Drishyam 2 Analysis

Drishyam 2 (2021) 

Written and Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Streaming on Amazing Prime Video.

Spoilers Ahead.

The film initially explores the trauma and the aftermath of a tragic experience. It does that quite well. The way the elder daughter is traumatized whenever she sees cops, the way the mother is overprotective of everything. It's a convincing depiction of their mental states. Although the film doesn't use expressionist lighting for depicting the trauma - like with harsh lighting and strong shadows. They use editing here and there to show us what they are imagining, they use sound too where they amp up the police sirens and mute out other sounds. The shot division is fairly conventional - they have insert shots of reactions, close ups, wide shots, master shots. They did a long take at a scene, I can recall it only there.

The premise of Georgekutty wanting to make a film, intrigued me from the beginning. The set up was so strong that it was expected that they will use it - but how they used it was surprising and amazing. Him turning in a confession, and later saying that he didn't confess and creating a narrative of them copying his entire confession from the novel he wrote - was an interesting twist. Though I don't know if they'd buy that in a real court. The twist of DNA not matching Varun's was interesting, but I saw something like that coming. The structure of the film is pretty much similar to that of the first part, which is why it didn't blow my mind as such. But sure, it's a good follow up to one of the best murder mysteries ever made in Indian cinema.