Anbe Sivam

<p>Two men waiting at the (in , , for a flight to , ) engage in conversation. One is a , Anbarasu, who prefers the abbreviated name A. Aras, and the other is a scarred and deformed socialist, Nallasivam, going by Mr. Sivam. When the flight is cancelled due to heavy rain, Aras initially suspects Sivam to be a terrorist and informs the authorities, only to discover that he was mistaken. With the rain flooding the city, the two men are forced to share a room for the night. Both need to return to Chennai: Aras to be present at his wedding, and Sivam has to deliver a 32,00,000 cheque, recently awarded to him after he won a court case, to a group of union workers. After a traumatic night, and no hope for a flight, the two men take a bus to board the train. Aras’s bag gets stolen on the way, leaving him with only his credit card, which no one accepts. Using his presence of mind, Sivam repeatedly bails Aras out of trouble while Aras tries to escape from him at every juncture, only to end up with him again. While waiting for the train at the (in ), Sivam begins to tell Aras his story. A few years earlier, a healthy Nallasivam, going by Nalla, took part in various performances protesting against , which resulted in the marginalisation of the . He was at odds with Kandasamy Padayatchi, a manipulative factory owner who refused to give his workers a raise. Nalla satirically imitated Padayatchi in many of his shows. In an unexpected turn of events, Nalla and Balasaraswathi (Bala), Padayatchi’s daughter, fell in love with each other. To avoid a potential conflict with Padayatchi, the two decided to elope to . Nalla boarded a bus bound for Kerala, and on his way to meet Bala, the bus met with an accident on a hillside, leaving him scarred, disfigured, and partially paralysed for life. After recovering from his wounds, he visited Bala, only to be informed by Padayatchi that his daughter was already married and pregnant with her first child, and had settled abroad. Padayatchi had earlier lied to Bala that Nalla died in the accident. It was also at this time that Nalla became a firm believer in kindness and love after experiencing patience and compassion from the nurses at the hospital. Despite suffering from an inferiority complex due to his scarred and deformed body, Nalla performs community service and social work with renewed fervour while continuing to fight for union causes. Upon their arrival in Chennai, Aras delivers Sivam’s cheque to the union workers. He invites Sivam to his wedding, letting him know how much he means to him, to utter astonishment, Sivam sees that Aras’s bride is Bala. Padayatchi spots Sivam and asks him why he is at the wedding. He tells Padayatchi that he was invited by Aras, and later persuades him to sign the papers which will help Padayatchi’s workers get a raise. To prevent the disruption of Bala’s wedding and avoid damaging his own reputation, Padayatchi yields to Sivam’s demands. After signing the papers, Padayatchi instructs his assistant to eliminate Sivam. However, his assistant has a change of heart as he is about to kill him, letting Sivam know that he believed that the misdeeds he committed for Padayatchi resulted in the death of his own daughter. Padayatchi’s assistant requests Sivam to stay as far away from his boss as possible. Sivam assents and walks away. In the late 1990s, Kamal Haasan narrated the premise of a film to the director as they sought to collaborate following (1996). The initial script followed two men who meet in a train, quarrel, become friends and ultimately, one of them sacrifices everything for the other man. One individual was a communist, while the other was a person who followed a right-wing political belief. Haasan had wanted to act in the film alongside , but Ravikumar refused the opportunity, saying it was not his usual film genre of expertise. Haasan and Ravikumar instead moved on to work on a different project titled (2000) and chose to make the film’s title character a Sri Lankan Tamil as discussed in the earlier script. After completing the draft for the film’s script with alterations in early 2002, Haasan approached the filmmaker to direct it. The two men were keen to work together since the late 1990s, and upon reading the script, Priyadarshan believed that it had the potential to be an “emotional love story”. The film’s title was derived from the saint ‘s poem . In June 2002, Priyadarshan opted out of the project owing to creative differences. came in as a replacement to work on the film. was co-produced and distributed by V. Swaminathan, K. Muralitharan and G. Venugopal under the production banner of . In addition to being the film’s writer, Haasan also played the central character, Nallasivam. Madhavan was selected to play Anbarasu in January 2002. According to Kiran Rathod, she received a phone call from Haasan’s office informing her that she was offered the role of Balasaraswathi, which she accepted. Rathod’s voice in the film was dubbed by the singer . Uma Riyaz Khan played the role of Nallasivam’s friend and professional colleague, Mehrunissa. In a 2019 interview with , the film’s script assistant and costume designer, Sujatha Narayanan, revealed that and were the original choices for Balasaraswathi and Mehrunissa respectively and that both of them declined due to schedule conflicts. He [Kamal] came over to me and said, ‘Madhavan, I have seen some of your work and they were good.’ […] Then he continued, ‘I have something for you. We should catch up!’ […] that was how happened. The actors Nassar and Santhana Bharathi played the roles of Kandasamy Padaiyatchi and his assistant, respectively, while cartoonist Madhan featured in a cameo appearance as himself in addition to writing the film’s dialogues. Screenwriter also collaborated with Haasan on writing some dialogues for the film. In an interview with S. R. Ashok Kumar of in 2006, Bharathi considered both and (1990) to be the favourite roles of his career. , and handled the film’s cinematography, art direction and editing, respectively. , and were in charge of the choreography while the stunt sequences were co-ordinated by . Muthulakshmi Varadhan, Bharathi’s sister-in-law, worked as an assistant editor in the film. The make-up for Haasan’s scars was designed by and Anil Pemgirkar. In May 2002, Haasan completed the makeup for his character Nallasivam in Los Angeles after filming the song sequences for (2002). for commenced in July 2002. The first scene featuring the lead actors was shot at . Haasan and Madhavan interacted closely during the initial stages of the shoot to ensure that the on-screen chemistry between the pair was apparent. was shot on a restricted budget of 120 million, with the train and bus disaster sequences involving the use of settings and . Madhavan, who began shooting his portions in September 2002, stated the film was shot in relatively empty locations. The flood scenes set in were re-created with outdoor sets consisting of city roads submerged under water erected in the Odisha- border. Filming also took place in Chennai, and on the – border. For a brief sequence in the “Naatukkoru Seithi” song, Haasan learnt how to play the , a barrel-shaped percussion instrument, over three weeks. The pre-climax scenes were filmed in what was then known as the compound in Guindy. The climax scenes were filmed in a single take. follows the events of a journey from Bhubaneswar to Chennai undertaken by two men of contrasting personalities: Nallasivam, a physically challenged and witty socialist, and Anbarasu, a commercial director who supports and . Due to unforeseen circumstances, the two are forced to undertake the journey together. Throughout the narrative, a series of themes pertaining to , compassion, globalisation, , and are addressed; the film also showcases Haasan’s views as a . According to Haasan, the characterisation of Nallasivam was inspired by the life of Communist playwright, actor, director, lyricist and theorist , who was chiefly associated with his work on in India. Hashmi died on 2 January 1989 after being attacked by members of the while staging a play, . S. Anand of magazine notes that Haasan’s views on humanism in the film also seemed to be inspired by those of . M. Kalyanaraman and Abdullah Nurullah of opined that Nallasivam shared similar characteristics with street theatre artist Pralayan. According to Kalyanaraman, proposes that man can make morally superior choices when he comes face to face with death. As a result, Haasan indicates that the belief of ” is love” is the “final stage of evolution of man into God”. The film critic , in his review of another Haasan film, (2013), found the ethnicity of the characters in the film to be a continuation of Haasan’s inclusion of non-Tamil characters in his films. Rangan considered this to be Haasan’s acknowledgement of the “interconnectedness of the nation” and “the world beyond India”. He noted in his article that Haasan had experimented with the concept before by including the usage of and meeting in (1994), a -speaking love interest in (1994), marrying a Bengali woman in (2000), conducting investigations with an American associate in (2006), and marriage to a in (2010). Rangan notes that in , the inclusion of and interaction with the was another example of including non-Tamil characters in his films. Rangan also compared Haasan’s fight sequence with the use of an umbrella to the way he used a book and stool in (1983). The basic plot of was reported to have similarities with the 1987 , directed by , which starred and . The critics noted Haasan and Madhavan’s character share similar traits to that of the roles played by Candy and Martin in that film, respectively. The portrait painted by Nallasivam on the walls of Padayatchi’s house is inspired by the Mexican painter ‘s , . Srinivasa Ramanujam, writing for in 2008, noted that the religious undertone in the film was similar to that of ‘s (2002). The soundtrack album and background score for were composed by and the lyrics for the songs were written by and . After composing the tune for the title song, Vidyasagar explained the situation of the song to Haasan, who wanted the song to be performed in such a way that the protagonist is singing according to the situation he finds