Drishyam 3 ending took 100-plus drafts, writer reveals

The ending of Drishyam: The Conclusion — the moment fans are talking about after the film — was not a happy accident. Screenwriter Aamil Keeyan Khan has revealed that the climax went through more than 100 drafts before the team found the version on screen.

Speaking to The Free Press Journal, he said the real pressure came from doing something the Hindi franchise had never done before: telling an original story.

No source material to hide behind

The first two Hindi Drishyam films were direct remakes of Mohanlal’s Malayalam blockbusters. For the third, Vijay Salgaonkar and his family step into a new story and a new finale, while the makers still had to keep the taste of Drishyam intact.

Aamil described the process as “an enormous mountain to climb”, with a beloved family and two hugely loved films sitting on the team’s shoulders. He called the balancing act “a very, very thin tightrope” because the script still needed humour, family, emotion, drama and thrills without any one element swallowing the others.

Drafts, dates and ‘FINAL PLEASE GOD’

The writer admitted the process became its own sort of comedy. He described folders inside folders, drafts with dates and numbers, and files named “FINAL”, “FINAL 2”, “FINAL FINAL” and “FINAL PLEASE GOD”.

“I have genuinely lost count, but well over a hundred drafts in different forms. Easily,” he said.

Why the ending mattered

The conclusion had to close Salgaonkar’s long battle with the Goa police, who are trying to establish that he hid the body of IGP Meera Deshmukh’s son. The stakes are built into the franchise’s premise: a father protecting his family, and the audience watching how far he will go.

That is why the original climax carried so much weight:

• First original chapter: Drishyam and Drishyam 2 were remakes; Drishyam 3 is not.
• Tonal balance: The script had to keep humour, emotion, drama and thrills in proportion.
• A returning ensemble: Ajay Devgn, Shriya Saran, Tabu, Ishita Dutta and Mrunal Jadhav are back, with Jaideep Ahlawat, Rajat Kapoor and Prakash Raj joining.

The opening suggests the risk is paying off

Directed by Abhishek Pathak, the film has recorded a strong start. It has earned Rs 176.50 crore nett in India and Rs 272.80 crore gross worldwide in its first three days.

For fans, the 100-draft confession is a reminder that even a franchise with a loyal audience has to earn its surprises — especially when the safety net of a remake is gone.

Source: India Today