‘Drishyam The Conclusion’ Review: Ajay Devgn-Starrer Has The Spirit, But Where’s The Soul?

Before closure comes inevitable, inescapable denial. Denial that drives a dagger in and twists the blade. As “Conclusion” unfolds, Meera and Mahesh Deshmukh (Tabu, Rajat Kapoor) still find it tough to stomach that they’ve been bested by Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn). However, it doesn’t take them long to find another top cop and a hotshot lawyer to espouse their cause again: bringing down the Salgaonkars and proving their guilt once and for all.

And so it begins. Set six months after the events of “Drishyam 2,” Vijay and family just want to put it all behind them. They want to move on, but that’s easier said than done. They don’t just have the Deshmukhs and Laxmikant Gaitonde (Kamlesh Sawant) to contend with; this time around, the big boogeyman is SP-Crime Branch Rajveer Singh Tomar (Jaideep Ahlawat). A dog with a bone, his persistence feels personal, not just a challenge to be taken on. 

Trouble with that is, the cat-and-mouse game is not as entertaining as it once was. There’s nothing to look forward to anymore: not the novelty or enthusiasm that defined the first film, not the tension and game of wits that elevated the second. “DTC” starts with Mahesh talking Meera down from a potential suicide after an “inadvertent” last supper. Her reasoning for ending things? When a powerful person is rendered helpless and hopeless by someone far weaker, what’s the point of living?

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Meanwhile, the Salgaonkars are just trying to get by and get around. Vijay is keen on getting his daughter Anju (Ishita Dutta) married off. For most of the first half, it’s Gaitonde and Tomar just badgering and harassing Vijay and his family, to the point where he makes a not-so-veiled threat to the stubborn SP (that you see in the trailer). Mahesh and Meera have precious little to do except look on with a growing sense of disdain and helplessness.

By and by, matters do reach the courts even as Vijay ties up loose ends with a calm demeanour reserved for potential sociopaths. He barely betrays any emotions, even as Prakash Raj (as hotshot prosecution lawyer Indrajith Shetty) goes at him with all he’s got.

On the face of it, the Salgaonkars vs the Deshmukhs in Round 3 should’ve been an open-and-shut that didn’t need to play out like a finale episode of a crime drama on TV/streaming.

A feeling of doneness pervades the film. Despite the dogged persistence of the Deshmukhs, Gaitonde and Tomar, you are never fully invested in their “good fight.” And that’s not because they are bad actors. The writing by Abhishek Pathak is never extraordinary, save for a few brave salvos in the courtroom. Much of the heavy lifting in the film, then, comes courtesy of the restrained Devgn, the scene-stealing Sawant and in part by both Ahlawat and a slightly hammy Prakash Raj. The writing by Pathak never does justice to the film’s stacked cast, even in the whistle-worthy moments when they do appear few and far between.

Let’s get one thing out of the way. Ajay Devgn is no Mohanlal. Nor does he aspire to be. A fine actor in his own right, he’s as known for his brooding, intense, restrained roles as he is for his loud, over-the-top comedic ones. But “Drishyam: The Conclusion” makes it pretty evident that he’s quietly saying “I’m done, bro” to the franchise. The director Abhishek Pathak said as much recently. Tabu looks like she clocked out after the second and is just here for moral support. Shriya Saran as Vijay’s wife Nandini along with Mrunal Jadhav have precious little to do.

It’s the playoffs, the confrontations, the trading of verbal punches that really defined the official Hindi remake of Jeethu Joseph’s “Drishyam” and even that comes a little too late in the second half. Pathak never develops a claustrophobic hold on you as you hop along for the ride. And not that it never had promise, it just never feels up to the task.

The Drishyam series of films were never about the whys and the whos but always about how the perfect murder continued to stay hidden for as long as it did. And that exposition is something that deserved a better send-off.