I imagine that for quite a few people, the joy of watching the Drishyam films might be contained in the thrills and twists, in the inevitable Georgekutty win, in those slow-mo shots at the end as the eyes of his adversaries widen at being outwitted by Georgekutty’s craftiness yet again… But for those like me, there are deeper joys in this franchise: particularly in its psychological depth, in its commentary on the personal and the social, and of course, on the criminal…

In Drishyam 3, for instance, my most favourite stretch comes just before the interval, when Georgekutty slowly realises that his adversaries can no longer be clearly demarcated as enemies to take down at all costs. Increasingly, his adversaries are now people whose peace has been stolen from them, in ways that even Georgekutty’s genius could hardly have foreseen. The couple sabotaging his daughter’s wedding. Even the so-called ‘villains’. In other words, these hapless, frustrated people are essentially… him. Only not as intelligent, not as wily.

And it makes sense then that Drishyam 3 begins to grapple with the very real possibility that the most dangerous adversary of the invincible Georgekutty is perhaps… himself? Think about it. His guile has not brought him peace. In fact, quite the opposite, as his wins seem to have created more misery than any singular defeat might ever have brought him. His life, it seems, is getting knotted faster than he can unknot it. It’s also why the most violent image in this film features—gasp—Georgekutty slapping and stabbing a woman. It’s why, towards the end, we even get a line that summarises all this beautifully: “Victories don’t necessarily bring peace.”

However, given that the structure of Drishyam 3 seems more concerned with setting up those final twists, I can understand why you’d be tempted to attack the film for not being ‘thrilling enough’, for perhaps not coming up with a tactical mastermind who can truly take on Georgekutty and his incredible mind. But this isn’t that film. In a sense, this isn’t the Batman franchise, even if Georgekutty too is a self-sacrificing guardian. The Drishyam franchise isn’t about coming up with increasingly theatrical villains with conflicting worldviews. Three films in, the antagonists remain the same people from the first film, cyclically hurting one another, even if not always intentionally. Again, as the film itself puts it: “One must rot for another to grow.”

So, I do think that Jeethu Joseph himself, like Georgekutty, is a master deceiver. He lures you in with promises of twists and thrills, but they are just the smokescreen. The actual soul of these films lies not in the reveal, not in the final stretch, but in the painstaking set-up. That’s where you see the guilt, the paranoia, the gradual erosion of peace. I’m glad these films are still focussed on such psychological weight because to get carried away by the thrills would be this franchise’s poisoned chalice, I think.

It’s tricky because the film does seem burdened by having to behave like a chess thriller. That’s why you’ve got all these characters still underestimating Georgekutty, even though, to us now, it feels incredulous, and we end up not joining them in cynicism about Georgekutty’s abilities, but actually judging them for being so naive. Imagine thinking that this man, who turned policemen into ‘fans’… has survived on luck. This film, in a sense, tries so hard to reset our expectations so that Georgekutty’s inevitable ‘victories’ continue to generate the same thrill they once did. But the effect, I’m afraid, is diminishing. The masterplan and the layering around it do feel rather… heavy and convoluted. The psychological work may be fantastic, but the plot-work doesn’t feel ingeniously simple anymore. They feel laboured, engineered. It’s perhaps why we get such obvious violence too (especially from Sahadevan) in this film.

The franchise is at a crossroads now, as it flirts with another sequel. I think it might just have squeezed the last juice out of this now-overfamiliar structure. Imagine if they sprang a Logan from out of nowhere, a film that’s so much more about the drama than any pre-programmed twists. We are now at a time when even Georgekutty himself seems to be wondering whether all his brilliance was worth it. He’s having nightmares, his daughter’s crumbling, his wife’s panicking, his enemies are growing… It’s why he, and Jeethu, seem to have decided to ‘end the war’ for now.

And so, as Georgekutty himself seems keen to stop playing this endless game of deception, perhaps director Jeethu Joseph can too. Perhaps next time around (and I hope there is one), Drishyam can proudly flaunt its psychological strengths instead of camouflaging them in thriller clothing. After all, we have come to recognise this trick now.