Drishyam The Conclusion review: Ajay Devgn's Vijay Salgaonkar has a last trick that is as dramatic as ever, but hardly spellbinding

Drishyam The Conclusion review: The Malayalam version tended to stretch things out, whereas this one chooses to cut to the chase almost immediately.

Drishyam The Conclusion

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Shriya Saran, Tabu, Prakash Raj, Rajat Kapoor, Jaideep Ahlawat

Director: Abhishek Pathak

Star rating: ★★★

Drishyam The Conclusion review: Ajay Devgn as Vijay Salgaonkar in the film.

“Do October ko kya hua tha?” is as potent a question as “Why did Katappa kill Baahubali?” Inarguably, no other mystery thriller has kept audiences hooked quite like Drishyam has for 11 years now. Such is the franchise’s hold over viewers that the makers didn't need city tours or a round of interviews to drum up excitement for the latest film... They just threw in some free pav bhaji with movie tickets (I kid you not, it’s actually happening)!

But, like every good thing, this too must come to an end. Drishyam The Conclusion is here. Is it as potent as the first two installments? Let's find out.

The premise

Right off the bat, Abhishek Pathak, who returns as writer and director, makes it clear that he isn’t simply following the Malayalam original starring Mohanlal. Meera Deshmukh (Tabu), still grieving the loss of her son Sam, is suicidal over the fact that Vijay and his family got away with his murder. Unable to come to terms with it, her husband (Rajat Kapoor) approaches Crime Branch chief Rajveer Singh Tomar (Jaideep Ahlawat), urging him to reopen the case. And before you know it, Vijay is in deep trouble yet again. Only, this time, the stakes feel higher, the atmosphere more tense. For once, it genuinely seems like Vijay might have finally run out of road. What unfolds from here forms the rest of the plot.

Movie Review

Drishyam The Conclusion

3/5

2026-10-01T18:30:00+0000

Drishyam The Conclusion follows Vijay Salgaonkar as he faces a fresh investigation and a new threat that seeks to reopen the case of Sameer Deshmukh's disappearance.

Director

Abhishek Pathak

Cast

Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Prakash Raj, Jaideep Ahlawat

Verdict

The emphasis is on Vijay being pushed into a corner. It gives the film a sense of urgency that keeps things moving.

But this narrative choice comes with a trade off. In its eagerness to get to the central conflict, the film almost completely sidelines Vijay the family man. Shriya Saran and the two daughters, played by Ishita Dutta and Mrunal Jadhav, have virtually no dialogues or meaningful presence in the first half. And that is a departure from what made the original Drishyam so effective. Vijay wasn't merely a man outsmarting the police; he was also a protective husband and father, whose ordinary, endearing family life made his extraordinary actions all the more compelling. The tension came not just from wondering whether he would get caught, but from knowing what he was trying to protect.

In shifting the focus so decisively towards the thriller bit, the film loses some of the emotional grounding that gave the franchise its appeal.

Drishyam: The Conclusion, in its two and a half hour runtime, knows exactly how to play to the gallery though. There is enough humour in the first half, much of it courtesy of my favourite character in the franchise, Inspector Gaitonde (Kamlesh Sawant), who cheekily references the memes around October 2, pav bhaji and Swamiji’s satsang. Dialogues by Aamil Keetan Khan are well done.

The twists and turns

A pretty big shortcoming this time is the very thing we have come to expect from the franchise: the theatrics. Will Vijay get away with it, and more importantly, HOW?

As the film races towards its climax, it serves up its share of drama, keeping you invested in the big reveal. But when it comes to explaining how a school dropout like Vijay pulls off his latest bout of smart aleckness, the film relies entirely on convenience. The slick planning that once made us marvel at Vijay’s mind are replaced by a series of developments that require us to simply go along with them. And that is where the film loses its edge. It looks clever on the surface, but scratch beneath it, and the writing feels anything but. Yes, it looks smart, but is actually dumb.

How is Ajay Devgn in the film?

Performance wise, Ajay Devgn is Bollywood’s Mohanlal. Both have those intense, expressive eyes that do much of the talking. He does a good job here. Shriya Saran, as Nandini, Vijay’s wife, gets a grand total of one proper scene to leave her mark. Jaideep Ahlawat is effective as Rajveer. Prakash Raj as top lawyer Indrajith Shetty is very good. The background score by Amar Mohile is top notch and contributes a lot to the film.

Overall, Drishyam: The Conclusion has enough drama and nostalgia to keep the fans engaged. But for a franchise that built its reputation on making the impossible seem plausible, this one asks us to take a few too many things at face value. It has the ingredients of a satisfying finale, just not the trick to pull it off. The mystery may finally be over, but the magic of the first Drishyam remains hard to recreate.