Language: Telugu/Tamil
Anushka Shetty and R Madhavan-starrer Nishabhdham falters on so many levels that it feels almost pointless to pinpoint its many shortcomings.
The story revolves around a deaf and mute painter, Sakshi, who is the only witness to a gruesome murder of her fiancé (Madhavan). That is also the reason why the film is titled so (it means ‘silence’) because the lead character cannot speak. It could also be an allegory to all the things in life that we are silent about or turn a blind eye to what is happening around us. This is what the film aims to be, but as the story unfolds, you realise that it is so underwhelming and tedious that to reach the finish line itself is itself an act of triumph.
Despite its best intentions, the writing and execution is so mundane that it makes you wonder who is silent in the film and if there is any significance of silence at all, because that trait rarely imbibed in the narrative. More than anything, the title is oddly prophetic about the state in which it is going to leave the viewers in the end. Perhaps the best response to capture the entire experience is silence itself because it is so boring.
You can see all this happening right from the beginning. The story begins sometime in the early 1970s when a young couple is murdered under mysterious circumstances in Seattle. The unsolved crime fuels rumours that it is a haunted house, and that it was bought by a Colombian businessman in 2019, who turns it into an Airbnb rental property! Intrigued? We are only getting started. One day, Sakshi (Anushka) and her fiance Anthony (Madhavan) go on a short vacation to this haunted house because it is the only place where Sakshi can find a painting, which she wants to replicate. Confused? You have not seen anything yet. And before we know it, Anthony is murdered, and Sakshi flees for her life.
Elsewhere in Seattle, Maha (Anjali), a detective with Seattle Police Department, and Richard Dawkins (Michael Madsen), a cop, take over the investigation to find out how Anthony was killed. But the case seems to be reaching a dead end every single time. Relieved? Do not be, because all this looks incredibly silly while watching the movie. Then we are introduced to a host of other characters, Sonali (Shalini Pandey) and Vivek (Subbaraju), who exist for a reason, but do not evoke enough empathy for us to care about them.
There are way too many things that are awkward in Nishabdham to list out. But more than anything, there is no strong reason why Sakshi has to be deaf and mute. Because her silence or inability to communicate does not seem like an obstacle when there is an interpreter next to her in almost every other scene. Even Maha picks up the sign language within minutes after meeting Sakshi.
And the less we talk about Madsen, and how he is reduced to a caricature, the better it is. Even his accent is out of sync, and the dialogues feel like they were translated from Telugu to English, because clearly, his sense of humour and the outbursts are far from what you expect from a character like that.
Right from the way the investigation unravels to how the motivations of the characters are explained, every single thing seems way too staged. But more importantly, it also makes you question — Why is this story set in the US? What difference did it make to the storytelling? What was so interesting about the story in first place? Where, or rather, what is the mystery element in the film? When there is rarely a scene which leaves an eerie feeling or a sequence which packs plenty of thrills, maybe the only thing left to experience is silence.
As storytellers, sometimes writers and directors are driven by a singular question upon which the entire story hinges — What is the motive of any given character? In Nishabhdham, this question does not arise about Sakshi because there is at least some consistency with which the character has been written. Sakshi is kind and caring, and she does not let her disability hold her back in life. Instead, the dilemma which the writers face is what to do with Anthony’s characterisation. He is a ‘world class cello player’ in the story. Why? How is this tied into the story? We do not know the answer.
On top of that, the very fact that the writers were compelled to give a ‘strong motive’ to Anthony to justify his action is also what derails the story in the end. When you think about the story, this ‘motive’ comes across as a ploy to not hamper the image of a renowned actor. And that is the problem with Nisbhadham. It tries so hard to Americanise a run-of-the-mill script, cast American actors, set the story in Seatle, and hopes to invoke a 'different' feeling. But all we get from it is the sound of silence.
Nishabdham is streaming on Amazon Prime Video India.
Rating: **
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