Set in the US, we meet Sakshi (Anushka Shetty), a celebrated artist, who is speech and hearing challenged. Millionaire Anthony Gonsalves (Madhavan), a renowned cellist, falls in love with her and the two get engaged. On a trip to pick up a painting for Sakshi, the duo end up in a haunted house that sees Gonsalves murdered and Sakshi making a narrow escape. What or who killed him is the big question.
Enter Maha (Anjali), a Seattle crime detective, who starts to investigate the murder and finds that a close childhood friend of Sakshi had also mysteriously disappeared a while back. Maha starts to delve into this matter as well and the mystery slowly starts to unravel.
With such a stellar star cast one expects the murder mystery to be full of intriguing twists and turns. To build the suspense, there are flashbacks and stories within stories to create intrigue. Unfortunately, the script by Kona Venkat is a let-down and the direction by Hemant Madhukar doesn’t manage to elevate the film. The film doesn’t manage to pique your interest at any point no matter how hard the writer has tried.
Coming to the acting, in some cases it is over-the-top and in others just gel with the character. Madhavan delivers what is expected of him. Anushka is great as speech and hearing impaired but she doesn’t come across as affected by the circumstances and in need of recuse at any point. Anjali is absolutely not convincing as a Seattle cop either. Given that we have seen how cops are in the US thanks to the innumerable US TV shows and OTT, Maha seems to be imaginary and a total misfit in the system. The acting by the rest of the cast is also insipid.
Titled Silence, the director could have tried to narrate the story from Sakshi’s angle and made it more about her struggles rather than Maha’s point of view. There is also hardly any silence in the film – these could have added to the thriller. Anushka is a talented actor and using her speech and hearing impaired perspective could have salvaged the script. The dialogues by Kona Venkat are also weak and Maha’s role just revolves around dialogues. Removing the songs and using silences would have been very effective.
‘Silence’ is far too noisy to enjoy.
