Dridam Movie Review By Baradwaj Rangan | Shane Nigam | Jeethu Joseph | Martin Joseph | Malayalam

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]Hello and welcome to Galatta Plus. In this video review episode, we're going to be talking about Martin Joseph Dridham. The film is a tight little coming-of-age story in the form of a police procedural.

[00:00:13]Shane Nigam plays a new cop taking up his first job in the most trouble-free village possible. At least that's what it looks like for a while. Even the people around him are super nice, but then a body is found, a robbery happens, and in solving these crimes, the new cop realizes what police work is really all about. The result is a not bad slow burn drama that keeps accelerating until the big twist at the end. That's the quick review. A longer analysis follows and it may contain spoilers.

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[00:01:00]>> [music] >> With his boyish looks and lanky frame, Shane Nigam is perfect for the part of Vijay, who is the new SI in a village called Kuri Nilam. The young man's key characteristics are that he's young and that he's new. Even the car he drives to his posting is brand new. It still has the plastic on the seats. While driving, Vijay gets a call from his uncle, a former cop. Vijay smiles when the car phone rings and he sees who it is. And later, when his parents visit them unannounced, he welcomes them with a bigger smile asking how he looks in his new police uniform. Vijay doesn't smoke, he doesn't drink. There doesn't seem to be a trace of dysfunction in him. He seems to be a truly sweet and nice man, and the place he is posted in seems as sweet and nice as him. His uncle tells him that the station is in a trouble-free area and it's a great place to start one's career. And for about 30 minutes of this 2-hour movie, this seems to be true.

[00:02:01]Drishyam has been sold as a thriller, but almost nothing happens for a while.

[00:02:06]Director Martin Joseph and writers Joy Mathew John and Linto Devasia fill the narrative with details that seem almost inconsequential. We learn, for instance, that this is a rural area, and so Vijay will report not to an inspector, but to the DYSP. Vijay is shown a place that serves home quality food. Even the bribes in Vijay's police station are used not for personal wealth, but to do maintenance work like keeping the toilets in clean condition and keeping the CCTVs running. And when Vijay finally seems to get his hands on a case with a young man found with drugs, he's persuaded by the older cops to let the matter go so that the man's future is not spoiled. It all seems too good to be true, and it is. At about the half-hour mark, the idyllic illusion is shattered.

[00:02:55]First, a body is discovered, and then there's a robbery in a finance company.

[00:02:59]And then, there's a blackmailing case. I almost laughed. It's as though the universe has decided that it's time to end Vijay's innocence, and the way to do this is to bury the man in an avalanche of apparently unrelated crimes. And the DYSP is not happy with what he sees as Vijay's inexperience. Vijay probably got the posting in order to learn the ropes, but now the ropes are a noose tightening around Vijay and threatening to get him fired from his very first job. Except for the closing portions, Drishyam is not a tense thriller. It has an overdose of dialogue. It has small bits of investigation, which are sometimes as banal as police work can be outside the movies. It has genre tropes like a chase in a forest. There's a nice little set piece where a man escapes an attacker by not panicking and with his presence of mind.

[00:03:52]There is a matter-of-fact approach to the way the story unfolds through small clues and patient questioning. Those expecting sustained tension are likely to be disappointed, but I enjoyed the feeling of being as lost as Vijay is in this modestly mounted procedural.

[00:04:07]Towards the end though, the film's tone changes and we see that Mathukutty Xavier does want to follow the footsteps of his mentor Jeethu Joseph. This portion contains a wicked twist and I liked it in concept even though I kind of saw it coming. The idea of Vijay getting a practical education in the ways of police work is terrific, but the whole portion is too mossy in nature and in tonality the transition is not organic. It feels as though a laid-back Agatha Christie mystery has suddenly morphed into a Brusli movie. But flaws and all, you look back at Drishyam and see that it is really a coming-of-age movie. If Vijay is to be a competent cop, he first needs to learn that there is no such thing as a crime-free zone and there is no one who can really be trusted. He has to lose his sweetness, he has to lose his innocence and he has to learn that women can be as lethal as men. It all adds up to a nice little variation on the traditional crime story. That's it about Drishyam. If you like this video review, do subscribe to Galatta Plus and see you soon at the movies. Book your next holiday [music] at Grand Royal Tours.

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