lit a candle 4h agoI don't really know what to say here. Three deaths in that one family inside a year, his father last October, his uncle just three days before him. I'd never heard the name Karthik Sabesh before this but that is an awful run of loss for anyone.
Their story
Karthik Sabesh was a Tamil film actor who spent more than a decade in supporting and comic roles, and a member of one of Tamil cinema's best known music families. He was the son of the composer Sabesh, one half of the duo Sabesh-Murali, and the nephew of the veteran…
Karthik Sabesh was a Tamil film actor who spent more than a decade in supporting and comic roles, and a member of one of Tamil cinema's best known music families. He was the son of the composer Sabesh, one half of the duo Sabesh-Murali, and the nephew of the veteran music director Deva. He died in Chennai late on Monday 19 October 2026, aged 37, three days after Deva's death.
He grew up in Chennai in a household built around film music. His father Sabesh and uncle Murali began as assistant composers to their elder brother Deva before scoring films of their own, among them Samuthiram, Thavamai Thavamirundhu, Pokkisham and Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi. His cousins include the composers Srikanth Deva and Bobo Shashi and the actor Jai.
Karthik chose acting rather than music. He was still a teenager when he played a character called Ninety in Dum (2003), the Silambarasan action comedy, and he followed it with Dreams (2004) and Gurudeva (2005). He played the hero's school friend in the flashback scenes of Silambarasan's Vallavan (2006), and appeared in Kee Mu (2008), the teen drama Kulir 100° (2009) and the Telugu film Thakita Thakita (2010), both scored by his cousin Bobo Shashi, and in Kaadhal Solla Vandhen (2010) as Petha Perumal.
His best remembered part came in Vishal's Pattathu Yaanai (2013), in which he played Pongal Kumar; DT Next later wrote that the film was the one that brought him to wider notice as a comedian. The same year he played Karthik in the road thriller Udhayam NH4. He went on to appear as Isaac in Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavaanikalum (2014), in the crime comedy Burma (2014) and in Mahabalipuram (2015).
His father died in October 2025, aged 68, and his mother Thara had died earlier. In his last months Karthik was seriously ill. He was treated for about two months at a private hospital in Chennai, including dialysis, and spent his final weeks in intensive care. IANS, citing family sources, reported that he died at about 11.15 pm on 19 October; most outlets carried the news the next morning. His family said he died of health complications and no specific illness was made public. His uncle Deva had died on 17 October, and the loss of three members of the family within a year was widely noted in the Tamil press.
He was survived by his wife, Ramya Karthik, their two daughters, and his elder sisters Geetha and Archana. His last rites were held at Valasaravakkam in Chennai on the afternoon of 20 October.
Biography adapted from IANS (20 October 2026); South First (20 October 2026); DT Next (20 October 2026 and 23 October 2025); Dinamani; Daily Thanthi; Tamil Filmibeat; Wikipedia film articles (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Photos
1by People Forever
same, read it twice to make sure I had it right