SI Vijay Radhakrishnan walks into a hill-station police station where the biggest concern is probably the tea getting cold. That calm shatters when murders and a robbery land on his desk within days of his posting.
Nigam plays the rookie officer with a quiet, coiled tension that never tips into melodrama. He carries the film’s credibility on his shoulders, and reviewers consistently credit him as the reason the premise holds together at all.
His arc is built on restrained authority rather than theatrical outbursts. You can feel the weight of institutional pressure pressing down on him as the one-week deadline looms.
Martin Joseph’s Direction Finds Its Footing Only After a Wobbly Middle
Joseph establishes a strong visual contrast between the serene hill-station setting and the sudden eruption of crime. That opening setup is the film’s most confident stretch of filmmaking.
But the midsection loses control. Exposition-heavy stretches dilute the tension, and the pacing sags badly before the investigation regains momentum.
The screenplay, written by Linto Devasia and Jomon John, relies on familiar police-procedural beats that feel clichéd in places. I found myself checking the runtime more than once during the sluggish second act.
The Thriller’s Genre Mechanics Work Only When the Script Stops Explaining
This is an investigation-first thriller that builds suspense through the accumulation of crimes rather than immediate revelation. The discovery of multiple serious offences in a once-quiet station area creates a workable hook, but the film keeps pausing to explain what we’ve already understood.
The procedural detail and institutional stress carry the genre weight, with no action-heavy spectacle to lean on. That choice is admirable in theory, but it demands sharper writing than what the middle stretch delivers.
When the film finally stops talking and starts resolving, it transforms. The climax is repeatedly described as the strongest part of the screenplay, and that payoff justifies much of what came before it. The Week called it “a delightfully deceptive thriller with an immensely rewarding ending, ” and that final stretch earns that praise.
For more Malayalam crime reviews, browse our Malayalam Thriller reviews.
Supporting Cast Grounds the Station, Even When the Script Doesn’t
Shobi Thilakan as ASI Krishnan Kurup provides the senior-officer counterweight that Vijay needs. His presence gives the station environment a lived-in texture that the screenplay otherwise struggles to create.
Dinesh Prabhakar’s CPO Satyan works as part of the ensemble rather than dominating scenes. Kottayam Ramesh and Abhiram Radhakrishnan round out the police-side support, and their collective familiarity helps sell the institutional atmosphere.
Krishna Prabha, Nandhan Unni, and Saniya Fathima appear in roles that signal the film’s intent to build a community around its protagonist. None of them get enough material to leave a distinct mark, but their casting suggests a broader world that the script never fully explores.
Audience Reception and the Climax That Saved the Film
The gap between critical and audience response tells the real story here. Reviews average around 2.6 out of 5 across publications, with Cinema Express calling it “a passable thriller partly salvaged by its final act.” Pinkvilla was blunter: “Climax salvages an otherwise cliche-filled and stale thriller.”
Yet the IMDb score sits at a much healthier 7.0, and the Box Office Mojo worldwide gross of $77, 048 suggests modest but real interest. The audience complaints mirror the critics’, slow middle, too much explanation, but viewers clearly found the finale worth the wait.
Nowrunning’s assessment captures the film’s frustrating duality: “A promising core idea and a strong central performance, but its middling execution prevents it from reaching its full potential.” That’s the whole film in one sentence.
The climax works because it finally lets the mystery breathe. It’s the one stretch where the restraint Nigam has been practising all film pays off in full.
Dridam is a one-time watch for thriller completists and Shane Nigam fans. The middle will test your patience, but the final act delivers the satisfaction that the setup promised. Stream it on a night when you can afford to wait for the good part.
Dridam earns a modest 2.5 out of 5, a film saved by its ending and its lead, but not by the journey between them.
If you enjoyed the investigative tension here, Itlu Kanmani review offers a different kind of patience test worth considering.
For another uneven thriller anchored by its lead, Gladiators verdict shares a similar structural flaw.
