FILM MAKER Abhishek Pathak, who has helmed Drishyam 3, has spoken about the challenges of taking forward the iconic franchise, saying he wanted to retain the nostalgia and interconnected details of the earlier films while crafting an original narrative. Abhishek said in a statement:“It is a very complex and nuanced film because there is so much history behind every character. The audience already knows these people and what has happened in Part 1 and Part 2, so every little thing has a meaning.” The director said the film's layered storytelling required revisiting the previous instalments to ensure that every dialogue and visual detail carried meaning. “Even while writing, we would keep going back to the earlier films, looking at a small dialogue or visual detail and seeing how we could bring it into this story. I was very conscious that this is Drishyam and people have a certain expectation from this world.” He added: “I wanted them to feel that nostalgia and feel that all the parts are connected. At the same time, I did not want to have the tag of a remake this time. Somewhere I felt that when you make something which is already there, people can overlook the craft that has gone into the Hindi version.” He shared that he really wanted give his own spin to the script.

 

“I really wanted to write it my own way, take the story ahead in the way I wanted and make my own version of the last part. We were constantly fighting over the screenplay, if something felt predictable, we would say anyone can guess this, anyone can figure this out. That process helped us keep the story complicated without losing the audience.” Abhishek Pathak also opened up about his emotional 12-year journey with the Drishyam franchise where he credited his wife and actor Shivaleeka Oberoi for being a constant source of peace and support through the making of the third instalment, Drishyam: The Conclusion. He said he was 27 when he produced the first part and is now 39, with each instalment coinciding with an important chapter of his life. “I think this is a personal journey. This is a journey of 12 years. I don't think anyone would have thought that after 12 years, we would be standing here and completing a Part 3 journey,” he said. “In Part 2, I got married to Shivaleeka. I became her husband. In Part 3, I had a daughter. I became her father. So the film is all about the family,” he said. Drishyam: The Conclusion is a crime thriller film co-written, produced, and directed by Pathak. Unlike its predecessors, the film features an original story and is not narratively connected to its Malayalam counterpart.