Drishyam 2 - Has there ever been a better sequel?

Seven years back, in the final minute of a full-length feature film Jeethu Joseph delivered a knockout punch that can still be felt in some parts of the world as language after language seeks to remake this story. Such was the perfection of Drishyam that no one envisaged this story going forward. It was there, complete, perfect, the perfect cover up of an amateurish crime. Taking the story forward would be like attempting to build an annexe to the Taj Mahal, or adding a blush to the cheeks of Mona Lisa - both fraught with more risk than potential reward. While these might look like comparisons that are too lofty, the fact that a small unassuming movie (Mohanlal was the only big thing about Drishyam back then) from Kerala now has a remake in China and one in the pipeline in Hollywood - we are used to doing things the other way round - says enough about how much it means to Indian cinema.

We thought Drishyam was finished business, but Drishyam 2 is about Georgekutty and a few others who believe that there is business yet to be finished. Both the protector and the persecutor do not let their guard down and that’s how things come to a second precipice. As one of the character’s says, ‘This is a war, started by him (Georgekutty), and I like to win my wars’. Wars are not won easily. They are won by the ones willing to ‘dig deep’ trenches and hold fort, waiting for the right time to act. This story is also about two sides waiting patiently in their trenches looking for the slightest threat or opportunity. It is this excruciating battle of wits and patience that Jeethu Joseph has written with painstaking perfection, making Drishyam 2, in every way possible, a worthy sequel to the phenomenon that was Drishyam.

A dead body lying deep under the circle inspector’s seat at a local police station. A police investigation that was reprimanded by the court. The parents of the dead who had left India for good. And no witnesses! Only the infamous Sukumara Kurup could have thought of a more perfect crime. What more is there to be done? This makes us think of that famous line by Mammotty from ‘The Truth’ about how ‘truth’ finds a way to come out no matter how deep you may bury it. That’s where the movie begins, showing us a glimpse of how the truth may ultimately be revealed. But, Drishyam 2 is not just about that. It’s way more than a simple uncovering of the truth. Jeethu delves into the present day lives of Georgekutty and family, showing us the scars of a crime they had to commit and the trauma they endure to this day. That’s where Jeethu shows his class as a writer! He keeps the very tempting reveal in the background and takes us into the psyche of the family so well that for a brief while we forget that bigger trouble might be awaiting them later. Though it might not look obvious, every character in the family has been given an individual battle to fight. Be it Georgekutty, his wife or the daughters, everyone carries a weight in their minds and has to fight off demons in their own way. For a while, we even believe what Jeethu Joseph so tactfully said in his interviews - that this is a movie tracing the psychological journey of the family after the crime. Perhaps, that was his biggest masterstroke, because he jolts us out of the lull with a startling revelation that might have created reverberations in theaters as an ‘intermission block’.

Jeethu Joseph has strained every sinew of his imagination to come up with this ingenious plot. As we go deeper into the second half, and more and more layers are revealed to us, our eyes open wider. It’s one thing to write outlandish plots with fancy elements, but it’s a totally different game to weave an intricate plot about one man against an entire police force, and yet not once go into the realm of the impossible. Yes, the story does travel in a way that many of us may consider improbable, but not once can you call it ‘impossible’. That tremendous balancing act by Jeethu is what makes Drishyam 2 a truly mind blowing experience. There are many points in the movie where we begin to ask questions about how certain things might have happened. But, Jeethu covers all that with answers in one way or the other. And these answers don’t come on screen like an ‘explanation reel’, which is a technique used in many thrillers where the viewer is shown what exactly had happened. The answers are given to us by characters that are planted so seamlessly into the screenplay in the first half. Even the most movie-crazed minds might not be able to pick the purpose that some characters have in the screenplay until Jeethu chooses to reveal it himself. At this point, I’m willing to put this piece of writing alongside the likes of Agatha Christie for sheer brilliance. Saying anything more would be a spoiler.

Jeethu the writer was absolutely magnificent in Drishyam 2! Jeethu the director executed the script as required. It’s no secret that Jeethu banks on his actors to produce good performances rather than get it out of them. That difference is clearly visible. The scenes that have the experienced actors look like poetry motion and the ones with the extras look merely functional. We are nitpicking here for such a finely made movie, but one wishes that some of the ‘nattukar (the people of the town)’ were chosen better. Especially the three-four auto drivers who have conversations amongst themselves plainly look like they are saying rehearsed lines that they don’t really believe in. Covid compulsions might have forced those choices, and so we will let them pass, and in the end they look like minor glitches in an otherwise spellbinding product. The one thing you do notice about Jeethu as a director is that he trusts his audience to spot the key moments and remember them as the movie goes along. It’s common practice to let the camera linger a second longer than necessary, or to add an additional sinister angle with an equally sinister BGM to register important moments strongly in audience memory. Jeethu does not do that, instead puts faith in the audiences’ intelligence, which is also one of the reasons that each major twist surprises us that much more. It may be an overstatement, but the screenplay is so good that it makes much of the technical departments merely functional instruments to narrate the story. But, at places the editing stands out with its crispness, especially in the big reveal moments with each character’s awestruck reaction being shown effectively without wasting much time.

