Will Drishyam 2 live upto the hype?

Drishyam, the Mohanlal, Meena, Asha Sharath starrer directed by Jeethu Joseph, was a game-changer in Malayalam cinema by all means. The film made the world look upto Malayalam cinema for quality content and the box office returns touched a three-figure mark for the first-ever time in the relatively small industry. It’s well known that the film was successfully remade in all South Indian languages, Hindi and even had a Chinese version recently.

The shoot of the Malayalam film’s sequel (Drishyam 2) made by the same director, featuring the same cast was wrapped up in Kerala in a record span of nearly 40 days. It surprised one and all that the makers chose to release the film directly on Amazon Prime.  The trailer of the sequel had released a few days ago. The film’s protagonist Georgekutty, then a cable operator, is now a struggling theatre owner, film distributor and the case involving his daughter that he thought was dead once for all is back to haunt him again.

The trailer, rightly, doesn’t reveal the plot but it gives a gist that Georgekutty and his family are in for some trouble again. Drishyam 2 continues where the plot was left in the original with the same bunch of characters. Unsurprisingly, the trailer isn’t as engaging. There are immense expectations when a sequel to a blockbuster hit is announced and the makers must be doubly careful to ensure the hype is worth it. In this case, let’s just hope that the promos prove us wrong.

Though there’s a debate that the producers have sold it to Amazon Prime because they are not confident about the product, one must understand that it was done for commercial reasons. The producer of Mohanlal’s big-budget extravaganza Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham is the same as Drishyam 2 and has big money running on the former. What he was looking for was an interim financial relief and it has come through Amazon Prime’s deal for Drishyam 2. Drishyam 2 releases in Malayalam on Amazon Prime on February 19.