Why the plot twists of Mohanlal’s Drishyam work, and those of Thudarum don’t!
Thudarum is bound to draw parallels with Drishyam I and II, as they all feature Mohanlal playing a common man who unwittingly gets embroiled in a crime that rips through the heart of his loving family
Last Updated: 01.00 PM, May 03, 2025
The Mohanlal-starrer Thudarum is running to packed theatres across Kerala. No doubt, Thudarum is a well-scripted and brilliantly executed film, with exceptional performances from the whole cast, and the film has emerged as a much-needed boost to the ailing Malayalam film industry.
Thudarum is bound to draw parallels with Drishyam I and II, as they all feature Mohanlal playing a common man who unwittingly gets embroiled in a crime that rips through the heart of his loving family and who will then stop at nothing to somehow rescue that family.
Plot twists of Thudarum and Drishyam I & II
It is of course futile to compare Thudarum and Drishyam, or to describe how one is a superior or inferior film with respect to the other. Both are excellent crime thrillers, marked by their hair-raising plot twists towards the climax, which leave the audience marvelling at the ingenuity of the scripts. This article is therefore a purely personal take on a comparison between the plot twists of Thudarum and Drishyam I and II.
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I will lay this upfront: the plot twists of Thudarum didn’t work for me! Pure and simple. In fact, it was long after I had finished watching the film that I got to thinking more about the plot intricacies of Thudarum, and the twists finally revealed themselves to me, namely (Warning: STOP RIGHT HERE IF YOU HAVEN’T YET WATCHED THUDARUM!) the step-father angle, the crucial role of George’s daughter Mary in the whole story, and the fact that the film ultimately wishes to highlight the social issue of ‘honour killing’.
While watching the film itself, I was so benumbed by the stomach-churning treatment meted out to Benz’s wife and daughter at the police station, shown in all its gory detail, that it is no surprise if the plot twists escaped me at the time.
But at a deeper level, the real reason why the plot twists of Thudarum don’t work for me is something else. Once the audience comes to know that the hero’s son has been murdered by the villain, the film is finished! Nothing the hero will or can do thereafter to the villain can rescue the film for the audience. A film works best when the audience identify with the main characters, and travel with them through the length of the film, sharing their emotions and experiences.
As soon as the audience learns along with the hero that his son has been killed, the loss of audience’s interest in the rest of the film is as irreparable as the loss suffered by Benz and his family in the story. The audience discerns that no matter what Benz does thereafter, there can be no redemption at the end. Only the pathetic cry of Benz remains: why? Why? Why?
Drishyam I and II
On the other hand, the plot twists of Drishyam I and II work precisely because the viewers identify with Georgekutty, and we are elevated by the sense of exultation and jubilation that we feel when Georgekutty outwits the authorities and saves his ordinary, vulnerable family. I have heard a few detractors of the Drishyam films say that Georgekutty is ultimately a criminal and the films do society a wrong by showing him escape scot-free from the murder committed by his family.
But we, the fans of Drishyam films, couldn’t care less. We know that in the real world, if the Police IG’s son Varun Prabhakar had done some serious harm to Georgekutty’s wife and daughters, there is no way his family could have obtained any justice for his crime.
The powerful people’s love for their children sadly triumphs over whatever is left of their morality and sense of justice and duty. So, it’s no wonder that the audience realize very clearly that the Drishyam films show perhaps the only ways in which a common man like Georgekutty could have protected his family once it is threatened by an unwelcome stranger who is also backed by power and wealth. This is the real reason why the plot twists of Drishyam so thrill us and give us that fleeting escape from the harsh realities of the world.
(The author, Arjun Ramakrishnan, is a movie enthusiast, who closely follows films, across languages and genres)