Drishyam (film series)

Development

In July 2013, reports indicated Jeethu Joseph would direct a film titled My Family with Mohanlal, but by August 2013 the director clarified the title was Drishyam. The story idea had been with Joseph since the early 1990s, inspired by a conversation he overheard about two families in a legal battle. He wrote the story before his film Memories (2013) but postponed it to follow his planned order. The script was initially intended for another director, but when that director could not find a producer, Joseph took it back and directed it himself.

Joseph noted that Drishyam was a complete script-oriented film requiring no special effort, unlike his previous work. Before the COVID-19 lockdown, Joseph and Mohanlal were filming Ram, but shooting stalled due to planned foreign locations. Realizing filming would take time, Joseph decided to start work on Drishyam 2, a sequel he had planned for a while.

Since the sequel would shoot only in Kerala, it became the most appropriate project after lockdown. The film was announced on Mohanlal's 60th birthday, 21 May 2020, with Antony Perumbavoor returning as producer. Joseph stated it is a direct continuation, retaining principal characters and adding new secondary cast members. In the sequel, Georgekutty and his family lead an affluent life, with Georgekutty having opened a cinema theatre and planning to produce a film.

Remakes

Drishyam was remade in Kannada as Drishya (2014), Telugu as Drushyam (2014), Tamil as Papanasam (2015) directed by Joseph himself, Hindi as Drishyam (2015), Sinhala as Dharmayuddhaya (2017), Mandarin Chinese as Sheep Without a Shepherd (2019) with a different ending, and Indonesian as Ayah, Aku Mau Cerita... (2026). The sequel was remade in Kannada as Drishya 2 (2021) directed by P. Vasu, in Telugu as Drushyam 2 (2021) by Joseph, and in Hindi as Drishyam 2 (2022) directed by Abhishek Pathak.

A Sinhalese remake titled Dharmayuddhaya 2 was released in 2026. For Drishyam 3, dubbed versions were released in Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada instead of separate remakes. A Hindi adaptation directed by Abhishek Pathak starring Ajay Devgn is scheduled for 2 October 2026, following a different narrative rather than being a direct remake.