''Shabdavedhi'' is a 2000

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

-language action drama film directed by

S. Narayan S. Narayan (born 5 June 1962) is an Indian filmmaker, director, actor and lyricist of Kannada films. After Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, Narayan is the second director to direct Dr. Rajkumar and all his three sons. He has given many hits with Vishnu ...

and produced by Sri Bhargavi Arts Combines. The film stars Rajkumar, Jayapradha,

K. S. Ashwath Karaganahalli Subbaraya Ashwathanarayana (25 March 1925 – 18 January 2010) was an Indian veteran actor who appeared in Kannada films He appeared in over 370 films during his five-decade-long career. His only memorial in the whole of Karnata ...

Sowcar Janaki Sankaramanchi Janaki (born T. Janaki; 12 December 1931), popularly known as Sowcar Janaki (Tamil) or Shavukaru Janaki (Telugu) or Sahukar Janaki (Kannada), is an Indian actress who has appeared in over 300, films, predominantly in Tamil, Tel ...

Umashree Umashree (born 10 May 1957) is an Indian actress and politician. She is known for her portrayal of film roles spoken in the Kannada language (over 400), particularly comic roles. She received National Film Award for Best Actress for her role a ...

. The music was composed by

Hamsalekha Gangaraju (born June 23, 1951), professionally known as Hamsalekha, is an Indian film composer and a songwriter who works in South Indian cinema, predominantly in the Kannada film industry since the late 1980s. He is also a screenplay writer, di ...

. This film marked the last acting venture of the celebrated actor Rajkumar. The movie is based on a novel of same name by Vijay Sasanur. The film was a commercial success and completed a 25-week run at the theatres. The title refers to the Shabda-bhedi proficiency in Indian archery that involves shooting at a target not by seeing it visibility, but by hearing it. Shabdavedhi is about Sandeep (Rajkumar), a strict police officer crusading against narcotics. The man is so straight that when his wife Vathsala (Jayaprada) refuses to reveal the identity of a key link in the drug ring that he is investigating, he beats her in lockup. Eventually he overcomes all the usual attempts to throw him off the chase like tarnishing his reputation and implicating him in lock-up death cases and tracks the ring down to its last man.

Cast

* Rajkumar as Inspector Sandeep * Jaya Prada as Vathsala (voice dubbed by

B. Jayashree B. Jayashree (born 9 June 1950) is a veteran Indian theatre actress, director and singer, who has also acted in films and television and worked as dubbing artist in films. She is the creative director of Spandana Theatre, an amateur theatre co ...

) *

as G. K. Kamalakar,

Police Commissioner of Bangalore The Commissioner of Police, Bangalore City is the head of the Bangalore City Police. Founded in July 1963, the post has been held by 32 officers of the Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the A ...

as Sandeep's mother *

Mukhyamantri Chandru Honnasandra Narasimhaiah Chandrashekar (born 28 August 1953), known popularly as Mukhyamantri Chandru, is an Indian actor and politician. As an actor, he is known for his work in Kannada theatre and cinema. The sobriquet ''Mukhyamantri'' (Chief ...

as Raghava *

* Bhavanishankar as Thammayya Shetty *

M. S. Umesh Mysore Srikantayya Umesh, popularly known as M. S. Umesh or simply Umesh, is an Indian actor whose Kannada cinema career has spanned six decades. After having featured in several stage shows as an actor in his childhood, he was hired for the lea ...

Shobhraj ''Shobhraj'' is a 1986 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film directed by J. Sasikumar and written by Vijayan Karote, starring Mohanlal and Madhavi. The film is a remake of the 1978 Hindi film '' Don'' written by Salim–Javed. Mohan ...

as De Cruz *

Chi. Guru Dutt Chitnahalli Guru Dutt is an Indian actor and director, primarily concentrating on Kannada and Tamil films. He is the son of Chi. Udaya Shankar. Career He debuted along with Shivrajkumar in the Kannada film '' Anand'' (1986). He was launched i ...

Honnavalli Krishna Honnavalli Krishna is an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry. Some of the notable films of Honnavalli Krishna as an actor include ''Ratha Sapthami'' (1986), ''Aasegobba Meesegobba'' (1990), ''Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu'' (1974), ''Janumada Jo ...

as Krishna * Daali as Subbu * Karibasavaiah *

Renukamma Murugodu Renukamma Murugodu was an Indian actress who worked in Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities ...

* Rajeev

Production

This film has its credit as the comeback film of Rajkumar after almost six years. This was the first time that

, age of 35 directed a film starring the legendary actor. The film was shot locations such as K R Circle in Bangalore, Abhiman Studio on the city's outskirts, Rama Mandira in Rajajinagar, Kashmir. Mysore's police commissioner Kempaiah has given guidance for star's uniforms in the movie. The producer of the film had originally planned to have Bhanupriya as the female lead, but she was living abroad having married then. Jayaprada was then chosen as the female lead actor

Soundtrack

composed the film's background score and the soundtrack, also writing lyrics for it. The soundtrack album consists of six tracks.

Reception

''Shabdavedhi'' received mixed reviews from critics upon release, but the film was a commercial hit with fans flocking the cinemas from day one of the release. Tickets were being sold in black for 12 times the actual price. The movie completed a run of 25 weeks in the Main Theatre Kapaali and 100 days in many centres across Karnataka. The first day of release was marked by an incident at Bangalore's famous Kapali Theatre. A technical snag in the audio system at the theatre reportedly led viewers to ransack the place causing the owners a loss worth 20 lakh.

References

{{S. Narayan 2000s Kannada-language films 2000 films Films scored by Hamsalekha Films directed by S. Narayan Indian action drama films