TL;DR: Drishyam: The Conclusion sticks the landing with a satisfying final twist and finally cuts loose from its remake roots, but a dragging first two acts and emotionally flat characters make the road there a test of patience.

 

Few Bollywood franchises have built an entire identity around one man’s refusal to crack, and Drishyam: The Conclusion is the final test of how long that trick can hold an audience. Ajay Devgn returns as Vijay Salgaonkar, the cable-operator-turned-accidental-mastermind whose love of cinema keeps feeding the perfect cover stories that protect his family. The ghost at the centre of it all is still Sameer “Sam” Deshmukh (Rishab Chadha), the young man whose death in an act of self-defence triggered the whole saga, and whose parents, played by Tabu and Rajat Kapoor, have never stopped hunting for answers. This time the pressure comes from Crime Branch officer Rajveer Singh Tomar (Jaideep Ahlawat), who arrives with a sidekick, a smirk and a promise to finally nail the man he treats as Goa’s most diligent criminal. As a premise for a trilogy closer it’s strong, because everyone, including the audience, already knows Vijay always wins, so the only real question is how he pulls it off this time.

That knowledge is both the film’s engine and its biggest liability. Director Abhishek Pathak, who co-wrote the script with Aamil Keeyan Khan and Parveez Shaik, structures the movie like a long poker game played in the monsoon, full of quiet clues, veiled threats and courtroom red herrings. It’s the cinematic equivalent of watching a speedrunner replay a level they’ve already cleared twice, where the fun is entirely in the route rather than the outcome. When that route works, it’s genuinely satisfying, but getting to the good stuff demands real patience.

The climactic twist lands harder than the journey deserves

Let’s give credit where it’s earned, because the final reveal is the reason this Drishyam: The Conclusion movie review isn’t a write-off. The twist doesn’t rely on clever-for-the-sake-of-clever trickery, and its relatively simple mechanics actually suit a story about a school dropout outmanoeuvring the police, lawyers and an entire investigative apparatus. Overly elaborate schemes would have broken the character, turning Vijay into a Bollywood Moriarty, and the writers wisely keep his genius grounded in ordinary resourcefulness. The film also makes smarter use of Goa than the earlier entries, folding the state’s religious and cultural texture into the plot in a way that’s undeniably goofy yet still feels distinct. It’s the most confident the franchise has felt about being its own thing.

The problem is everything before that payoff. The pacing in the first two acts drags badly, with scenes that circle the same tension without escalating it, and you can feel the runtime stretching to delay the inevitable. A thriller like this should tighten like a vice as it heads to its finale, but here the screws turn so slowly that the suspense leaks out between beats. If you’ve ever sat through a mystery game where the last chapter is brilliant but the investigation phase is pure fetch-quest filler, you’ll recognise the feeling.

Breaking away from the Malayalam blueprint

The first two Hindi films were remakes of Jeethu Joseph’s Malayalam originals starring Mohanlal, swapping Kerala for Goa while keeping the core design intact. The Conclusion takes a very different path from the Malayalam third chapter, charting its own course and deciding to close the book rather than stretch the saga further. That’s a gutsy and welcome call, because a franchise that knows when to stop is rarer than a well-paced Bollywood second half. Shedding the remake label also frees the film to make its own creative choices instead of living in another version’s shadow. For fans who felt the Hindi series was always playing catch-up, this is its strongest bid for independence.

What it doesn’t borrow, unfortunately, is moral complexity. The Malayalam lead was allowed to be compromised and contradictory, a man visibly shaped by guilt, whereas Vijay remains a near-flawless protector with little interior life on display. The film never seriously asks what a decade of constant lying has done to this family, and it treats Sam, whose predatory behaviour made him a far from innocent victim, purely as a plot device rather than a moral question. Drishyam has always favoured vindication over introspection, and the finale doubles down on crowd-pleasing triumph instead of reckoning.

Jaideep Ahlawat brings swagger, but the cast around him feels frozen

Akshaye Khanna’s tough IG Tarun Ahlawat from Drishyam 2 is absent, and his departure leaves a noticeable gap that the film clearly scrambles to fill. Jaideep Ahlawat steps into the antagonist slot with bristling charisma, and his conceited Tomar is easily the most entertaining presence on screen, with one tense tea-table encounter standing out as a menacing highlight. Kamlesh Sawant also earns the biggest laughs as Gaitonde, the irritated sidekick who brings welcome comic friction. The frustration is that the build-up around Tomar ultimately fizzles, deflating a character who seemed destined to be Vijay’s toughest opponent yet. Tabu and Rajat Kapoor, meanwhile, are left grieving on the margins, which wastes two performers capable of far more.

Devgn’s trademark deadpan remains the franchise’s most divisive ingredient, and here it too often tips from stoic into simply flat. Shriya Saran as Nandini, alongside Ishita Dutta and Mrunal Jadhav as daughters Anju and Anu, are given almost nothing to show how eleven years of fear has changed them. The Salgaonkar household still lacks a lived-in quality, so the family meant to be the emotional anchor feels more like a set of chess pieces moved around the board. For a conclusion, that absence of character evolution is the cast’s biggest letdown.

Verdict

Drishyam: The Conclusion succeeds where it matters most to loyal fans, delivering a climactic twist that feels true to the franchise and closing the trilogy with welcome confidence instead of dragging it into a fourth film. Its smarter use of Goa, its break from the remake formula and Jaideep Ahlawat’s swagger give it a distinct flavour. Yet sluggish pacing, an underused supporting cast, a deflated antagonist and a family that never feels emotionally real keep it from greatness. Franchise devotees should absolutely see how Vijay’s story ends, while casual thriller fans may find the journey too slow to justify the destination.