The genius of Mohanlal is often said to be his effortless acting. But, Drishyam 2 is proof that there is a very strong method to this effortlessness. You can’t be the same Georgekutty twice seven years apart without having a deep understanding of the character and it’s evolution. Unlike Drishyam, the sequel places more onus on Georgekutty and lesser space for his family into the second half. A man carrying a secret close to his heart and living every minute with a conscious effort of not saying a word that may spill the truth - that is not an easy thing to depict on screen. Knowing the screenplay inside out is the only way Mohanlal could have so perfectly known exactly how much to ‘give’ in each scene! Drishyam 2 shows us that Mohanlal is spontaneous with a method! The synergy between the lead pair is such a pleasure to watch on screen. It’s almost as if the family lived those 6 years carrying that trauma in their hearts and minds. Meena is subtly effective while Ansiba is challenged with some tough moments that she aces. Esther also shows her teen transformation with ease. But, the man who comes a very close second to Mohanlal is Siddique as Prabhakar. He might not play the most important character in the scheme of things, but everytime he is on screen he makes it count. The moral jeopardy of a man torn trying to find the middle ground between retribution, justice and forgiveness is beautifully expressed on his face. And as one of the characters wonders aloud in this movie, if all men were like Prabhakar, the world might be a much better place. Murali Gopi bites deep into the best character he has yet been offered by another writer. We only pray that he doesn’t get so busy as an actor that he can’t find time to write! Asha Sharath as Geetha Prabhakar unleashes herself in one interrogation scene that crackles with all the pent up anger and frustration.

All other things aside, Drishyam 2 is about the absolute commitment of the writer to come up with a screenplay that would not let down anyone who has seen Drishyam. One can only imagine the number of times he would have thought, written and re-written and reverse engineered this screenplay to make it as watertight as it is now! It would be too much to ask that every writer do this for every screenplay, but surely any writer attempting a sequel to a celebrated movie should treat Drishyam 2 as a benchmark. Drishyam 2 is about Jeethu Joseph not being tempted by the easy benefits of a sequel and not being overawed by the task at hand. As Georgekutty, he waited, bided his time, and when the opportunity came - he was ready!

Master Review: Lokesh is still a 'mass' apprentice!

There is a scene towards the end of Master where Vijay looks at the camera (not directly, at an angle) and no one else is on screen. He points out his hand and proclaims ‘there are crores out there who like me’! That is the point where it became painfully obvious that Lokesh Kanagaraj had completely sold out to the idea of a star-driven Tamil commercial movie. There were strong indications right from the beginning, but you were willing to give the benefit of the doubt to a young director making his first big movie with the weight of expectations from his previous success. But this moment, which pandered to nothing else but the stardom of the leading man, is not the product of a young naive filmmaker trying something new or different. This can be done only in complete anticipation of the claps and whistles that the fans might generously shower. Lokesh Kanagaraj sold out to ‘mass’! It’s not a crime, neither is it cinema of unacceptably low standards. But it definitely hurts to see a potential torchbearer of pure cinema turn into a candle-bearer to an actor’s stardom! 

That’s not to say all is lost for Lokesh Kanagaraj. The very beginning of the film shows that he has his fingers firmly on the pulse of the story as he introduces us to JD, the professor. The hero ‘intro’ is carefully set up, showing that the young director has evolved and learnt quickly the ropes of presenting a star on screen. But, the problem is that the screenplay does not know where to stop gaping at the star and get on with the business of telling the story. You get a stretched intro fight followed by an out of place intro jingle at the end of which the education minister (who has been made to wait until the hero arrives) gives a mini speech extolling the qualities that might have made this person (who he has not yet met) so popular with the students. When the screenplay does start motoring along the movie looks good. That exactly is the problem with Master! A fairly engaging plot punctuated with irritating speed breakers that serve no purpose, except stretch the movie to the three hour mark.

There are things in Master to be liked. The way Vijay’s character has been set up, giving him a vice (very rare in Tamil cinema, though not non-existent, Katthi for example) of his own to overcome, make him fallible, imperfect. These are welcome changes, but the filmmaker did not have the gumption to go the whole way with it. Even with those imperfections, he is a hero among the students, speaks strongly against the establishment and has all the qualities that make the quintessential Tamil hero. When the time comes for him to look himself in the mirror change for the better, he does so with the ease of flipping a switch. Years of alcoholism gone in a flash leaving behind no signs, no withdrawal symptoms. It’s not that it makes much of a difference because he was the hero even when he was an alcoholic, just that he switched off after 6 pm. Now, he is a hero round the clock. It’s this unwillingness to go the whole way with an idea that stops Master from being truly out of the ordinary. The hero has his demons, but manages to fight them off overnight - which makes the demons seem pretty weak!

