Exclusive: CBFC Clears Drishyam The Conclusion Without a Single Cut-8 Minutes Longer Than Drishyam 2!
No Cuts, No Strings: Drishyam The Conclusion Clears CBFC Without a Scratch
The censor board blinked. Audiences rubbed their eyes. And somewhere in the corridors of the Central Board of Film Certification, a remarkably unflattering report card was quietly filed.
After a week in which the CBFC reportedly allowed Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia’s The Vvaan to pass without a single cut, the censors have struck again — this time handing Drishyam The Conclusion a completely clean U/A 16+ certificate. Not one scene trimmed. Not beheaded. Not softened with a convenient beep-beep. Nothing.
Yes, you read that right: zero cuts.
Bollywood Hungama has learned exclusively that the Examining Committee examined Abhishek Pathak’s mystery-thriller and requested neither cuts nor any audio or visual modifications. That is unusual, considering how readily the board can suddenly develop a sudden obsession over a shoulder-length strand of hair, an intense gaze or a scene that may make audiences wonder a little too much.
Even the customary changes were waived. The CBFC did not insist on displaying the film’s title and credits in the language of the film. Nor did it ask for an anti-drug ticker or an advertisement at the beginning and during the intermission. For once, the filmmakers did not have to tailor their film to fit the board’s screenplay.
The clean certificate was handed over to the makers on September 28. And the film clocks in at 150 minutes, or two hours and 30 minutes, making it the second-longest instalment in the Drishyam franchise. For comparison, the original Drishyam ran for 162 minutes, while Drishyam 2 stretched to two hours and 22 minutes.
That makes Drishyam The Conclusion only the second film in the franchise to secure a U/A certificate without cuts, following Drishyam 2 in 2022. Two clean chits in a row? At this rate, the CBFC may soon start sending congratulatory flowers to Panorama Studios.
The film stars Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Saran, Jaideep Ahlawat, Prakash Raj, Rajat Kapoor, Ishita Dutta, Mrunal Jadhav and Kamlesh Sawant. Abhishek Pathak directs, while Alok Jain, Ajit Andhare, Kumar Mangat Pathak and Pathak himself produce the film.
With the censor authorities offering no reason to expect a special edition trimmed for certificates, Drishyam The Conclusion is all set to arrive in cinemas on October 2.
For its makers, that is far better than any green signal: the CBFC has passed the film exactly as it was made. The real drama, as always, waits behind closed doors — and perhaps inside one very familiar family’s carefully guarded secret.