Sabdham

Sabdham is an upcoming Indian Tamil-language horror film written and directed by Arivazhagan Venkatachalam. The film is jointly produced by Siva and S. Banupriya Siva under 7G Films and AAlpha Frames and stars Aadhi Pinisetty and Lakshmi Menon in the lead roles.

The film was announced in December 2022, along with the title of the film. Principal photography commenced the same month in Munnar along with a schedule in Chennai later in Mumbai and wrapped by late-September 2023. The film has music composed by S. Thaman, cinematography handled by Arun Badmanabhan and editing by V. J. Sabu Joseph.

Cast

 * Aadhi Pinisetty
 * Lakshmi Menon
 * Simran
 * Laila
 * Redin Kingsley
 * M. S. Bhaskar

Development
On 14 December 2022, Arivazhagan Venkatachalam announced that he was collaborating with Aadhi Pinisetty after Eeram (2009) for his next directional. Touted to be in the horror genre, Venkatachalam stated "After Eeram, I've done films mainly in the thriller and action genres, and now, with this film, I'm returning to horror." He described that "adventure horror" is more suitable for the film than "comedy horror", "thriller horror" and "romantic horror". Siva of 7G Films and S. Banupriya Siva of AAlpha Frames jointly funded the film. Venkatachalam and Pinisetty would be reuniting with Thaman S, as he also was part of Eeram. Arun Padmanabhan of Magamuni (2019) fame was roped in to handle the cinematography, while National Film Awards winner V. J. Sabu Joseph was crewed to edit the film. Venkatachalam further stated "We will be shooting it in Tamil, but will simultaneously be released with a dubbed version of Telugu.", doing the same after Eeram.

Casting
On 27 February 2023, it was announced that Lakshmi Menon was cast to play the lead actress role in the film, pairing opposite Aadhi for the first time. Venkatachalam stated "All i can reveal is that it [her role] will be a performance-orientated role, something we haven't witnessed before." On 4 March, Redin Kingsley was announced to have been cast as a comedian in the film. Five days later, Laila was announced to be part of the cast, while Simran was also announced as other important character as Laila, seven days later. Venkatachalam described them both as "Very professionals and co-operative." And stated "As performers, they are single-take artistes, who absorb the character's requirements before we shoot and are fully focused during their shots."

Filming
Principal photography commenced on 14 December 2022, with the first schedule in Munnar. A college set was erected in the schedule, spending around ₹1 crore for it. The schedule concluded by 14 February 2023. The second schedule in Chennai began in late-February, with Lakshmi Menon joining the sets by 24 February. Simran and Laila began filming their respective sequences by 18 March. The third schedule, which was filmed in Mumbai, concluded by 16 May. On 27 September, the whole principal photography had wrapped.

Music
The songs and background score are composed Thaman S, in his fourth collaboration with Venkatachalam after Eeram, Vallinam (2014) and Aarathu Sinam (2016); second with Aadhi after Eeram.

Theatrical
As of 13 December 2023, the release date of Sabdham is not revealed. However, it is said that along with Tamil, the film is also releasing with a dubbed version of Telugu.