Sabhash
title: "Sabhash" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2000-films", "2000-indian-films", "2000s-mystery-thriller-films", "2000s-tamil-language-films", "films-about-blind-people-in-india", "films-about-murder", "films-directed-by-k.-subash", "films-shot-in-kenya", "films-shot-in-ooty", "indian-films-about-revenge", "indian-mystery-thriller-films", "tamil-films-remade-in-other-languages", "tamil-language-indian-films", "tamil-language-mystery-thriller-films"] topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabhash" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox film"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| image | Sabhash.jpg |
| caption | DVD cover |
| director | K. Subash |
| writer | K. Subash |
| starring | R. Parthiban |
| Divyaa Unni | |
| Ranjith | |
| cinematography | Ilavarasu |
| editing | Krishnamurthy |
| Siva | |
| music | Deva |
| studio | Suda Lexmi Pictures |
| released | |
| runtime | 134 minutes |
| country | India |
| language | Tamil |
| :: |
| image = Sabhash.jpg | caption = DVD cover | director = K. Subash | writer = K. Subash | starring = R. Parthiban Divyaa Unni Ranjith | cinematography = Ilavarasu | editing = Krishnamurthy Siva | music = Deva | studio = Suda Lexmi Pictures | released = | runtime = 134 minutes | country = India | language = Tamil
Sabhash ( ) is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language mystery thriller film directed by K. Subash, starring R. Parthiban, Divyaa Unni and Ranjith. It was released on 1 September 2000. The film was remade into Hindi as Vaada (2005).
Plot
Srinivasan aka Seenu is the loving husband of Shanti. Seenu is blind, having lost his eyesight in an accident in the past. The film begins with Seenu and his friend Dharan Viswanath discovering that Shanti has hanged herself in the house.
With no strong suspects, the police closes the case as a suicide. But soon, several evidences surface which point to the possibility that Dharan is behind Shanti's death, including Dharan's shoe at the site of Shanti's cremation. He resolutely maintains that he is innocent, while Seenu too believes him initially. However, as the story progresses, Seenu seems convinced that his wife has been murdered and starts to suspect Dharan. Meanwhile, Dharan starts to suspect that Seenu is not really blind. Dharan wants to frame Seenu for Shanti's death, and, along with his friend Advocate Mohan, sets up traps to prove that Seenu is not blind.
A series of flashbacks show that Seenu and Shanti were happily married, but Dharan was also in love with Shanti. Seenu did have proper eyesight, but a car accident rendered him blind. Dharan took advantage of the fact and started troubling Shanti more, while she tried to stay loyal to her husband.
Seenu underwent a surgery without informing Shanti or Dharan to restore his eyesight, and came back home to surprise his wife, but he noticed Dharan being physically intimate with Shanti. So Seenu decided to pretend to be blind.
Eventually, Seenu admits to Dharan that he was pretending to be blind only to trap him and hold Dharan responsible for Shanti's suicide. Seenu convinces the police inspector Daniel Thomas and the court that Dharan is guilty, and Dharan is arrested. But Dharan insists the court to test Seenu's eyesight to prove his point that Seenu is not blind.
With no choice left, Seenu deliberately blinds himself again by staring at a bright light from a welding torch, and is hence proved innocent. Seenu meets Dharan in jail, where Dharan secretly has a voice recorder. Seenu seemingly admits that he got Dharan arrested, and Dharan claims to have recorded the full conversation. But Seenu reveals that the recorder has no battery in it, so Dharan cannot prove anything. The movie ends with Seenu leaving the jail to start a new life, while Dharan angrily yells at Seenu, but to no avail.
Cast
- R. Parthiban as Srinivasan (Seenu)
- Divyaa Unni as Shanti
- Ranjith as Dharan Viswanath
- Delhi Ganesh as Shanti's father
- Thalaivasal Vijay as Inspector Daniel Thomas
- Pandu as Marriage broker
- LIC Narasimhan as Judge
- Poovilangu Mohan as Lawyer
- Mohan Raman as Advocate Mohan
- Ilavarasu
- Y. S. D. Sekhar as Sub-inspector Veera Pandiyan
- Sharmili as Police inspector
- Radhabhai as Shanti's grandmother
- Amirthalingam
- Kovai Kumar
- John Babu in a special appearance
- Kalyan in a special appearance
Production
The film was originally titled as Paakkanum Pola Irukku (). It was shot in Ooty while three song sequences were shot at Kenya.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Deva.
::data[format=table]
| Song | Singers | Lyrics |
|---|---|---|
| "Kanave Kanave" (Duet) | Krishnaraj, K. S. Chithra | Palani Bharathi |
| "Kanave Kanave" | K. S. Chithra | |
| "Kalakura Kalakura" | Sabesh | K. Subash |
| "Paalai Keeley" | Unni Menon, Anuradha Sriram | |
| "Thank You" | Mano | Na. Muthukumar |
| "Ulagai Suttri" | Krishnaraj, Malgudi Subha | |
| :: |
Critical reception
Savitha Padmanabhan of The Hindu wrote, "The story [..] has several plot twists, some of which are predictable. But in a film that is supposed to be a murder mystery, the badly choreographed song sequences seem to be rude interruptions. Ideally, the film would have worked better if the songs had been cut out and the editing had been tighter." Visual Dasan of Kalki praised Ranjith's acting who overtook other actors and added Deva impresses in background score but messes up in songs and concluded saying it can be watched for one to one manship of Ranjith and Parthiban otherwise, one have to think about how to congratulate (sabash) Subhash after yawning. K. N. Vijiyan of New Straits Times wrote, "At the end of the movie, you may be moved to say "Syabas" (well done) to director Subash. He has provided a taut movie without losing its entertainment value".
References
References
- Kosalairaman, Muthu Vinayagam. (1 September 2023). "23 Years of Sabhash: மனைவிக்காக பார்வை இழக்கும் கணவன்! முக்கோண காதலில் நடக்கும் திடுக் திருப்பங்கள் நிறைந்த படம்".
- (March 24, 2014). "Here's where you've seen these Satish Kaushik movies before".
- (30 September 1999). "An Interview: Parthiban".
- Mannath, Malini. "Shabash".
- "Sabash".
- (20 August 2000). "Sabhash".
- "SABHASH / ORU POI SOLE KANNAL / SIRAKUKAL ILLAI - Deva & Dhina & Anand Audio CD Ramiy Records".
- Padmanabhan, Savitha. (8 September 2000). "Film Review: Sabash".
- தாசன், விஷுவல். (22 October 2000). "சபாஷ்".
- Vijiyan, K. N.. (30 September 2000). "A taut thriller". [[New Straits Times]].
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