Drishya 2, sequel to the 2014 Kannada film Drishya, went on floors on Monday. The film is a remake of the 2021 Malayalam film Drishyam 2.
Announcing the film’s launch on Twitter on Sunday, producer Mukesh R Mehta thanked the producer and director of the original film, Antony Perumbavoor and Jeethu Joseph, for granting them the remake rights.
“The film will be shot across Bangalore till the end of this month, after which we are planning on moving to Coorg provided the government allows us,” Mehta told Silverscreen India.
“We are trying to maintain a small crew, of less than 100 people, since it’s not an action-oriented film, and are taking all precautions,” Mehta added.
Directed by P Vasu, Drishya 2 will feature actors Anant Nag, Veeraswamy Ravichandran, Prabhu, Pramod Shetty, Navya Nair, and Asha Sarath. Ravichandran, Nair, and Sarath will be seen reprising their respective roles as Rajendra Ponnappa, Seetha, and Inspector General of Police Roopa Chandrashekar.
The original Drishyam is a Malayalam film, written and directed by Jeethu Joseph. Released in 2013, it starred Mohanlal, Meena, Esther Anil, Ansiba, and Asha Sharath, in the lead roles. The story follows George Kutty (Mohanlal), who tries to save his family from the wrath of a police officer (Sarath), after she suspects him of murdering her son.
The sequel, Drishyam 2, was released in February 2021, on Amazon Prime Video owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the fluctuating lockdown scenario that began in March 2020.
Both Drishyam and Drishyam 2 were critically acclaimed as well as commercially successful, and currently hold IMDb ratings of 8.3 and 8.7, respectively.
[Read Silvercreen India‘s review piece on Drishyam 2 here]
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Drishyam has been remade in several languages, such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Sinhalese, and Chinese. Kamal Haasan featured in the 2015 Tamil-language remake, titled Papanasam, also directed by Joseph. In 2019, the Chinese remake, Sheep Without a Shepherd, was released.
Remakes of the sequel are also in works in multiple languages.
Apart from the Kannada version, a Telugu sequel is in production starring Venkatesh and Meena, titled Drushyam 2. A Hindi remake of the sequel, starring Ajay Devgn in lead role, is also in the pipeline but will not be green-lit until the copyright tug-of-war between Viacom 18 Media Pvt Ltd and Panorama Studios International, is sorted.