The trailer for Drishyam The Conclusion landed on Wednesday, launched at an event in Goa with Ajay Devgn, Tabu and Jaideep Ahlawat on hand. One familiar face was missing though.

Ishita Dutta, who has played Anju Salgaonkar across all three films, couldn't attend. She had a prior work commitment that clashed with the launch and had to watch the whole thing unfold from a distance, on her phone, like everyone else.

She didn't hide how that felt. "I have been waiting for this day for so long. I have been so excited. And I cannot believe that I am missing the trailer launch of Drishyam 3, which is happening right now in Goa because I had some other work commitment," she said on social media, still calling the film by its old working shorthand out of habit. "And the entire team is there. And I have been seeing the pictures. And major FOMO happening right now."

But Ishita wasn't only sulking. She'd clearly seen the trailer by the time she posted, and she was pleased with what she saw. "I am also very happy and very excited because I think the trailer looks fabulous," she said, adding that she'd been flooded with messages from people loving it. "Thank you guys for all the love. And yay! The trailer is out. I'm super excited, also sad that I missed it."

What the trailer itself is carrying

The bigger conversation at the Goa event, going by what Bollywood Hungama reported from the launch, was around Jaideep Ahlawat's entry into the franchise as a Crime Branch officer. Ahlawat pushed back on the idea that he's stepping into Akshaye Khanna's shoes from the second film, saying he felt no pressure doing the part his own way. Ajay Devgn, for his part, explained why the makers felt the story needed a Crime Branch official this time round, saying the addition was meant to raise the stakes against the Salgaonkar family.

That's really the crux of what a third Drishyam film needs to sell. Everyone already knows Vijay Salgaonkar buried a body and outsmarted the police once. The trailer's job is to convince audiences the walls are closing in tighter this time, with a new kind of adversary who isn't easily fooled.

Drishyam The Conclusion, directed by Abhishek Pathak, is set for release on October 2. Whether the franchise can pull off a third twist without repeating itself is the question the film will actually have to answer, not the trailer.