Silence …Can You Hear It?
Streaming Platform. : Zee5
Rating 4/5
Starring : Manoj Bajpayee, Prachi Desai, Shishir Sharma, Barkha Singh, Sahil Vaid, Arjun Mathur, Denzil Smith, Vaqar Shaikh, Sohaila Kapoor, Amit Thakkar and Garima Yagnik.
Written and Directed by Aban Bharucha Deons
The master is at it again as ACP Avinash unearthing a whodunnit murder mystery directed by ad film-maker Aban Bharucha Deohans in her first feature film.
Manoj Bajpayee, one of the biggest talents from Indian cinema, is a treat to watch onscreen with his Zee5 film Silence… Can You Hear it, that tracks the path of the killer of a young girl (Barkha Singh) whose body is found in a trekking area in Khargar near Mumbai. That she is the daughter of a retired supreme court judge played by Shishir Sharma, only adds to the pressure of the cop Avinash, who is known to not play by the book when it comes to solving cases.
You don’t realize when you get pulled into the vortex of the scene of crime, and are mentally pointing out at probable suspects to the crime. Maybe it is the politician played by Arjun Mathur, who killed the girl in a crime of passion or it is her lover who wanted her to shut up, the film keeps you engaged in its screenplay. In a series of flashbacks that try and string the course of events that would have happened on the day of murder, the narrative rushes back and forth with each person’s statement.
Manoj’s tight knit cop team consists of Prachi Desai and Sahil Vaid who play vigilant officers on the prowl of the killer and add a zing to the film with their roles. And their boss, “The Family Man” has not managed to keep his family in this film. He is divorced and has a daughter who lives with his ex-wife, who has moved on. But the daughter, who he talks to regularly, keeps sending him funky T shirts that he wears – that don’t go exactly with his image of a hard-nosed cop. T shirts that talk about him Being Vegetarian, Coffee is a Hug in a Cup etc. Manoj plays his role to a T, hiding his loneliness and burying himself in work while he sips his coffee and raises his eyebrows as he thinks deeply about the case.
The fine actor, keeps the momentum of the narrative alive. He breaks into Socha Kyun (why did you think) when his subordinate Vaid overlooks a fact associated with the murder and usually the line is followed by a clue that takes the case further. He also adds his touch and lilt to the dialogues – for instance when he talks of forensics, medical terminology law etc, he appreciates his juniors with a wry ‘padhe likhe log,‘ when they quote someone prominent.
Bajpayee has played cop or a man in uniform in a few of his recent works that includes his National award-winning performance in Bhonsale where he plays a Marathi speaking hawaldar. As I joke with him about if he has entered the dark cave catering to darker roles aka Aaaja gufaoon me aa his song from the well-known film Aks, he springs to his defense saying that he also did a Suraj pe Mangal Bhaari, where he played a marriage detective and wore several looks in the film. And then, he played a killer in Mrs Serial Killer.
Aren’t we glad to see more of this brilliant actor through OTT? An actor who paved way to the cinema we see today, when it wasn’t this easy, when opportunities for realistic cinema in a popular space were sparse and less acknowledged. Watch the film for the fine actor Manoj Bajpayee is. Time to be quiet and hear the sound of silence… the silence of success!
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