
Genres
Crime, Drama, Mystery
Cast & Crew
Nishikant KamatDirector
Ajay DevgnVijay Salgaonkar
TabuIG Meera Deshmukh
Shriya SaranNandini Salgaonkar
Ishita DuttaAnju Salgaonkar
Mrunal JadhavAnu Salgaonkar
Rajat KapoorMahesh Deshmukh
Kamlesh SawantSub-inspector Laxmikant Gaitonde
Rishab ChadhaSameer 'Sam' Deshmukh
Yogesh SomanInspector Vinayak Sawant
Prasanna KetkarSr. PI Shrikant Prabhu
Prathamesh ParabJosé
Vishal BhardwajComposer
Jeethu JosephWriter
Avinash ArunCinematographyDrishyam
When his family stares down the barrel of criminal charges, a commoner channels his street smarts and knowledge of action films to tie the long arm of the law into an investigative Gordian knot.
What critics thought
Most critics found Drishyam a genuinely tense, well-constructed crime thriller, with the screenplay's cat-and-mouse mechanics drawing particular praise for keeping audiences second-guessing even when the plot's shape is visible. The main fault line runs through the central performances: Tabu is almost universally highlighted, but Ajay Devgn's lead divided critics sharply, with some finding him a convincing everyman hero and others calling him stiff and unconvincing alongside his co-stars. A handful of reviewers also felt the film's pacing dragged in its early stretches.
“There is no single moment in the film suffers a lag ... As for the taut screenplay (Upendra Sidhye), it keeps on playing with your mind all the time. You know what happened but even then you are taken for a ride and start believing in it.”
Bollywood Hungama
“Ajay, who is the prey here, shines in his role of the protective father ... Tabu [is] outstanding as his predator.”
Meena Iyer·The Times of India
“There are no loose ends in the plot; every character, every situation is well planned and visualised to perfection. The background score is evocative though a song highlighting the trauma of the characters seemed eminently forgettable.”
Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary·Gulf News
“the film is clumsily written, with dialogue that sounds wooden.”
Raja Sen·Rediff
Genres
Crime, Drama, Mystery
Cast & Crew
Nishikant KamatDirectorAjay DevgnVijay SalgaonkarTabuIG Meera DeshmukhShriya SaranNandini SalgaonkarIshita DuttaAnju SalgaonkarMrunal JadhavAnu SalgaonkarRajat KapoorMahesh DeshmukhKamlesh SawantSub-inspector Laxmikant GaitondeRishab ChadhaSameer 'Sam' DeshmukhYogesh SomanInspector Vinayak SawantPrasanna KetkarSr. PI Shrikant PrabhuPrathamesh ParabJoséVishal BhardwajComposerJeethu JosephWriterAvinash ArunCinematographyRent & Buy