Ajay Devgn’s Drishyam 3 is a potent parable about how propaganda works

Drishyam 3, the latest installment of the popular franchise, serves as a potent metaphor for the workings of propaganda. The film's success lies not in the cleverness of its protagonist, Vijay, but in his ability to outmaneuver an audience familiar with his personal shortcomings. The protagonist's deception becomes increasingly contrived, with the film ultimately feeling like a prolonged headache. However, the series has maintained a core interest in the concept of truth and its manipulation.

Vijay employs cinematic techniques, such as visual imagery and spoken word, to craft a fabricated reality that is ultimately accepted as truth. This is evident in the second film, where Vijay creates a fictional narrative for his family, which is then integrated into their daily lives. He further solidifies this fabricated truth through the publication of a book and the use of WhatsApp to disseminate it further, turning a fabricated story into a seemingly real reality.

This technique is especially potent when used to appropriate the collective identity of a religion, lending credibility to his own fabricated narrative.

The franchise's political resonance becomes apparent when Vijay uses the methods historically perfected by those in power – exploiting institutional gaps, manufacturing consensus, and creating repetition to reinforce a fabricated truth. This is particularly relevant in the current political climate, where Hindi cinema seems more interested in manufacturing truths rather than telling stories.

Vijay's cinephilia, therefore, is not incidental but a result of his learning from the medium that teaches images and narratives to appear as reality, despite not being necessarily realistic. The film ultimately serves as a reminder that we, as the audience, are the only ones left to be fooled.