In this article4 min read
Spoiler warning: this page gives away everything in the Hindi Drishyam (2015, directed by Nishikant Kamat, starring Ajay Devgn and Tabu), a remake of the 2013 Malayalam film of the same name.
The short answer
Sam Deshmukh, the son of the inspector-general of police Meera Deshmukh, died accidentally when Vijay Salgaonkar’s daughter Anju struck him with a rod while trying to break the phone he was blackmailing her with. Anju and Nandini first buried the body in a compost pit, but the film’s final flashback implies Vijay moved it, and that it lies beneath a new police station that was being built at the time.
When the police dig up the pit they only find a dog’s remains. Meera and her husband plead with Vijay for the truth, he hints at what happened without confirming it, and the film ends with Vijay walking out of the police station that sits on top of Sam’s grave.
The family and the trap
Vijay is an orphan who dropped out of school after fourth grade and runs a cable TV company in Goa. He is married to Nandini and has two daughters, Anju (adopted) and Anu. His only passion besides his family is films, and he has often used ideas he learned from them to help people.
During a school camp, a classmate, Sam, secretly records a nude video of Anju and uses it to blackmail her. That night he comes to the house; Nandini begs him to delete the video, and he says he will if she sleeps with him. Anju, trying to knock the phone from his hand, hits his head with a rod and kills him. Anju and Nandini bury him in a compost pit, which Anu sees.
How Vijay builds the cover-up
- The alibi trip. When Vijay returns the next morning and learns what happened, he builds an alibi. The family had been going to attend a religious sermon in Panaji. He makes the same trip a week later with only the dates changed, so witnesses will recall the family being there on the day of the murder.
- Removing the evidence. He takes Sam’s broken phone and dumps Sam’s car in a lake, which Sub-inspector Laxmikant Gaitonde, who has a grudge against Vijay, sees.
- The witnesses. When Meera starts investigating, the family are questioned. Vijay has predicted this and coached them to give the same account. Shopkeepers and restaurant owners confirm the trip, and a bank ATM camera shows Vijay in Panaji on the relevant Sunday. Meera concludes that Vijay befriended these people and manipulated them into lying.
- The arrest. Meera arrests the family. Gaitonde uses force, and when he threatens to hit little Anu, she gives away the burial place.
- The dog. The police dig up the compost pit and find the remains of a dog. A crowd gathers. Vijay tells them that Gaitonde hit a child, and an angry mob attacks Gaitonde. He is suspended; Meera resigns.
Where is Sam’s body?
The film’s answer comes in the last minute. Meera and her husband Mahesh meet Vijay to ask forgiveness for their son’s behaviour and tell him they are moving to London to live with her brother. They ask him to tell them what happened. He hints that he killed Sam, without confirming it, saying he would do anything to protect his family.
Later, Vijay is called in to sign a register at the new police station. As he walks out, flashbacks show him walking out of the same station while it was an unfinished building, and it is clear that he buried Sam’s body there during construction. The police have been guarding the grave all along.
Why the cover-up works
- Two trips, one memory. Witnesses remember “the Salgaonkars were here” and cannot say which Sunday it was.
- Coaching, not scripts. Vijay teaches the family to repeat simple facts, so the police cannot tell lies from truth under pressure.
- A child under stress. The weak point is Anu, and the police break her with a threat. Vijay prepared for that by planting the false burial site.
- The mob. The crowd at the dig site shifts blame onto a violent policeman, turning the investigation into a scandal about police brutality.
Is Vijay a hero?
The film wants you to root for a father protecting his family, but it never says Sam deserved to die, and Sam’s mother is a grieving parent who asks Vijay’s forgiveness. Meera does not know that her son was blackmailing a girl, but she learns of his behaviour. The ending is more a choice than a verdict: Vijay is guilty in law and sympathetic in feeling, and the film lets you hold both.
Questions people keep asking
Did Vijay kill Sam?
No. Anju killed him accidentally. Vijay hid the death. When he hints at killing Sam in the last scene he is shielding his daughter.
Why does Vijay hint at the crime to Meera?
Because she asked him as a mother, and he answers in the language of a father. It is not a confession that could be used in court.
What changed from the Malayalam original?
The Hindi film follows the 2013 Malayalam story closely but sets it in Goa, with Ajay Devgn, Tabu and Shriya Saran. The story beats of the cover-up and the ending are the same.
Where does the story go next?
Read our Drishyam 2 ending explained and Drishyam: The Conclusion ending explained. The Malayalam sequel line is covered in Drishyam 3 (Malayalam) ending explained.
See ratings and reviews on the Drishyam film page.
Updates
- 5 Nov 2026 Rewritten in full: scene by scene, every character's fate, clues, fan questions and what is still unknown.
We update this page as more is confirmed.