While the original 2013 Drishyam (Malayalam) was remade into Tamil as Papanasam (2015), the 2021 sequel Drishyam 2 was only remade in Telugu, Hindi, and Kannada. Why was it not remade in Tamil?
A theory is that Kamal Haasan shifted focus toward his political career with Makkal Needhi Maiam, as well as high-profile film projects like Vikram and Indian 2. There is another theory, though. Kamal lost interest in a sequel because he felt there was no point in prolonging the story.
A third theory is that Kamal couldn't take the criticisms against his interpretation of the protagonist. The Tamil remake Papanasam was criticized by many for "spoiling" the soul of the climax of the Mohanlal version. "Kamal absolutely ruined it with his meltdown. Mohanlal put out a restrained performance with little emotions, showing some remorse but not excessively which the character demanded, but our bro wanted the audience to marvel at him," a movie-goer recently commented. Others defended Kamal's so-called over-the-top acting in the climax. "It is because of his meltdown that Papanasam is still being referenced. Otherwise, it would be yet another Drishyam remake. You have good actors like Mohanlal and then you have good filmmakers like KH who know how to customise remakes," a supporter of Kamal wrote.
