Paridhi

Paridhi joins one of the few experiments in the world of silent feature films. However, it falls majorly short in terms of story and technical expertise, what with bloopers looming larger over almost every major scene.

Delivery boy Jeevan Antony, who is also the cinematographer of this film, manages to change the course of his life when he is tempted with money and material pleasures in return for a murder that he has to commit. While he enjoys his new lifestyle, he cannot escape the guilt of murder, so much so that his mind plays tricks to the point where one cannot differentiate the real from the fictional.

The story goes back and forth, which is quite a challenge as a story-telling format, considering that this is a silent film. The audience can follow the story, thanks to messages on the lead character's phone that are screened as and when they come in. The messages are mostly in English.

The title of the film — Paridhi — here would mean circumstances, or refer to how life comes a full circle. And to watch that play out, you might have to endure two-plus hours of silence and mismatched background sounds.

Music, sound and background score, which ideally should have been the backbone of a silent film, are unfortunately the film's biggest flaws. There is nothing original about the music — it's a hotchpotch of easily accessible samples that do not match the visuals on the screen. The sound is placed some milliseconds before the related visuals begin to play, which is a total put off, though this might have been an issue in the multiplex screen we watched it at.