Murder mysteries coupled with the humane quotient often makes for an interesting watch. When the mystery surrounds somebody handling the Law & Order situation, the plot gets even more interesting. Movies like Memories and Mumbai Police belonged to this genre. Mammootty’s Silence is a similar attempt. The narrative is woven around Aravind Chandrashekaran’s (Mammootty) past and present.
Adv. Aravind Chandrashekaran is a practicing lawyer at the Karnataka High Court, well versed in criminal as well as civil cases. He leads a happy life with his wife and children. There is Thomas Sebastin (Ravi Vallathole), his mentor and senior lawyer; also his former teacher and colleagues like Adv. Markose (Joy Mathew). He is promoted as the judge of Karnataka High Court when life suddenly takes a different turn. He starts getting anonymous calls as well as being shadowed by anonymous people. Thus begins a mysterious tale of suspense and intrigue.
Aravind now enlists the help of his DYSP friend Neel George (Anoop Menon). Together they try to unlock the mystery surrounding the calls and the stalking. Why does the successful lawyer promoted as judge start encountering such strange issues? Who is behind this? These are the questions that the movie tries to answer. As the narration progresses, Aravind and Neel have to reopen an old murder case. There on, the plot becomes a whodunit mystery. Aravind’s past now becomes crucial and new revelations tumble out.
The intrigue and suspense is brilliantly built up initially. The piling questions and threads have been conceived beautifully. As Silence progresses into the second half, the plot gets a bit stuck and the thriller mode pales a bit. The intrigue built up in the first half has not been sustained in the second half. Also a lot of loopholes in the plot take away the satisfaction that a murder mystery ought to have provided.
As usual, Mammootty has essayed his role beautifully. His emoting and expressions are a pleasure to watch. Debutante Pallavi has also done a decent job. Joy Mathew, Aparna Nair and Ravi Vallathole have also given commendable performances. Cinematography is also impressive. The subtle nuances of the characters and the Bangalore city highlights have been captured beautifully. Editing is crisp and direction by VKP is also good. The script could have been more tightly-woven.
Silence is a passable entertainer. The murder mystery and the whodunit genre has one more decent addition with Silence. Of course, the highlight is Mammootty. Silence does present the actor in a new light. The movie is a decent weekend watch.