Why does the story that Jeethu Joseph tries to narrate in Mohanlal’s film “Drishyam 2” fail to make any impact in Abhishek Pathak’s adaptation? The answer to this question lies in the flawless adaptation that had been done earlier by Nishikant Kamat. Even though his version of “Drishyam” wasn’t as good as the original, it still managed to capture the essence of the story and Vijay Salgaokar’s unshakeable will to protect his family. Here, in “Drishyam 2,” the Vijay Salgaokar we see feels very confident throughout the film, like most of our Hindi film heroes. However, the main issue is probably the way the makers have dealt with the plot. They messed up the second half, which ruined the experience of an excellent first half as well. Anyway, without wasting any more time, let’s find out what happened in it and what it all means.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Drishyam 2’ Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
The sequel takes place in the same location of Goa, seven years after I.G. Meera’s (Tabu) son, Sameer (Rishab Chadha), was killed by Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn). The police, however, are still searching for Sameer’s body every now and then. As time passes, the search missions become less frequent, but Meera, as a mother, is still fuming with rage and wants to gather any evidence she can find to put Vijay behind bars. On the other hand, Mahesh, Meera’s husband, wanted to punish Vijay for his crime, but he just wished to have his son’s body to complete the last rituals. He even visited Vijay once, hoping that he would tell him the location where he had hidden Sameer’s body. For the viewers who don’t know what happened seven years ago, let’s give you a short hint.
In Drishyam, Part 1, Sameer, a spoiled brat, recorded a video of a young girl named Anju Salgaonkar while she was bathing in the bathroom. Later, he blackmailed the girl and even visited her home. A brawl took place between Sameer and the girl when the girl’s mother, Nandini, interfered. At that moment, the girl accidentally hit Sameer from behind with an iron stick, and he died on the spot. The mother and the girl did not know what to do, so they called the girl’s father, Vijay Salgaonkar. Vijay Salgaonkar, a local cable operator, was a huge fan of cinema. He only had two priorities in his life. One was his family, and the second was his passion for cinema.
Vijay promised his family that he would not let any harm come to them. Later, he executed a well-crafted plan and hid Sameer’s body while also creating a substantial alibi for his family. The police failed to find any loose ends in Vijay’s plans and eventually had to let him and his family go. At the end of the movie, we find out that Vijay had hidden Sameer’s body right beneath an under-construction building that was going to be used as Pondolem Police Station, where the case was registered in the first place. The police could never have thought that Vijay would put the body right under the place where they had been investigating all along. So, where did the plan go wrong?
Well, the problem was that Vijay thought there was no witness on the night when he was burying Sameer. But, on that night, another event took place in a distant place where a drug supplier named David was running away from the police for a murder he had committed. While trying to hide, he saw Vijay coming out of the construction site. Well, as David was caught the following day, he was unaware of the events that had happened outside. He was released after seven years and found out that Vijay was a suspect in a murder. The police had publicly released a notice that anyone who would bring in information about Vijay would be awarded 5 lakhs of rupees. David was recently out of jail, and his family was struggling because of it, so he urgently needed some easy money. So, he went to the police station and told the senior officers, including Meera, about what he had seen that night. He demanded 25 lakhs of rupees, and Meera was able to arrange the amount. However, he was kept there until Sameer’s body was found.
I.G. Tarun Ahlawat’s Master Trick
Tarun Ahlawat (Akshaye Khanna) was a cunning police officer who mastered reading criminal psychology. He and Meera had planted two police officers in disguise as Vijay’s neighbors. Inspector Shiv was disguised as a drunk man who beat his wife, Inspector Jenny. Jenny built a strong connection with Vijay’s wife, Nandini. Since Vijay now had his own cinema hall to run, he was mostly out at night. So, taking advantage of Nandini’s loneliness, Jenny comforted her in every way possible. Finally, when Nandini found her very trustworthy, she blabbed about Vijay hiding Sameer’s body. Until now, police did not have a clue whether Vijay or someone else had hidden Sameer’s body. Now, they had the evidence to prove that it was Vijay who hid the body. The only remaining question was where. Thanks to David, the police now had all the evidence against Vijay, and finally, he was arrested.
