Vishal Menon sits down with director Jeethu Joseph for InFocus to break down the making of Drishyam 3, the final-feeling chapter of the franchise that has become the most successful crime saga in Indian cinema and one of the biggest Malayalam hits ever. Reuniting with Mohanlal as the quietly indestructible Georgekutty, Jeethu reflects on a relentless year that left him almost no room to switch off, revealing how he wrote much of the screenplay during an early-morning routine on a European holiday with friends, and how the film’s pivotal twist struck him mid-match during a game of badminton.
Jeethu also opens up about the emotional core of the third film, where Georgekutty is no longer the one pulling the strings but a man on the defensive, his fear and exhaustion finally showing. He explains why he sees Georgekutty as a tragic, orphaned figure who carries his burden alone, how Prabhakaran is pushed into becoming the antagonist, and why the character’s frugality and unshowy life are drawn straight from his own father and his agricultural upbringing. Along the way he answers the criticism that his Drishyam films are visually plain, defending his multi-camera approach built to capture raw, live performances; pushes back on being branded only a thriller director, pointing to Memories, My Boss, 12th Man and Neru; gives an update on his long-stalled Mohanlal project Ram; marvels at Mohanlal’s water-like ability to slip back into Georgekutty after years away; and weighs whether a fourth film could ever happen.
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