Silence… Can You Hear It?, the first film in the series was an easy watch, if not the best. Director Aban Bharucha Deohans in the first film did not divert much from the plot, which made the movie watchable. The same director has now come back with a second film in the series that brings back the same old cops from the first film. Silence 2 is about a shootout at a bar, as the title suggests, which leads to many revelations as the investigation begins.
Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout is a two-hour, twenty-two-minute film. I’m not sure what the director was thinking but nothing in the film justifies this runtime. The movie begins with ACP Avinash Verma, IPS, and his team, the Special Crime Unit, being called to investigate a shootout that happened at a local bar named Night Owl, and one of the victims includes the personal assistant of a local state minister. The Special Crime Unit was called in to investigate why the personal assistant was on the spot and why he was targeted. On a quick scan of the victims, Avinash realized the target was not the personal assistant but a young girl named Aazma Khan based on the bullet wound, blood spatter, and the way she fell (don’t even get us into the similarity to Dexter). The investigation into her past opens a Pandora’s box that involves human trafficking and prostitution rackets that involve underage girls. There was the involvement of a theater artist who is rich but spends most of his time preparing for his play and buying props for it. ACP Avinash Verma and his team of three are keen to find out why Aazma was killed and who was behind the growing racket that was grooming young girls and exploiting them.
Unlike the first film, Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout might have been better off as a miniseries of four episodes. The number of subplots that have been jammed into one movie will make the viewer lose their mind halfway into it. The movie generates some interest in the beginning but loses the plot just half an hour into it, and there is no coming back. Writer and director Aban Bharucha Deohans is in auto-pilot mode, as there is no end to the investigation the lead characters are carrying out in the film. The movie jumps from one subplot to another and the director never bothers to put the brakes on. The twists and turns are convenient, which ruins the viewing experience. The structure of the screenplay is such that the makers forget the characters and subplots introduced in the film.
There are too many characters in the film, and many are randomly introduced and have nothing to offer in the main plotline of the film. The leads, Avinash and his team, just out of nowhere, contrive solutions to problems based on their random assumptions and they turn out to be bang on the money. These characters just happen to know the answers to every dilemma they face on their way to crack the human trafficking racket, and no one asks for proof for their statement. The story moves to Jaipur and comes back to Mumbai in no time, and the screenplay jumping from city to city in no time muddies the believability factor.
The movie was unintentionally hilarious as the leads, especially Avinash Verma, went into advising and ranting, specifically about how his team was supposed to do their job. The screenplay wasted a lot of time on the backstories of some random character who had no major role to play, and these are the kinds of elements that could have been avoided for the most part. The kind of subject matter the makers are dealing with in this film lacks emotion. There is no sense of attachment to the narrative that talks about the plight of the young girls who are forced into this racket. The narrative was hardly relatable because the makers spent too much time glorifying Avinash Verma and his team, whose detective skills would remind people of Chacha Chaudhary. There are no proper arcs given to any characters, which is bothersome.
Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout shows two groups in a very bad light: people from the LGBTQ+ community and some who suffer from mental health issues. There is no explanation as to why Arjun Singh behaves the way he does.One character who deserved a backstory was Arjun, and he was given none; he was reduced to someone who is obsessed with Shakespeare’s plays and costumes. Again, a gay character in the film has used their sexuality to justify their actions, which further adds to the prejudice against the community. If only the character were shown in shades of gray and not branded negative.
The direction of the film is abysmal, as there are many subplots, scenes, and moments that could have been avoided to pave the way for actual storytelling. The story and screenplay take forever to reach the climax, which is filled with extraneous subplots and the arc of an unexpected character who does not make any appearances in the film until the end. The direction is badly affected by this convoluted and clueless narrative. It is mind-boggling that a movie with such poor writing was approved by Zee5 because none of the storylines make sense.
The dialogue is tacky, preachy, and over the top, and they drag the narrative for far too long. With the amount of time spent by Avinash yelling at his team for not doing their job properly or with him giving preachy advice to random people, the makers would have invested in crisply cutting the film to turn this slogfest into a sharp thriller drama. The climax of the film is sloppily executed. The climax involves some lazy representation of the culprit. The start of the film, which sets the premise, has been executed in a tacky manner that would be reminiscent of badly directed movies from the 1980s and 1990s. The editing of the movie took a long nap, as the movie just keeps going with no end in sight. The viewers would be desperate to know who the killer might be, but once they were caught, another twenty minutes were spent on the said person’s unnecessary life history. The action sequences are another letdown and were lazily executed.
The performances by Manoj Bajpayee and the rest of the cast are highly forgettable. Manoj Bajpayee is forced to ham it up, and it is not hard to notice that. It is heartbreaking to watch an excellent talent like Manoj Bajpayee not be able to give a performance that could convince people about his character and their motives. Prachi Desai performs well in the movie, but her arc and role in the film could have been better than blurting out lengthy dialogues. She had nothing major to do in this role other than be two steps behind her boss, Avinash Verma. The arc was tacky and had nothing much to offer. Sahil Vaid and Vaqaur Shaikh’s roles could have been nuanced as well.
Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout is not a good watch, and it should be skipped because your time is precious. This crime thriller film overstays its welcome.
