'Barfi', 'Black' to 'Masaan': Bollywood films where actions speak more than words

Anurag Basu's 'Barfi!' acts as a great example of how silence can be as expressive as speech. The film tells the story of Ranbir Kapoor as a deaf and mute person and Priyanka Chopra as an autistic woman, caught up in a web of love, loss and innocence. There is very little dialogue and it is all based on physical performance, facial expression, and background score. The performances by Ranbir and Priyanka, Marfils Chaplin-like charm, B's proclamation of childlike sincerity, and the beautifully crafted scenes make this film an emotional rollercoaster without much of the characters speaking.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 'Black' tells the emotionally wrenching story of a deaf-blind girl and her fierce, committed teacher. Rani Mukerji and Amitabh Bachchan, who play the two roles, derive most of their communication through sign, touch, and pure emotion. The connection between the teacher and student is so honest and tangible, whether there are ever-present scenes of silence or touches that say more than any spoken lines could. For example, when Rani encounters a moment of frustration, or when Bachchan's Alzheimer’s character appears in silence, one is engulfed in emotional data: an emotion we feel palpably without spoken lines.

Neeraj Ghaywan's 'Masaan' depicts the agonizing elements of loss, the division of caste, and societal judgment, not through melodrama, but whispers. Characters surface their sorrow in silence, and their pain is hidden behind quiet faces, even quietly gentler supply-acts. Richa Chadha's restraint, Vicky Kaushal's surrender, and the film's allegorical use of the Ganges, shows that unadulterated emotion can bubble to the surface in the unspoken or quietest of frames. It is a film that seems to say so much, without ever having to raise its voice.

'Pushpak', on the other hand, is a daring and relatively rare cinema experiment. A silent motion picture of Kamal Haasan, we have the humorous, suspenseful story unfold for over an hour without a single line of dialogue. With no lines, comedy, yet with few, the film somehow seamlessly combines comedy, suspense, and social commentary into a visual narrative. Kamal Haasan's performance skills propel the narrative, as great acting doesn’t need a line. Universal praise keeps the motion picture in cult classic status. The film also serves as a masterclass in nonverbal performance. The audience embraces the creativity exclusively through the organization of physical comedy choreography and direction.

Imtiaz Ali's 'Tamasha' engages the concepts of identity and repression, and the masks we wear. Even with the jovial conversational first half of the movie - the second half is heavy with silence. As Ved (Ranbir Kapoor) starts to come to terms with his tragic life, living his life like a robot within a pattern, there will be long stretches of silence, almost no dialogue. The silence profoundly articulates Ved's breakdown, frustration, and estrangement from self doesn’t need articulation - silence communicates all India needs in that moment. Similarly, Deepika Padukone's character also has next to zero dialogue, her silence is just as impactful as her sadness and incapacity to communicate how she feels. Words are just not enough in 'Tamasha' to articulate how they feel - it's perfect silence.

'The Lunchbox', by Ritesh Batra, tells the story of two strangers, played by Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur, who form a connection through notes in the lunch boxes. While 'The Lunchbox' has dialogue, it is the pauses, the silences, and actions that are more emotionally powerful (such as cooking carefully, or patiently wait for a letter, or the solitary reading of someone’s scratched words at a table). What elevates 'The Lunchbox's emotional impact is that it gives characters an opportunity to simply share their loneliness, and hope, and companionship without ostentation or verbosity.