Jeethu Joseph warns makers of Ajay Devgn's Drishyam 3. Here's everything we know

Mint

5 days ago

The much-anticipated film Drishyam 3, featuring Mohanlal and helmed by Jeethu Joseph, is currently in works. While the Malayalam film is yet to hit the shooting floors, reports about its Hindi version, starring Ajay Devgn, might head to production first. Amid this, Jeethu Joseph clarified that his Malayalam flick will be the first to move ahead.
In an interview with Mathrubhumi, the filmmaker warned of legal action to prevent the Hindi version, starring Ajay Devgn, from getting ahead of the original.
Jeetu said that he prevented the makers of the Hindi version of Drishyam 3 from starting earlier than Mohanlal's film, which is the original.
He said, 'There were demands on making Malayalam and Hindi versions together, but we haven't decided on those matters. There were initially some plans to start in Hindi first, but after a hint was given that this would be dealt with legally, they backed off from it.'
The alleged tiff between the film versions began when reports claimed that Drishyam 3 in Hindi was about to begin production soon.
However, Jeethu said that the original film is still in the scripting phase and won't begin filming until October this year.
The Hindi adaptation will only commence after the Malayalam one, asserted Jeethu. Speaking at a recent event, Jeethu said, 'I just completed the climax of Drishyam 3 last night. It's been a period of intense pressure.'
Drishyam is a widely successful film franchise. The first installment of the film in Malayalam was released in 2013 under the direction of Jeethu Joseph. In the film, Mohanlal played the lead.
The film revolves around Georgekutty and his family, whose lives take a dramatic turn when a police officer's son mysteriously goes missing. The gripping narrative found resonance across languages, leading to remakes in several languages.
Following the success, it was adapted in Kannada with V Ravichandran in the lead in 2014. In the same year, the Telugu version with Daggubati Venkatesh was out, followed by a Tamil version in 2015 starring Kamal Haasan. Ajay Devgn headlined the Hindi remake, which also gained immense popularity.
Its success extended beyond India, with remakes produced in Sinhala and Chinese. In addition, Indonesian and Korean adaptations are currently in development.
A sequel to Drishyam 1 was released in 2021 in Malayalam, Kannada, and Telugu. The Hindi version of Drishyam 2 hit theatres in 2022. The third installment, Drishyam 3, was officially announced in February this year.