Nishabdham

Nishabdham
Image source: Google

Ratings: 2.5/5

Duration: 02 Hrs. 05 Mins.

Director: Hemant Madhukar

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Release Date: 2nd Oct 2020

Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime

Star Cast: Madhavan, Anushka Shetty, Anjali, Michael Madsen, Subbaraju, Shalini Pandey, Srinivas Avasarala, Olivia Dunkley, India Everett, Morgen Johnson, Lance Caver, Hunter O'Harrow, Heidi Barrientes, Brandon Knapik, Aaron Switzer, Erik J Cornelius, Payton Cordell, Will Ammann, Emily Aron, Robert L. Butler Jr., Jon Palms, Dean Hargrave, Damien Galbreath, Jacob Eliett, Joy Curtis, Lee Ryan Coston, Jessi Holmes, Julie Warrick Ammann, Bonne-Vejou Dorrell, Andres Barrientes, Susan Echols-Orton, Chris Ammann, Troy Wigestrand, Mady Obi, Brandon A VillaLobos, Rene Hamlet, Miguel A. Rivera, Casey Shirks, Robb Silva, Patrick MacLeod Ammann, Rebekah Zharinova, William Zharinov, Debbie Burton, Ryder FitzPatrick-Hawkins, Dryden Shirks, Heath Anthony Martin, Kelly 'Kels' FitzPatrick, Jaxon Barrientes, Daniel Sheehan Ziter, Steve Brady, Ravyn Celestino, Drew Dolan, Hannah Ferguson, Briana Justina Harmon, Gavin Harrison, Junie Hoang, Timothy Krabill, Reza Leal-Smartt, Bryan Murphy, Katrina Murphy, Rachel Murphy, Regan Murphy, Brad Raider, Sherie Suter, Jessica Noel Thompson, Sone Tuvale, Chris Ihlenfeldt

Plot: The movie revolves around a haunted house in Seattle USA. Back in 1970, after a couple died in a house under mysterious circumstances, the place was declared as haunted.

Eons later, a much-in-love couple Sakshi (Anushka Shetty), an artist with speech impairment, and Anthony (Madhavan) who is a celebrity musician visits this place in search of a painting, which is part of the room where the couple died years before.

What are the mysteries of the haunted house, and what happens with Sakshi and Anthony, forms the rest of the story.

Review: Set entirely in the United States, Hemant Madhukar's Nishabdham, is an attempt made to create a sophisticated thriller. However, the multi-starrer that boasts of names like Anushka Shetty, Shalini Pandey, R Madhavan, Anjali, and even Hollywood star Michael Madsen falters despite the performance of the cast and the promise of its premise.

In short, the movie starts off as a horror genre, shifts to the crime investigation genre, but finally just ends absurdly. Therefore, it almost seems like Nishabdham tries to take on too much at once and succeeds only in parts with a whole lot of twists and turns.

 

 

When it comes to performances, Madhavan is dapper in his role of Antony. Even   Anushka Shetty is a picture of grace in Nishabdham. Though she does not have any dialogues, her arresting screen presence is enough for us to stay with her character, Sakshi.

Also, Shalini Pandey is a surprise as the possessive Sonali. A tough task, but she has managed to pull it off. Also, Michael Madsen as Police Chief Richard Dickens with a limp and swagger does his best with what he is given.

As far as the technical aspects of the film are concerned, cinematography and background score are good; location selection is good as well. But when it comes to writing, screenplay, and the overall execution, unfortunately, it doesn't hold up.

Even, the accent is off and the necessity to keep the language to Telugu for the sake of the audience leads to some awkwardly constructed scenes. For instance, Sakshi grows up in an American orphanage yet, she speaks fluent Telugu and needs two interpreters - one who knows sign language and another who can translate from Telugu to English - when she is being interrogated by Maha, the Indian-American police officer played by Anjali, though both of them know English!

Overall, the story tries too hard to americanise a script, cast American actors, set the story in Seattle, and hopes to invoke a 'different' feeling. But all we get from it is the sound of silence!