How Ajay Devgn's Drishyam, Released On This Day 10 Years Ago, Made October 2 A Pop Culture Meme

NDTV

31-07-2025

It's that time of the year. Today is July 31, when fans of Ajay Devgn's Drishyam, the Hindi adaptation of Mohanlal's Malayalam blockbuster of the same name, flood social media with October 2 or Gandhi Jayanti memes, every year. And it has been a decade and the admirers still can't get enough of what actually happened on October 2 all those years ago.
So, what occurred on October 2 in Drishyam, directed by the late Nishikant Kamat?
October 2, or Gandhi Jayanti, is a key reference to the story plotted by Ajay Devgn's Vijay Salgaonkar, a school dropout who failed Class 4 and now a businessman in Goa. A cinema buff, Vijay lives a content life with his wife and two daughters.
Things go awry after the family gets caught in the disappearance case of Sam, the son of the Inspector-General of Police Meera Deshmukh (Tabu). A protective father and shrewd man, Vijay uses the date of October 2 to create a watertight fake alibi to protect his family.
When cops question Vijay's daughter Anju (Ishita Dutta), who is Sam's college batchmate, that whether Sam came to her house on October 2, she says, she and her family travelled to Panaji to attend a satsang at Swami Chinmayanand's ashram.
After attending the satsang, they ate pav bhaji for lunch, stayed overnight in the city, and returned the next day on October 3. The family backs all these claims with bus tickets, movie tickets, and restaurant bills.
Not only Anju, every member of the family -- Vijay, his wife Nandini (Shriya Saran), and their younger daughter Anu (Mrunal Jadhav) -- has learnt the story by heart. This fake story is referenced and repeated multiple times in Drishyam, also making it the perfect leitmotif in the film's narrative.
Vijay's fake story also gave October 2, or Gandhi Jayanti a new cinematic reference, which has turned into a social media meme.
Even Kumar Mangat Pathak, one of the producers of Drishyam, had the same thing to say as he marked the film's 10th release anniversary in an X post.
5 reasons, one unforgettable film. Dive into what made Drishyam a masterpiece of Indian cinema
A decade later, and we're still asking… 2nd October ko kya hua tha? 🤔
𝟏𝟎 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐎𝐟 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐲𝐚𝐦 @ajaydevgn #AkshayeKhanna #Tabu @shriya1109 #RajatKapoor @ishidutta pic.twitter.com/9KkYyc2NGz
— Abhishek Pathak (@AbhishekPathakk) July 31, 2025
He wrote, "5 reasons, one unforgettable film. Dive into what made Drishyam a masterpiece of Indian cinema. A decade later, and we're still asking... 2nd October ko kya hua tha? 10 Years Of Drishyam @ajaydevgn #AkshayeKhanna #Tabu @shriya1109 #RajatKapoor @ishidutta."
If you still haven't been able to decode what happened on October 2 in Drishyam (Hindi), we suggest you finally watch the film. The 10-year anniversary of the movie is the apt occasion to do so.