“Come on, Kamlesh!,” Tusshar Kapoor’s character of Sub Inspector Ashwin Gupte screams as he extends his hand to Sawant from the moving train. However, before Sawant, who’s running on the tracks, can get to the hand reaching out, Devgn’s antagonist shoots him down with a gun, leading to his death, much to the misery of Gupte and other members of the police force, including DCP Anant Kumar Srivastav (Amitabh Bachchan).

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“We get it, Gayatonde. We get it (skull emoji),” posted an X handle, along with the Khakee scene, justifying the Drishyam character’s unrelenting beef with Devgn over the years. “Drishyam 3 was in the making way before (laughing with tears emoji),” commented another X user. “Finally, the prejudice is justified,” wrote another. “This is some bond level finding,” said a third one.

We get it, Gayatonde. We get it 💀 https://t.co/EnvdKYJHgG

— The Cinéprism (@TheCineprism) October 3, 2026

Since Khakee, which was also Sawant’s acting debut, he’s made a career out of playing a police officer. He also played a cop in late Drishyam director Bollywood directorial debut Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008) and 2011 hit action romance Force, 2012 action film Chakradhaar, Nitesh Tiwari’s 2014 supernatural satire Bhoothnath Returns, Amin Hajee’s 2012 psychological thriller Koi Jaane Na, and Irshad Khan’s 2023 comedy Non Stop Dhamaal.

Interestingly, his character was called Gaitonde in Non Stop Dhamaal, and addressed by his real name Kamlesh Sawant in Force and Bhoothnath Returns. He also played a cop in Marathi films like Santosh Ramdas Manjrekar’s 2009 vigilante film Mi Shivajiraje Bhosle Boltoy! and Chandrakant Kanse’s 2o15 action thriller Dagadi Chawl.

Ajay Devgn recognized Kamlesh Sawant on Drishyam set

After working briefly with Devgn on Khakee, Gaitonde reunited with him 11 years later on the set of Drishyam in 2015. Much to his surprise, Devgn not only recognized him, but also walked up to him and gave a pep talk. “I usually don’t go up to superstars and disturb them on shoot days, and rather focus on my character’s take,” Sawant told Bollywood Hungama recently.

“One day, Ajay Devgn sir saw me and walked up to me, and said, ‘Kamlesh, tu Khakee mein tha na, main tujhe goli marta hu‘ (you were in Khakee right, I shoot you down?). And then he said, ‘Now, everyone around wanted to know who is playing Gaitonde. Let’s make the best of his character,” recalled Sawant, who also assured Devgn that he’d do full justice to the key character.

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“I replied, ‘Nahi sir, iss character ko nibhane ki, nayay dene ki mein puri koshish karunga‘ (No sir, I’ll try my best to stay true to and give justice to this character). So, that is the kind of legend Ajay Devgn is. He himself walked up to have a conversation with me, and it is a very big deal for a character actor like me,” confessed Sawant.

While the first two instalments of the Drishyam franchise were adapted from Jeetu Joseph’s original Malayalam films starring Mohanlal, the third instalment has been written as an original film by Pathak. The franchise revolves around the Goa police trying to prove Salgaonkar and his family guilty for the murder of Sam, the only son of Inspector General Meera Deshmukh (Tabu). Drishyam 3 also stars Shriya Saran, Ishita Dutta, Rajat Kapoor, Jaideep Ahlawat, and Prakash Raj among others.

Produced by Pathak’s Panorama Studios, Drishyam 3 has already amassed Rs 177 crore at the domestic box office and Rs 272.80 crore worldwide over its opening weekend. It’s thus become the sixth highest grossing Bollywood film of 2026 globally, eyeing the next target of Rs 293 crore, set by Priyadarshan’s horror comedy Bhooth Bangla, starring Akshay Kumar.