Decoding silence in love via Shape of Water, Mukkabaaz, Phantom Thread

Mute heroines in Shape of Water and Mukkabaaz lend a delicious heft to both the movies

Three recent movies made me realise that silence can be a double-edged sword when employed in a blooming romantic relationship. Anurag Kashyap’s Mukkabaaz has debutant actress Zoya Hussain as the mute but feisty Sunaina who falls for the eponymous boxer, Shravan Singh (in a career-defining role by Vineet Kumar Singh). Props to Kashyap for undressing the idea of a relationship between a mute person and her able-bodied beau via text messages that pop up on the big screen and a mother who enunciates each of her muted thought.
 
I know it’s still early in the year but Hussain’s luminous