‘Drishyam 2’ Ending Explained – How Did Vijay Salgaonkar Successfully Fool The Police Once Again?
Tarun Ahlawat never underestimated Vijay’s capability to think ahead. Tarun was doing it to regain the pride of being a police officer, as Vijay had mocked the law and justice, while Vijay could go to any extent to save his family. Both were driven by their own passions. Tarun had nothing to lose, but Vijay could lose everything, including his family, the most precious thing of all. So, Tarun was more reckless than Vijay, which gave Vijay the upper hand.
Seven years later, after the events of the first film, Vijay gradually became successful in his field. He now owned his cinema hall and had enough money to produce a film. He had been thinking of making a film from his own story. But, although he had great ideas, he was never a great writer. So, two years after murdering Sameer, Vijay met the great screenwriter Murad Ali (Saurabh Shukla). He befriended him and told him his story. Murad was vividly interested in the story and decided to write a film around it. The plot was basically the same as in Drishyam Part 1. But, in that story, the protagonist goes to jail in the climax as the police finally discover the body. So, Vijay wanted to change the climax. However, before changing the climax, Vijay made a couple of copies of the script and published it as a book. It was a very rare copy, and no one had really seen the book.
After that, Vijay asked Murad Ali to find out what the procedure would be after the police discovered the body that was buried. He said that it would help him construct a better climax for the story. Murad, being a famous writer, had some connections in the police, so he easily got to know about the procedures. Vijay, as cunning as he was, made friends in the required places who helped him in the latter stages. Now, Vijay was searching for a dead body right after he killed Sameer. He had the gut feeling that someday the police would find the body, and he needed to be prepared. A couple of days later, after Sameer’s death, Vijay found a boy of the same age and with the same injury. He met with his father, who was very poor and became very friendly with him. He even helped the poor man in his daughter’s marriage. After all that, Vijay finally asked for his dead son’s bones. Given his gratitude to Vijay, the poor man could not refuse such a request. Vijay had the bones and was waiting for the moment when the police would discover the body.
In the next step, Vijay befriended the security guard at the hospital, where the police would keep the bones before the DNA test. Vijay called the security guard on the day the forensic team went to deliver the bones. He asked him to have some booze at the hospital at night. Once the security guard dozed off, Vijay replaced Sameer’s bones with the poor man’s son’s bones. So, when the court received the DNA report of the bones, they discovered that they were not Sameer’s. Also, since the book with the climax where the protagonist goes to jail has already been published, Vijay’s lawyer showed the book in court and told the judge that the police had created a fake story around the book. As the book contained the exact same events as what had happened with Vijay and his family, the lawyer’s claim was undeniable. As a result, the court had no evidence to convict Vijay as the primary suspect in Sameer’s death. Once again, with the help of the power of his storytelling, Vijay Salgaonkar was able to trick the police and, in the process, save his family.
Vijay Salgaonkar: Is He Really A Criminal?
Whatever Vijay Salgaonkar did was merely to protect his family. He even risked his own life to make that happen. However, Vijay could never be proud of his actions as, deep down, he was a man of heavy conscience. It was one of the reasons why Vijay could not see Meera and Mahesh begging for their son’s bones. So, he left their son’s last remains on Mahesh’s doorstep, because of which the parents were able to complete the rituals. Vijay could be a criminal in the eyes of the law, but for himself, he was a father first and had certain responsibilities towards his family. He had tried to twist the law to save his family because he knew that in the eyes of the law, a murder is a murder irrespective of the circumstances that led to it. In Vijay’s case, there was a very thin line. Sameer was killed accidentally, but a court case would have destroyed Anju’s entire life, as the law measures the facts of an incident and not the emotions surrounding it. Vijay was compelled to find loopholes in the system, and even if he was a criminal in the eyes of the law, for him and his family, he did the right thing.
“Drishyam 2” is a 2022 drama thriller film directed by Abhishek Pathak.
