Drishyam 3 (2026), struggles to surprise

It is almost unimaginable that a murder thriller with no suspense left after its original can be stretched into two more sequels. That it works at all is a testament to Jeethu Joseph‘s writing. He finds creative ways to keep the same plot breathing. But Drishyam 3 hits a wall. The emotion and family bonding still pull you in, yet the film offers nothing genuinely new. Mangoidiots gives it a Raw.

The film opens with Georgekutty, now a successful film producer, a logical step given his lifelong love for cinema. The family is also searching for a suitable groom for their elder daughter, Anju. These fresh threads briefly lift the fear of repetition, and for a moment, you sit up expecting new challenges. Then the film quietly circles back to the original plot. There is a flicker of hope when a media angle enters the picture, suggesting new revelations might be coming. That thread is dropped almost as soon as it appears. What remains are familiar characters, now showing darker sides.

Georgekutty continues to outmanoeuvre everyone with ease, and even his now-grown daughters have little agency in how the murder case is handled. This is where the sequel feels most disconnected from any believable reality.

The film is still watchable, almost entirely because of Mohanlal. The man could read out a maths textbook and hold your attention. But even he cannot rescue a screenplay that keeps him doing the same things in the same emotional register. The pace is maintained, and the film stays engaging, yet you keep asking yourself why you are watching the same characters replay the same emotions with no new ground covered.

The earlier two parts had a quiet moral discipline about them. There was no physical violence beyond the law by either Georgekutty or the antagonist, Geetha Prabhakar, and her family. That restraint gave the story its texture. Here, that moral compass seems to have been set aside. It made the film feel like a routine crime-and-revenge drama, which is the last thing Drishyam should feel like.

With both daughters now grown into their own identities, there was real scope for new arcs around the original murder, arcs built on consequence, reconciliation, or psychological reckoning rather than revenge. The screenplay does not go anywhere near that territory. Even in real life, there are examples where families of victims have eventually moved towards reconciliation. The screenplay could have explored some of those emotional complexities instead of staying within familiar territory.

If you are a die-hard fan of Georgekutty and his family, Drishyam 3 is worth a watch. But do not expect closure. It ends with you still hanging, which makes you wonder if a fourth instalment is already being planned. If it is, I am likely to sit that one out.