Abhishek Pathak say some people relate film more with Ajay Devgn

• Abhishek Pathak discusses the journey and the movie’s cultural impact on the Hindi-speaking audience.
• The popularity of Drishyam 2 comes at a time when there is a general belief in the film industry.
• Both agree and disagree with such an idea, according to Abhishek.

The box office performance of Drishyam 2 has been phenomenal. In India, the movie has made 65 crore net in its first three days, outpacing every other Bollywood release this year, with the exception of Brahmastra, in terms of opening weekend box office receipts. Abhishek Pathak, the film’s director, discusses the journey and the movie’s cultural impact on the Hindi-speaking audience. This is his feature film directorial debut.

The movie Drishyam is a remake of the identical Malayalam film. Two years after the Malayalam original’s popularity, the first Hindi version was released. However, according to Abhishek, the sequel was conceived long before Malayalam Drishyam 2 hit theaters. He says, “The Malayalam film was made but before it came out on OTT, we had bought the rights to it. We saw the film and loved it. By November 2020, we got the rights and then we started developing it.”

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The script for Drishyam 2 in Hindi has undergone some changes, and new characters and elements have been added that weren’t present in the Malayalam version. Elaborating on that choice, Abhishek says, “There is no point in making a frame-to-frame remake. You are not doing anything as a director if you do that. You have to bring your vision to the table. Also, if it’s a copy, people will talk about that aspect. It will spread via word of mouth and reduce your audience. Why would you want to take that chance?”

However, the director acknowledges that any such modification must be thoroughly thought out in order to prevent losing the essence of the original. “When you start rewriting something, you always mark out things you don’t want to touch,” he says, adding, “The idea is to not damage it. See, we got the rights to something we loved and there’s no point changing that. We have to stick to the soul of the film, including the twist and turns. But the screenplay can change. Malayalam films are a little different as compared to Hindi films. The audiences are different as well. So we need that change. So yes, changing the screenplay of a remake is important but you have to be careful.”

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The popularity of Drishyam 2 comes at a time when there is a general belief in the film industry that remakes don’t work. Both agreeing and disagreeing with such idea, according to Abhishek. He shares, “I agree and disagree both. Remakes are not working, I don’t agree with that. But yes, if the original is available on OTT in your language, you cut down on your audience. That has certainly damaged certain films that have come recently. But remaking is not something that will go away, I think. There are certain stories made for certain audiences. And if there is a chance to retell that brilliant story to another, larger audience, I don’t think there should be a problem with that. We are buying the rights officially from the producers. It’s not ‘copy kar liya’ as some people say.”

However, Drishyam 2 is not merely a remake. It is also the follow-up to a hugely popular movie that many people regard as a cult classic. In fact, a lot of people think that the Hindi version, which features Ajay Devgn, is more well-liked than the Mohanlal-starring Malayalam original. Abhishek says, “Without us doing anything, every year on October 2, there are memes about Vijay Salgaonkar and his family. It’s fun. Mohanlal sir is a great actor, a very established actor but the Hindi audiences relate Drishyam somewhere more with Vijay Salgaonkar and Ajay Devgn. And even though the Malayalam sequel was out, many people didn’t watch it as they wanted to see the Hindi version first. That is because they relate so much with Ajay sir. The Malayalam Drishyam is a brilliant film but they somewhere chose to hold on till the Hindi version was released.”