Drishyam: The Conclusion is the first Hindi film in the Drishyam series to leave the Malayalam original’s template behind. Its screenwriter, Aamil Keeyan Khan, has now shared what that freedom cost: he says he went through well over a hundred drafts before the franchise’s new ending locked into place.
Abhishek Pathak directs; besides Ajay Devgn, the film brings back Shriya Saran, Tabu, Ishita Dutta and Mrunal Jadhav, with Jaideep Ahlawat, Rajat Kapoor and Prakash Raj.
That detail matters because it explains the pressure behind the third instalment. The first two Hindi films, starring Ajay Devgn as Vijay Salgaonkar, were direct remakes of Mohanlal’s Malayalam Drishyam films. This time, the team had to move the Salgaonkar family’s story in a fresh direction while protecting what fans already loved.
An original screenplay, not another remake
Speaking to The Free Press Journal, Aamil described the task as “an enormous mountain to climb.” The challenge was not just writing a new mystery but keeping the franchise’s DNA intact while surprising an audience for the third time.
He said the story still needed its familiar ingredients:
- humour and family warmth
- emotion and drama
- thrills that do not overpower the rest
“It was a very, very thin tightrope. Thankfully, none of us looked down,” he added.
Why the ending took so long
Asked how many versions the climax went through, Aamil said he had folders inside folders, drafts with dates and numbers, and files named ‘FINAL’, ‘FINAL 2’, ‘FINAL FINAL’ and ‘FINAL PLEASE GOD’. His estimate: “well over a hundred drafts in different forms. Easily.”
That is a telling detail for fans who have followed Vijay Salgaonkar’s two earlier battles. When a franchise has two loved films behind it, the third ending cannot just be clever; it has to feel earned by everything that came before.
A risk that seems to be working
The bet on an original storyline is already showing results. The film has given Ajay Devgn the biggest opening of his career, and early reactions have been warm. Some Malayalam viewers have even compared the Hindi writing favourably with the original, which is high praise for any remake-adjacent franchise.
For fans, the takeaway is simple: this is not a translated climax. The ending you are watching was built through more than a hundred attempts, and that is exactly the kind of care the third part of a beloved story needs.
Source: Hindustan Times