Seven years after burying a dark secret, a cinema owner and his family face a renewed investigation led by a relentless new inspector and a grieving mother. New witnesses and forensic traps threaten to shatter their peaceful life. Vijay Salgaonkar remains a man possessed by the singular need for domestic preservation. He operates with a quiet, calculating stillness while the ghosts of his past begin to stir through the testimony of a wandering convict. The pressure mounts as a sharp, investigative mind replaces the blunt force of previous years. Vijay finds himself backed into a corner where his obsession with cinematic narrative becomes his only weapon. He leans into his defining vice; a cold, manipulative control over reality itself. To shield his wife and daughters, he must orchestrate a second grand deception. The cost is a permanent loss of innocence, forcing his family to live as perpetual accomplices in a house built on secrets. On the night of 4 October 2014, A man named David Brazagna (Siddharth Bodke) flees from authorities for murder. While hiding behind an under-construction police station, he sees Vijay (Ajay Devgn) emerging from it. Afterwards, he tries to escape with his wife and kid, but ends up getting arrested.
Seven years later:
Vijay, Nandini (Shriya Saran), Anju (Ishita Dutta) and Anu (Mrunal Jadhav) are living contentedly. Vijay is now a prosperous businessman who owns a movie theatre and still operates a cable company. He aspires to make a film of his own and is in frequent contact with screenwriter Murad Ali (Saurabh Shukla) to develop the script. Anju, on the other hand, is a PTSD patient and has recurring episodes of epilepsy, a result of her involvement in Sam's death.
Jealous of the family's rise in wealth, a number of locals have resorted to spreading rumors about Anju being in a relationship with Sam, much to Nandini's distress. Her only confidante is her friendly neighbor, Jenny (Neha Joshi), who is often abused by her alcoholic husband, Shiv (Nishant Singh).
On Sam's death anniversary, Vijay has an encounter with Sam's father Mahesh (Rajat Kapoor), who vainly begs him to disclose the location of his son's remains. Meanwhile, Nandini spends more time with Jenny and inadvertently discloses that Anju killed Sam. She also tells Jenny that Anju knows nothing & that Vijay shifted the body to an unknown location, the very next day of the murder.
Unknown to her, Jenny and Shiv are married undercover cops, assigned by Inspector-general of police Tarun Ahlawat (Akshaye Khanna), who is a close friend and colleague of Meera (Tabu) (Former Inspector-general of police; Sam's mother and Mahesh's wife).
Tarun was operating through Inspector Vinayak Sawant (Yogesh Soman) & Laxmikant Gaitonde (Kamlesh Sawant), former Sub Inspector of Police. Tarun tells his team that they know Vijay moved Sam's body a day after his murder, but they still don't know where he moved it to. Tarun narrows down Vijay's window to move the body to within 4.5 hours between 11 pm and 3:30 am. He also ascertains that the body is within 45 Kms of Vijay's home. He asks his team to check with everyone who was working at that time in that radius.
Questioning reveals that people saw Vijay coming home that night at 4 am.
At the same time, David is released from prison. After struggling to reconcile with his now-estranged wife, he yearns to find employment. While coming to know that Vijay's case is still ongoing, he recalls the latter's presence at the then-under-construction police station and realizes that Vijay was indeed complicit in the murder. He tips Tarun, who summons Meera and Mahesh from London. After the trio bribes him, David divulges what he saw, leading to the newly-built police station being excavated. The police eventually find a skeleton. Vijay, having noticed this through his CCTV cameras which he had installed around the police station, seemingly gives up.
Tarun summons Vijay's for questioning. While Vijay, Nandini, Anu, and Anju manage to maintain their alibi; Meera reveals a voice recording of Nandini's earlier confession to Jenny; the police bugged the family residence earlier, exposing the family. Gaitonde thrashes Vijay's family, causing Anju to have one of her fits. A distraught Vijay falsely confesses that he killed Sam. With the police satisfied, the family are let go, and Vijay ends up getting arrested and placed on trial for Sam's murder, although Meera isn't satisfied and demands that Vijay's family be punished as well.
Concurrently, Murad, having learned of the latter's arrest, pays a visit to Tarun, Meera, and Mahesh. He reveals that during one of his encounters with Vijay, the latter had fabricated a script for a future crime thriller, loosely based on Sam's murder. He further reveals that the script had been turned into a novel titled Drishyam, although it was published under Murad's name for copyright protection. Vijay pleads not guilty, with his lawyer claiming that the police used Drishyam's plot as a means to frame him. Furthermore, the judge reveals that the DNA tests conducted on the skeleton do not match Sam's DNA, much to everyone's shock.
Murad reveals that Vijay had fabricated an alternate climax for his film in which the hero, knowing his initial plan might fail, would procure the remains of another person of the same age and sex who had died of similar injuries to those of the villain, by befriending the gravedigger at the local cemetery. The hero would keep the skeletal remains with him for three years before befriending the security guard of the district medical college morgue under the pretext of promising him a role in his film. The same night in which were excavated from the police station arrive at the morgue, the hero would swap the bodies before the DNA analysis takes place.
Vijay is released on bail due to a lack of evidence, and the police are prohibited from investigating the family. The judge calls Tarun to his chambers and tells him to end all investigations against Vijay and his family, as he believes both families deserve justice, but the legal system is unable to provide it to them. The judge also tells him that such cases are not new to the system. Outside the courthouse, Murad discloses to Meera and Mahesh that Vijay's alternative climax had a twist in which the hero would hand over the villain's cremated remains to the bereaved parents. Simultaneously, Vijay has Sam's cremated remains anonymously handed over to Meera and Mahesh.
Mahesh immerses Sam's remains and persuades Meera to let go of her enmity towards Vijay, as he believes they have found closure and believes Vijay would do anything to protect his family. Vijay, who was watching from afar, solemnly leaves.
Read more →
