‘Drishyam 3’: Jeethu Joseph reveals what sparked the blockbuster idea and the original title behind the iconic thriller

Even as director Jeethu Joseph gears up for the release of ‘Valathu Vasathe Kallan’ on January 30, conversations around his most celebrated franchise refuse to die down. Wherever he goes, questions about Mohanlal’s ‘Drishyam 3’ follow. The third instalment of the crime thriller is slated to hit theatres on April 2, 2026, and curiosity around its origins continues to grow.In a recent interaction with Manorama News, Jeethu Joseph opened up about the unusually long creative process behind ‘Drishyam’. The filmmaker revealed that it took nearly 10 years for the story to evolve from a basic thought into a complete screenplay. What eventually became one of Indian cinema’s most gripping thrillers had a surprisingly modest and uncertain beginning. Jeethu Joseph, who rose to national prominence with ‘Drishyam’ in 2013, shared that the initial spark came from an informal chat with friends long before he entered the film industry. One friend narrated an incident involving a young boy and girl where moral responsibility was blurred on both sides. At first, Jeethu visualised it as a courtroom drama, with no trace of the iconic police station climax.The director admitted that the early version of the story felt flat and uninspiring, leading him to abandon it temporarily. As mobile phones became more widespread and their misuse increasingly relevant, the narrative slowly began to take shape again. Around this time, an associate suggested a character sketch of a theatre employee, which Jeethu briefly incorporated into the script.During its early development phase, the film was tentatively titled ‘Thirasheelayude Maravil’. However, this version of the story still lacked its defining elements. There was no murder, no police station, and no jaw-dropping reveal. When the associate was unable to take the project forward, the script returned to Jeethu, who once again reworked it from scratch.One of the most fascinating revelations was how the film’s legendary climax came into existence. Jeethu Joseph shared that the idea of hiding the body beneath a police station emerged purely by chance while he was playing shuttle badminton. That accidental thought transformed the narrative and gave ‘Drishyam’ its unforgettable ending.In ‘Drishyam’, Mohanlal essays the role of Georgekutty, a cable TV operator living a quiet life in a small Kerala town. His world turns upside down when Varun, the son of a senior police officer, blackmails his daughter and is accidentally killed inside their home. What follows is a tense cat-and-mouse game between Georgekutty and the police.The film’s closing moments reveal that Georgekutty had concealed Varun’s body beneath the police station itself, rendering the investigation futile. This clever narrative twist cemented ‘Drishyam’ as a landmark thriller and redefined suspense storytelling in Indian cinema. With Jeethu Joseph returning to expand the saga and Mohanlal reprising his iconic role, expectations from ‘Drishyam 3’ are sky-high. Knowing the painstaking effort and years of thought that went into crafting the original only adds to the anticipation surrounding the next chapter.