⭐️ No songs to act as a hook
⭐️ No masala to woo mass audience
⭐️ No humour/comedy to balance the serious goings-on
⭐️ No VFX or 3D to lure the youth
⭐️ No promotional overdrive
Yet, DRISHYAM 2 is delivering big numbers at the BO. And as I pen this piece, the Abhishek Pathak directorial has cruised past the premium ₹ 100 cr mark. A noteworthy achievement in today’s times.
The curiosity to watch DRISHYAM 2 was evident during the advance bookings itself. The advances were generally good, but gathered momentum two days before its release. What does one attribute the impressive pre-release ticket sales to?
⭐️ Did the [fantastic] trailer do the trick?
⭐️ Or the fact that DRISHYAM [first part] had attained cult status thanks to the love it got on OTT?
⭐️ Or the curiosity to know what would happen to Vijay Salgaonkar and his family once the case reopens?
DRISHYAM 2 also debunks the theory that moviegoers aren’t interested in watching remakes. The failure of BACHCHHAN PAANDEY [remake of JIGARTHANDA; Tamil], JERSEY [JERSEY; Telugu], LAAL SINGH CHADDHA [FORREST GUMP; American], VIKRAM VEDHA [VIKRAM VEDHA; Tamil] and THANK GOD [SORTE KUGLER; Danish] – starring prominent names – crop up in every conversation these days and the think tanks of our industry often attribute the failure to the remake factor.
DRISHYAM 2 seems to have put a stop to this discussion, at least for the time being.
DRISHYAM 2 has brought back cheer, joy, hope, confidence and optimism in an industry that was staring at failures week after week. Sure, there have been few exceptions [few successes], but, in my humble opinion, 2022 will go down as the worst performing year as far as Hindi films are concerned.
Everyone is feeling optimistic, but let’s not celebrate yet. Perhaps, the resurrection has just commenced with DRISHYAM 2, but the industry needs several DRISHYAM 2s to erase the memory of the nightmarish Fridays we witnessed in 2022.
Going forward, the storytellers need to focus on content, the Studios/exhibitors ought to make cinema tickets affordable for the common man, the stars need to bring down remuneration and the producers need to keep the economics in check.
Let’s hope, achche din are back again.
