Rarely has a film spawned multiple remakes in various regional languages, with all the iterations becoming huge successes at the box office. The Malayalam language thriller Drishyam (2013) which became the source text for remakes in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Chinese versions is finally getting adapted into a Hollywood film. The crime thriller featuring Mohanlal in the lead role, written and directed by Jeethu Joseph is still considered one of the most successful Malayalam films, with a sequel Drishyam 2 (2021), which also got rave reviews and had a great run in its streaming release in between the pandemic. Drishyam 2 also had a remake in Hindi with Ajayan Devgan reprising his role from the first instalment of the Hindi remake.
Panorama Studios is the production house behind the renewed interest in the film rights being sold to Hollywood, through a partnership deal with Gulfstream Pictures and JOAT Films. The production house posted on its social media pages, “We are very happy to collaborate with Gulfstream Pictures and JOAT Films to create this story in English for Hollywood. After Korea and Hollywood, our mission is to produce Drishyam in 10 countries in the next three to five years." The Spanish and Korean versions are expected to take off once the Hollywood film comes out.
Drishyam, bankrolled by Aashirvad Cinemas, shows how far a common go to protect his family from a murder case that snowballs into a media sensation. The team has not announced the cast and crew for the Hollywood version but the announcements are expected to be made in the coming months.