Nishabdham Review: Fumbles Midway Through the Narrative!

Beginning by providing an impression of a horror movie, the genre of the Amazon Prime Video original, Nishabdham/Silence, shifts midway through from a murder mystery to a whodunnit thriller and does not focus on one particular theme to provide an enthralling experience.

Starring Anushka Shetty, R. Madhavan, Shalini Pandey, Subbaraju, and Anjali as the primary cast, Nishabdham/Silence, written and directed by Hemant Madhukar, made its direct debut on India’s favorite streaming platform on October 2nd. The movie also stars Hollywood actor Michael Madsen, who is seen frequently in Quentin Tarantino’s films in roles with a minimal amount of screentime. So, what went wrong with Nishabdham? Let’s discuss, starting with the plot.

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Set in Seattle, USA, Nishabdham opens with Anthony (R. Madhavan), a celebrated Cello player, and his deaf and dumb girlfriend, Sakshi (Anushka Shetty), an artist, visiting a villa deemed as haunted to retrieve a painting. Consequently, the abandoned mansion has a history because of the mysterious death of an unknown couple in the 70s. And strangely enough, Anthony also gets killed in a similar way to the couple from the 70s while Sakshi manages to dodge the situation.

As the only eye witness, investigating officers Maha (Anjali) and Richard Dawkins (Michael Madsen) do not buy the ghost inspired story narrated by Sakshi and begin to unravel some secrets all by themselves. And the rest of the film discusses the case and the handful of people connected to it, including Sakshi’s possessive friend, Sonali (Shalini Pandey).

Within the underlying half-hour, the focal point of Nishabdham moves from being an apparition story and settles as a whodunit thriller. But the problem begins when you familiarize yourself with the plot. And when the dilemma ends, and after you realize where the narrative is heading to, the suspense and the thrill come to an abrupt end. Hemanth Madhukar, the director, did have some superior motives to make an exciting thriller but, the way he handled the overall plot, with the screenplay written by Kona Venkat, failed to materialize the story from paper to on-screen.

And without a defined route to navigate the story, the confusions led Nishabdham to turn out as a fundamental template-based thriller with bits and pieces of various films from similar genres knit together. Especially towards the end, where the secrets are revealed, and the killer is made to confess, the reasoning felt identical with the primary plot of the hit 2004 Tamil film Manmadhan starring Silambarasan in the lead role.

Anushka Shetty as the deaf and dumb artist, did her best to carry the film. But I felt that there was no reason for her character to be constricted with hearing and speaking disabilities expect for Director Hemanth Madhukar’s desire to make a dialogue-less film inspired by Pushpaka-Vimana starring Kamal Hassan. At the least, the lead protagonist opening her mouth rather than using Google translate as a way to communicate would have made the narrative better, as her being a mute person hindered from having a connection with the lead character, which was another problem with the film.

R. Madhavan, as an international Cello player, millionaire, performing sold-out shows, did well within his limited screen time. Michael Madsen was a surprising entrée but was underused in an insignificant role. The Tarantino favorite was offered the role of a Police Cheif who is pissed at everyone, and abusing news reporters. The only thing he did throughout the movie was arriving at the crime scene, lighting up a cigarette, and disappearing until the climax.

Despite lacking a meaty character, Madsen used his swag, charisma, and impresses for a brief amount of time. The other supporting characters including the ultra-talented Anjali, the ‘Baahubali’ favorite, Subbaraju, and the ‘Arjun Reddy’ fame Shalini Pandey, were decent through and through.

The only takeaway from Nishabdham for me is watching the beautiful locales of Seattle, which was again unnecessary to base the film in the United States of America. Technically, the color tone of the film was set to maintain the dull and gloomy vibe, and it succeeded in that aspect. And the songs and the background score by Gopi Sundar, Vishwajeet Jaykar, and Girish respectively felt mediocre for the most part.

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Overall, Nishabdham offers nothing new, fails to provide some entertainment, and de-escalates as a pitiful film. Regardless of having the possibilities to improve the narrative, Hemanth Madhukar misses the chance to narrate a gripping whodunit story. Watch ‘Nishabdham’ on Amazon Prime Video here.

Rating – 2/5 | Grade – C

Images via Amazon Prime Video