Starring: Anushka Shetty, R. Madhavan, Anjali, Shalini Pandey, Michael Madsen, Subbaraju, Srinivas Avasarala and others

Direction: Hemanth Madhukar

Produced by: TG Vishwa Prasad, Kona Venkat

Music: Girishh G, Gopi Sundar

Cinematography: Shaneil Deo

Released On: October 2, 2020(amazon Prime Video)

Rating: 2.5/5

Nishabdham: A ‘possessive’ thriller

Synopsis:

The story is completely set in Seattle and starts with the suspenseful, horrific death of an English couple in an abandoned farm house villa in 1972. Since then it’s been recognised as haunted house. Years later, in 2020, another couple Sakshi(Anushka Shetty) and Anthony(R. Madhavan) visit the house to fetch a prominent piece of art from there. While they are on efforts to search for the art, mysterious things happen suddenly and Anthony gets killed, leaving Anushka running for her life. Since Anthony was a famous music composer, Seattle Police takes the case seriously and starts the investigation with Richard Dickens(Michael Madsen) leading the team while Maha(Anjali) being his chief assistant. Who Killed Anthony? Who killed the English couple? Is house really haunted? How did the police solve the case forms the rest of the story.

Actors’ Performance:

Anushka is superb in her role as a deaf-mute, though it’s hard to find the necessity of her character being so. Madhavan is commanding as a widely famous music composer. His screen presence and performance adds an attraction to this otherwise plodding thriller. Anjali, as a cop is not convincing enough. Her dialogue accent and screen presence are not as believable as to be a cop, that too in U.S. Police. Much touted Michael Madsen as Richard Dickens is average in the film, supposedly due to nativity issue. And his ‘dubbing’ is pathetic. It should have been taken care of. Shalini Pandey has got a minimal screen time but she is good. Subbaraju has got an important role in the film and he justified it. On the otherhand, Srinivas Avasarala hasn’t got to play anything in the movie and his character is there just for the sake.

Technical Departments:

Production values of the film should be firstly appreciated since every frame of the film looks splendid on the screen. The entire film was shot abroad and the locations got captured very well. Marvellous camera work by Shaneil Deo is evident on the screen. Both music and background score are average. Suspense thrillers always required to have a thumping background score but it’s missing here. Editing is poor. Atleast 10 minutes of the film need to have scissored out. Though the story is routine, treatment by Hemant Madhukar must be acknowledged. Otherwise it would have been tiresome to watch a film with such an age old story. But direction wise, he scores just average marks. Sonali’s character seems over dramatic while Maha’s character seems not adequately used.

Analysis:

The film starts on an interesting, suspense note and is maintained until the third quarter of the film. Thereafter, post the revelation of suspense, screenplay goes flat and predictable. The film should have been wrapped up as soon as the suspense got revealed. But the director takes his own time to get to the final space. It makes the climax boring to watch. There are even some logics go missing in the film like Anushka easily finding the link in missing girls’case what the entire Seattle police couldn’t have done in the years. There is no strong reason to portray Anushka’s character as a ‘deaf-mute’ since it doesn’t impact the movie in any which way. Providing sympathetic justification to the villanous acts of famous actors is quite routine in Indian cinemas and it should be avoided. This is just to protect the image of a renowned actor, but it eats away the whole CINEMA. There are many more illogics to mention, but it would reveal the cinema. Find them for yourself.

On a whole, Nishabdham is a routine thriller but is worth watching for once. You may watch it in your free time on amazon Prime.

Plus Points:

Anushka, Madhavan

Twists

Minus Points:

Routine story

Climax

Anjali

Highlights:

Madhavan

One line Verdict: A routine thriller

Rating:2.5/5