On Wednesday, the much-awaited trailer of Ajay Devgn’s The upcoming instalment of the Hindi version boasts a completely different story from its Malayalam counterpart estarring Mohanlal. While Drishyam 3 is yet to open its advance booking sale, let’s revisit the success of its previous chapters.
After the success of Mohanlal’s Malayalam version, Drishyam in Hindi arrived in theatres in 2015. The film, starring , did not see a big-ticket commercial opener. Drishyam opened at a modest ₹5.85 crore. With strong word-of-mouth and sustained audience interest, the Nishikant Kamat directorial became a winner at the box office. The film was reportedly made on a budget of ₹48 crore, and it went on to collect ₹67.14 crore net in India. Overseas, the film collected ₹19.77 crore, pushing the worldwide collection to ₹110.40 crore.
The success of the film established Drishyam as a hit franchise, which became the biggest asset for its sequel, which released after seven years.
Unlike Drishyam, Drishyam 2 turned the franchise into a bona fide box-office powerhouse. Released in November 2022, the sequel opened at ₹15.38 crore, recording the second-biggest opening day among Hindi films of the year. It surpassed ( ₹14.11 crore) on opening day. The film recorded a ₹64.14 crore opening weekend, which became one of Ajay Devgn’s biggest opening weekends, before entering the ₹100 crore club in just six days.
Drishyam 2 eventually crossed the ₹200 crore mark in India in 23 days and ₹300 crore worldwide, becoming the third Bollywood film to do so in 2022. With ₹239.67 crore net in India, ₹59.50 crore overseas and ₹342.31 crore worldwide as per Sacnilk, against a ₹50 crore budget, the sequel delivered a significantly higher return on investment than the prequel. It was also the second-highest-grossing Hindi film of 2022 and among the year’s biggest theatrical success stories.
Meanwhile, Drishyam 3 is expected to take the story in a different direction with a different story. It marks the official end of the franchise in Hindi.
“We all thought that this should be the conclusion because I don’t think we should even attempt to go beyond this. Because everything, if you leave it at the top, that’s the best thing,” Ajay Devgan said on Wednesday.
According to a report by Asia Net, Drishyam 3 aka Drishyam: The Conclusion is expected to rake in around Rs. 50-60 crore nett on its opening day. The film will release on October 2.
