Movie Review: Ajay Devgn’s Drishyman 2

Rating: 2 of 5

Star Cast: Ajay Devgn, Shriya Saran, Akshaye Khanna, Tabu, Ishita Dutta, Mrunal Jadhav, Saurabh Shukla, Rajat Kapoor

Director: Abhishek Pathak

7 years later, our smartest common man Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn) has now leveled up in society, from being a cable operator to being a theatre owner who also decides what films to play for maximum profit after reviewing them. The family doesn’t stay all happy as the Police re-enter their life and this time it’s IG Tarun Ahlawat (Akshaye Khanna), a colleague of Meera Deshmukh (Tabu).

The forced addition of bringing the ‘corrupt’ goon Gaitonde back, messes with the lead investigator’s (Akshaye Khanna) character to almost make him look ‘limited’ with his research hence downplaying the combat between the two opposite forces. Jeethu’s version, while building the plot, had a certain intrigue built around its side characters from the village which is vehemently missing in this one. Sudhir K. Chaudhary’s camerawork does give a more polished feel to the gloomy setup, but when I think of it Jeethu’s attempt of ‘keeping it basic’ with Satheesh Kurup had a better impact than this.

Certain decisions with the character of Shriya Saran’s Nandini make her a weak point, in both, the story & the film. She doesn’t go over the board, but her character does. Akshaye Khanna isn’t the Akshaye Khanna I was expecting. Murali Gopy’s Thomas was a whole lot of cunning & clever than Akshaye’s Tarun. The trailer immediately reminded me of his act from Ittefaq but that’s not the case in the film.

Tabu was as much as she was in the trailer, again certain character decisions making her distant from the viewers compared to the prequel. Ishita Dutta’s Anju never touches on the impact Ansiba’s Anju had with exploring the PTSD around the character. Mrunal Jadhav, too, adds nothing substantial to the narrative. Saurabh Shukla & Rajat Kapoor are decent in their roles.