Sabhash (2000)

English translation: Bravo!

Director: Subash

Cast: R. Parthiban, Divya Unni, Ranjith 

Bottom-line: The underlying story is brilliant, but is made foggy by several other aspects

This 2000 thriller film is one that apparently got lost over the years. This film is only shown rarely on TV, but is otherwise very very hard to find. Google didn’t even show any trailer for the film either! Why this film went unnoticed I don’t know, but I thought I might as well write the review of it when the film is still there in my memory. Starring Parthiban and Ranjith in the lead roles, Sabhash is a mystery thriller, with a fairly interesting comedy track to accompany it. 

Cheenu (Parthiban) is a blind man. In the first scene of the film, we see that his wife Shanthi (Divya Unni) is hanging from the ceiling, dead. While the police and Cheenu’s close friend Dharan (Ranjith) think it is an obvious case of suicide, Cheenu strongly believes that someone has driven her into so much desperation that she finally hung herself. As the story goes on, we see that Shanthi and Dharan were lovers, who later split up. Due to this, Dharan begins to think that it because of him that she committed suicide, and he asks his lawyer to help him. At the same time, Dharan also suspects that Cheenu can actually see and is not blind. He thinks that Cheenu killed Shanthi, and is determined to prove that Cheenu is not blind. The rest of the film is about whether or not Dharan is indeed the cause of Shanthi’s death and whether or not Cheenu is blind.

The basic story is that of a crime-thriller. The story is told in a non-linear narrative, with several flashbacks. In the flashbacks, the past and hidden natures of the characters are known, which also provides several twists and turns. The film starts in a serious tone, but from the time Dharan starts suspecting that Cheenu is not blind, the film turns into a comedy film. Dharan attempts several ways to trick Cheenu into confessing that he can see. Dharan tries to poison a glass of soda that Cheenu drinks; he tries to make Cheenu ram his head into some flower pots… These scenes are very funny and make the viewers laugh out loud. 

Some may feel that this comedy track makes the film go offbeat and it disrupts the serious tone the film started out with. Yet, I felt that the comic scenes were excellent and they also added to the thrills. The romance between Cheenu and Shanthi – shown in flashbacks – is kind of irritating. You can say that directors add songs to films to make a better business, but I felt that the couple of songs were neither good nor necessary. The comedy that comes during these scenes is not good, but the comic scenes that take place between Dharan and Cheenu (as I said in the previous paragraph) are very good. The film also has a lot of adult content, which could have been reduced considerably. Towards the end, there is one more flashback about the relation between Dharan and Shanthi, which has lot of vulgar scenes. There is also one ‘item song’ towards the end. Had these been reduced, the film would have been much better, in my opinion. 

Ranjith’s acting is fantastic. He plays a diabolical villain, but of course, his true nature is known only later in the film. When the film begins, he acts like a very close friend of Cheenu, but later he becomes villainous, even attempting to murder his friend. His acting drives the film. Parthiban has also acted fairly well. Divya Unni has not acted well: she is very emotional throughout the film, and she is crying half the time. The background score is fantastic. It is chilling, and is in accordance with the scenes taking place. The dialogues are also fairly good. The dialogues between Cheenu and Shanthi, and also the ones between Dharan and Shanthi are boring, but the dialogues between Dharan and Cheenu are superb. They are funny and there are plenty of punch lines. 

Overall, Sabhash is a road of entertainment, with several ‘take diversion’ boards. It starts out a good crime thriller, and then goes even better during the scenes when Dharan tries to prove that Cheenu is not blind, but also goes off track during few flashbacks. Yet, a chilling score, great acting by Ranjith and a fairly good story make this film a good watch. In my opinion, if you are like less than fifteen years old, just watch the comedy scenes alone. That will provide you with almost as much entertainment as the entire film. However, I am not sure if Sabhash is easily available in the market. Catch it when the film comes on TV. 

My Rating: 3.5/5