Drishyam 3 crosses Rs 303 crore worldwide as Gaitonde returns

Kamlesh Sawant has done something rare in a franchise built around Ajay Devgn. His Inspector Laxmikant Gaitonde steps into Drishyam 3: The Conclusion not as a sidekick or comic relief, but as the obsessed, dogged counterweight to Vijay Salgaonkar — and once again, he has audiences arguing about who really owns the Drishyam universe.

The third film arrived in theatres on October 2, and at the box office it is moving like a finale should. On its first Monday, the thriller added Rs 21 crore nett in India. But the numbers are only part of the story: the return of Gaitonde has reminded fans why a dogged police inspector can feel bigger than a star cop.

The cop who refuses to stay down

In the first Drishyam (2015), Gaitonde was the officer most certain that Vijay and his family were hiding the truth about Sameer Deshmukh’s disappearance. In Drishyam 2 (2022), the suspicion became personal, and now in the final chapter he is still chasing a case that refuses to close.

What makes Gaitonde different from the larger-than-life cops Bollywood usually celebrates is the absence of spectacle. He is not powered by slow-motion entries or gravity-defying fights. He loses, gets knocked down, and comes back more determined — driven by the need to prove the crime rather than to perform heroism. That relentlessness is exactly why he sticks with viewers long after the credits roll.

When hatred is the real compliment

For an actor playing a negative character, an angry audience can be the strongest proof of a job well done. Sawant experienced this directly during the first film. At one screening, a woman sitting beside him changed seats. Later, he learned that a group of women had said they did not want to be near ‘this despicable man’ — while also praising his work.

The reactions did not stop there. Sawant has recounted how one woman told him she felt like spitting in his face, and another said she wanted to hit him with a slipper, but both added that he had done a good job. In each case, he said, he simply replied ‘Thank you.’ The anger unsettled him, but he took it as appreciation.

More than a uniform

Gaitonde may be his defining role, but Sawant has been building this screen identity for two decades. His Bollywood debut in Khakee (2004) put him in uniform, and he went on to appear in Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008), Right Yaaa Wrong (2010), Force (2011) and Bhoothnath Returns (2014). He has also been a steady presence in Marathi cinema, with films such as Ek Krantiveer: Vasudev Balwant Phadke (2007), Lalbaug Parel (2010) and Daagdi Chaawl (2015), along with Marathi television and theatre.

Drishyam 3’s opening run

The film’s box office performance gives the franchise a suitably big send-off. Here is where the numbers stood after its first Monday:

• India nett: Rs 197.50 crore
• India gross: Rs 237 crore
• Overseas gross: Rs 66 crore
• Worldwide gross: Rs 303 crore

The worldwide figure combines Rs 237 crore in India gross with Rs 66 crore from overseas, where the film added Rs 5 crore on Day 4. A Rs 303 crore total in four days suggests the third Drishyam is not just closing the story — it is expanding the franchise’s commercial peak.

Source: India Today