''Silence'', also known as ''The Power of Silence'', is a 2013

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by V. K. Prakash and starring

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam-language films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, ...

Anoop Menon Anoop Menon (born 3 August 1976) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and lyricist. He worked in television before acting in Malayalam films and has acted in more than 75 films. Menon won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Supporting ...

, Pallavi Purohit,

Joy Mathew Joy Mathew (born 20 September 1961) is an Indian film and theatre actor. He is also a film director, playwright and screenwriter. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Career Joy Mathew is best known for playing the lead role in John Ab ...

and Jayaprakash Kuloor. The climax of the film is based on the 2011 South Korean courtroom thriller film '' The Client''.

Plot

Arvind Chandrasekhar, a very cunning lawyer is appointed judge in the

Karnataka High Court The High Court of Karnataka (''IAST: Karnāṭaka Ućća Nyāyālaya'', commonly referred to as the Karnataka High Court and formerly known as the Mysore High Court, is the highest judicial authority of the Indian state of Karnataka. The court ...

. Happily living in Bangalore with his wife Sangeetha and their adorable children Arya and Aditya, the man has little to fret over. Before taking the oath, he visits his parents in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. There he is harassed by threatening phone call from a veiled assailant who says he is not fit to be a judge. Arvind ignores the calls at first but things get serious when his wife and children face dangerous situations. The film narrates how he unveils the mystery with the help of his close friend Neil George, an IPS officer.

Cast

Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

Arvind Chandrasekhar, later

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

as DIG Neil George IPS, Bangalore City Police * Pallavi Purohit as Sangeetha *

as Markos * Jayaprakash Kuloor as the priest *

Aparna Nair Aparna Nair is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam cinema. Biography Aparna was introduced to cinema by the veteran writer-director Lohithadas in '' Nivedyam''. After ''Nivedyam'', she portrayed Panchali in the play ''Chayamukhi'', whi ...

as Liji *

Sudheer Karamana Sudheer Karamana (born 24 May 1971) is an Indian actor who appears mainly in Malayalam cinema. He is the son of actor Karamana Janardanan Nair. Personal life He is the eldest son to actor Karamana Janardanan Nair and Jaya, at Karamana, Thiruv ...

as DYSP Sajan * Romanch as Convict * Basil as John * Jinu Joy as Roy * Ravi Vallathol * Raghavan * Prakash Bare as

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

Sreelatha Namboothiri Sreelatha Namboothiri (born Anjilivelil Vasantha) is an Indian actress and playback singer who works in Malayalam cinema and television. She has acted in more than 300 films. ''Khadeeja'' in 1967 was her debut movie. She began her acting caree ...

* Balachandran Chullikad *

Shankar Ramakrishnan Shanker Ramakrishnan is an Indian film screenwriter, director, producer and actor, who works primarily in the Malayalam cinema. Career He is Law Graduate (LL.B) from Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram and He started his career immedia ...

* P. Balachandran * Sneha Nambiar

Critical reception

Kiran Joseph JKV wrote in his review for ''

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...

'': "Started off well, never even half done, this ''Silence'' fades into oblivion, silently." Ajin Krishna of Oneindia.in rated the film 2/5 and said, "''Silence'' fails to impress the viewers as a thriller flick, which is the basic purpose of such movies." Paresh C Palicha of

Rediff.com Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

rated the film 2.5/5 and said, "Silence is the first attempt at serious film making from the writer-director team of Y V Rajesh and V K Prakash after low-brow comedies such as ''Gulumaal'' and ''Three Kings''. It is notches above the previous attempts and highly watchable." However the reviewer felt that the film "borrows heavily from the Richard Gere starrer, '' Primal Fear'' (1996)."

References

{{V. K. Prakash 2013 films 2010s Malayalam-language films Indian legal thriller films 2010s legal thriller films Indian courtroom films Films about lawyers Films directed by V. K. Prakash Indian remakes of South Korean films Indian crime thriller films Indian crime drama films