‘Midnight-idol’? Ajay Devgn starrer Drishyam 2 emerges as runaway super-hit—thank God!  

By Chaitanya Padukone

The public response to the just-released slick edge-of-the-seat-thriller superstar Ajay Devgn starrer ‘Drishyam 2’ .is evidently overwhelming. Thanks to positive media reviews and effective word-of-mouth publicity, the film is meriting houseful shows and has reportedly collected an impressive collection of nearly Rs 15 crores on the opening day itself!  Some theatres are now increasing the number of shows of Drishyam 2 (11 to 14 shows daily) to cope with the expected sudden spurt of a heavy rush of weekend audiences.

The cherry-on-the-box-office-cake is that in coping with public demand, and creating filmy history, certain select (PVR) theatres have added ‘mid-night’ screening of Drishyam 2 (11.59 pm show) to their already existing multiple shows of the same movie! In the yesteryear golden era, one has witnessed a galaxy of popular ‘matinee idols’ movie stars!  Since last night the cine-goers seem to be welcoming what I would term as ‘midnight idol’!  After a series of unpredictable twists, the last pre-climax part of the drama (around 21 minutes) is simply aww-esome and is not only drawing applause cheers but even spontaneous standing ovations from the enthused cine-goers.

It may be recalled, that in the recent past the ‘Singham’ star Ajay Devgan’s previous releases like Thank God and Runway 34 were unable to target the box office bulls-eye. The rousing response by theatre audiences to Drishyam 2, comes as a super-welcome relief (like a messiah savior) to the bruised-battered Bollywood Hindi box office, already facing the rattling onslaught of the Pan-India Southside regional films.

Also read: Drishyam 2 Review: Ajay Devgn and Co keep you engaged

Eminent cine-trade analyst Amod Mehra, known for his outspoken views and unbiased candid comments, has predicted on record that the “engaging, engrossing and family-entertaining thriller Drishyam 2 that glues you to your theatre-seats will cross Rs 100 crores collections at the box-office in the first week itself and thereafter the sky is the limit”.

Panorama Studios, Viacom18 Studios, and T-Series Films’ co-production Drishyam 2 (UA) directed by talented Abhishek Pathak is a worthy sequel to Drishyam (2015). (The film is a remake of the Malayalam film Drushyam 2.) The Hindi flick Drishyam 2 starts seven years after the first one ended. The police reopen the murder case against the evasive Salgaonkar family. The investigating police officer this time is Meera’s (Tabu) senior police officer Tarun Ahlawat (suave Akshaye Khanna in an award-worthy, mind-blowing performance). Meera is convinced that Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn) and his family members have murdered her teenage son but she has not been able to solve the murder mystery because of which Vijay, wife Nandini (Shriya Saran) and daughters Anju (Ishita Dutta) and Anu (Mrunal Jadhav) are roaming scot-free. Of course, they are living in constant fear that their past may come to haunt them and expose their discreet crime.

(The writer Chaitanya Padukone is an eminent award-winning senior film-journalist-author)