The OTT streaming rights to Drishyam 3 — Mohanlal‘s return as Georgekutty in the concluding chapter of Malayalam cinema’s most celebrated thriller franchise — have been acquired for ₹85 crore, ahead of the film’s worldwide theatrical release on April 2, 2026. Written and directed by Jeethu Joseph and produced by Antony Perumbavoor under Aashirvad Cinemas, Drishyam 3 is the most expensive OTT acquisition in Malayalam film history — a number that reflects both the franchise’s unmatched streaming track record and the scale of anticipation surrounding Georgekutty’s final chapter.
When Is Drishyam 3 Releasing and Where Can You Watch It?
Drishyam 3 releases theatrically worldwide on April 2, 2026. The film will stream on JioHotstar after a guaranteed minimum four-week exclusive theatrical window — putting the digital premiere no earlier than late April or early May 2026. The ₹85 crore OTT deal was struck as part of a larger pre-release rights package: distributors Panorama Studios and PEN Movies acquired the worldwide theatrical and digital rights bundle, with the streaming rights component alone commanding ₹85 crore — the largest such deal for a Malayalam film to date.
To put that number in context: the combined theatrical and digital rights for Drishyam 3 were sold for ₹160 crore total, meaning the OTT portion alone represents 53% of that package. When streaming rights command more than half of a film’s total distribution deal, it signals something specific about how the market reads the film — that the audience watching Drishyam 3 at home will be as commercially significant as the audience watching it in theatres. For a Malayalam film, that is an extraordinary statement.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Film | Drishyam 3 |
| Director | Jeethu Joseph |
| Producer | Antony Perumbavoor (Aashirvad Cinemas) |
| Lead | Mohanlal as Georgekutty |
| Cast | Meena, Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil |
| Theatrical Release | April 2, 2026 (Worldwide) |
| OTT Platform | JioHotstar |
| OTT Deal Value | ₹85 crore |
| Language | Malayalam (with dubbed versions) |
| Hindi Remake | Ajay Devgn — October 2, 2026 |
What Is Drishyam 3 About?
Drishyam 3 picks up where Drishyam 2 left off — with Georgekutty still carrying the weight of a crime his family committed, a carefully constructed cover story that has held for years, and an investigative pressure that has never fully released. In the third chapter, a new and more organised threat begins closing in, with adversaries who have studied Georgekutty’s methods and are better equipped to dismantle them. The story, as widely reported, focuses not just on Georgekutty protecting his family from the world but on shielding them from the truth — and from each other.
Leaked plot details circulating online suggest Drishyam 3 may end with Georgekutty making a final sacrifice for his family — a narrative move that would close the franchise on the same thematic axis it opened on: a man who will absorb any consequence to keep the people he loves intact. Whether those details are accurate will only be known on April 2, but the emotional logic is consistent with where Jeethu Joseph has been taking the character across thirteen years of storytelling.
Who Stars in Drishyam 3?
Mohanlal returns as Georgekutty, the character that has become one of Indian cinema’s most iconic ordinary-man protagonists. Meena reprises her role as Rani George, and Ansiba Hassan and Esther Anil return as daughters Anju and Anu. The complete family unit returning means the emotional continuity of the franchise is preserved — an important commercial and creative anchor for a film whose audience will have spent over a decade with these characters.
What About the Ajay Devgn Hindi Remake — And Why Do They Have Different Plots?
The Ajay Devgn-starring Hindi adaptation of Drishyam 3, directed by Abhishek Pathak and featuring Tabu and Jaideep Ahlawat, releases on October 2, 2026 — exactly six months after the Malayalam original. The six-month gap is deliberate, preventing both films from cannibalising each other’s box office across Hindi and Malayalam markets.
What makes the Drishyam 3 situation uniquely fascinating is that Jeethu Joseph wrote both the Malayalam and Hindi screenplays himself — and reportedly gave them different plots. Two versions of the same story, written by the same director, diverging intentionally. It is a creative strategy with almost no precedent in Indian cinema: the same writer choosing to take the same character to two different conclusions across two languages. Which ending is the “real” one? That question alone may be the most compelling piece of marketing either film could hope for.