But, Master is more the story of Bhavani than JD. Master is ambitious with it’s villain right from the beginning. There is an attempt to construct an almost mythical sort of villain figure, not much unlike Siddharth Abhimanyu of Thani Oruvan. But, while Siddharth banked more on sophistication in his crimes, Bhavani believes in savagery that none can match up to. There is a moment in the film when the hero wonders aloud about whether the villain’s genitals were not visible when he was given the name ‘Bhavani’. So much for class! And, we thought that’s as low as it can get when the villain proudly proclaims later that he was indeed in a position where his genitals were on display. You get an idea of the kind of villain Bhavani is. Ruthless, cold blooded and always willing to hit below the belt. The hold that Bhavani has over the juvenile correctional home, the workings of the nexus and the terror that Bhavani wields are well etched in the screenplay, which makes for a sumptuous set up for the hero-villain clash. But, the screenplay refuses to get to that point in any hurry. We meander through a meaningless montage of the bucket-wielding hero smashing people in the face, and sit through a Thuppakki-inspired sequence where the villain finishes off people in the hero’s friend list, a kabaddi match that seems to be there only to give us some ‘Ghilli’ nostalgia. We think that the director might have at this point run out of ideas to stretch the film further. But, he surprises us with a sequence where the hero manages to deliver a monologue that instantly reforms 3-4 convicts - we thought that thing had ended in the 2000s! Then he gives us a lorries vs arrows match which is not entirely bad because for a change it’s not the hero doing the shooting! Oh, we thought too fast. How can someone else steal the hero’s thunder for too long in a Tamil movie? Soon, we have the hero shooting arrows. The arrows which till that point were either breaking glass or puncturing tyres suddenly became potent missiles in the hands of the hero, sending lorries lunging over mounds of sand. By the time we hear the ‘kutti story’ beat come out of a container we have no patience left. But wait, the hero and villain have yet to come face to face (they do share a face to back sequence earlier).

Vijay Sethupathi does his thing like only he can. The Bhavani character though strongly written is not anything new to Tamil cinema. The ruthless villain who strikes fear even in the hearts of his co-criminals. The villain who plunges a knife into a chest in the middle of a jovial conversation. One can see shades of Joker here. But, it’s nothing new. It’s just the amazing spontaneity of the Makkal Selvan that keeps the character fresh in our minds. One is tempted to name him ‘Brick Knuckle Bhavani’ for the punches that he throws. But, even Brick Knuckle Bhavani goes into standby mode in the final fight as the hero delivers one last monologue to his students who wildly cheer him! There is one sequence in the fight that highlights the gulf between the two actors. Both are required to sing a song after knocking the opponent down. While VJS does his ‘Jaam Bazaar jakku’ routine with such ease, mixing arrogance, nonchalance and sarcasm, Vijay stages a ‘Vazhakka bajji’ antic which will be trolled in the years to come. 

Master has proved that Lokesh Kanagaraj is a fast learner. From shooting with a very limited cast to making a mob fight on a college campus, the director has graduated to the big league in terms of scale. He has also learnt the art of playing to the gallery with slow motions and pumping BGM supplied in ample measure by Anirudh. The director might learn the fine line of balancing these mass elements as he goes along, but he has definitely overdone it by a fair bit in Master. He has also written in a cute little trait into Master’s character where Vijay keeps coming up with inane back stories explaining why he became an alcoholic. He also gives the villain character a ‘2 minute’ punchline every time he’s getting ready for action. These touches work well and tell us that behind the taut screenplays that were written for Maanagaram and Kaithi, there is also a writer who enjoys the more softer genres of cinema. We only wish the writer was able to come up with a stronger reason to connect the first hour of the screenplay to the main act. Here, it dangles by a string that the editor might have been tempted to cut had it not demanded the unthinkable act of cutting out the star’s intro fight and song. What Lokesh Kanagaraj has done well though is push Vijay slightly out of his comfort zones in terms of performance. We do not know whether the quirk of constantly pulling up his pants was the director’s or the actor’s idea, but it does add credibility to the overall unkempt nature of the character in the first hour.

Master promised so much, mostly because of Kaithi. It’s difficult to say whether it’s unfair to judge a movie based on the director’s previous work. But, even viewing it without the weight of Kaithi is not a satisfying experience. Lokesh Kanagaraj is not caught in two minds as Pa Ranjith was when he got the chance to make movies with Rajnikanth. Lokesh decides to go full on ‘mass’ mode. But the problem is he does not have a screenplay that backs up his mass ambitions and ends up giving us a mish-mash of slow motion montages, songs and painfully obvious references to Vijay’s previous blockbusters (the TN assembly should soon pass a legislation banning the use of ‘I’m waiting’ references in interval blocks of Tamil movies) with the only relief being a delightfully spontaneous Vijay Sethupathi who adds his spice to the regular villain character. Master proves that when it comes to ‘mass’, Lokesh is still an apprentice!