himself in. Vidyasagar suggested that Haasan should sing the song himself to achieve the desired result, which the latter accepted. The song “Mouname Paarvayai” was not included in the film. The song “Poovaasam” is based on the . The male portions for the reprise of “Poovaasam” were sung by , while the original version was sung by . sang her portion of both versions of the song. Malathi Rangarajan of wrote, “Vidyasagar is scaling great heights as a composer. The theme song and the melodious “Pon Vaasam” [ ] are pointers. Vairamuthu’s lyrics deserve special mention here.” Singer , in her column for , “A Raga’s Journey”, noted, “Poovaasam” possessed “a charm that is born out of classicism incorporated in a populist piece”. Arkay of found the songs to be “at best, okay”. M. Suganth of , in his review for the music album, “Lovers Special – Vol. 2–4”, included “Poovaasam” among the “Hot Picks” of the album. All lyrics are written by , except the song “Mouname Paarvayai” was written by . According to S. R. Ashok Kumar of , the producers were confident that would be a strong competitor at the that they had the film reviewed by the before the end of 2002 so that they could enter the film into the annual awards list. The film was released on 15 January 2003, which coincided with the festival. It opened alongside five other films, including ‘s , ‘s , and , which featured . was screened as a part of the Indian Panorama section of the in 2003. As a tribute to Safdar Hashmi, a special preview of the film was organised by Haasan in association with Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) on 9 January 2003 at . The film was dubbed into Telugu as and released on 28 February 2003. It was dubbed into Hindi as and was released two years later in 2005. After the release of the original Tamil version, the dubbing rights for the Hindi version were sold at a low price, much to the irritation of the lead actors as they were not able to dub for themselves in Hindi. Baradwaj Rangan described the film as “Kamal’s latest solo attempt to bend, twist, shape-shift into forms never-before seen.” In his review of the film’s DVD, M. Suganth, writing for , called it “one of the finest movies of the decade” and praised the story, screenplay and dialogues before terming the film as “a modern classic”. Reviewing the Telugu dubbed version, , Jeevi of said that “this art-kind-of film does entertain the people who love Kamal Hassan flicks” while concluding that it “would remain as one of the good films made in the recent times”. Malathi Rangarajan of believed that “well-defined characters, a strong storyline and intelligent screenplay” were the film’s “vital ingredients”. She further complimented Haasan’s treatment of the story, and that his “diligence that has gone into the chiselling of the story and screenplay is only too evident” while calling the film “a laudable effort”. P. Devarajan of appreciated Haasan’s performance and facial expressions and concluded his review by stating, “This man has intrigued me and will always.” Another critic from , Gudipoodi Srihari, appreciated the pair of Haasan and Madhavan, noting that the duo “make a fine combination of pals each with different mental make up, but goodness overflowing.” Sujatha Narayanan, in a retrospective review for commended Haasan’s writing and Madhan’s dialogue, finding them to be “peppered with sharp wit, trivia and emotional depth.” Malini Mannath of wrote “Sensitive and touching, light-hearted and humourous [ ], it’s a film to be watched”. Anu of praised the acting of Kamal Haasan and Madhavan, cinematography and dialogues but felt lengthy dialogues about god will bore audience and also found street drama too lengthy and concluded calling the film as eno salt for indigestion after watching films on police-goon and teenage love. Jayalakshmi K. of wrote “Love is God, the title says, and that is what this film is all about. This truth is told effortlessly in a simple story spun by the superstar himself. The film, directed by Sunder C, is a moving story that unfolds during a troubled journey that throws together two diametrically opposite personalities in circumstances that bring them close to each other and to the realities of life”. A reviewer from , in comparison, labelled the film as “average”, stating that it was “another predictable and corny film which is neither a comedy caper nor a class act.” Similarly, Arkay of Rediff.com praised the performances of the lead cast but wrote the film “tries to do too many things, and ends up failing at most, if not all, of them.” S. Anand of felt the film’s thematic ideas of communism were presented in a “clichéd” manner, and summarised by saying, “If Rajnikant staked claim to divinity on a right-wing plank with , Kamal does it with pretensions to rationalist-left rhetoric.” During the first week of its theatrical run, an analysis by of showed the film to have grossed 13.1 million in Chennai alone. Despite this, the film at the box office and incurred heavy losses for Lakshmi Movie Makers, effectively stopping them from investing in other ventures for the year 2003. An estimate by D. Govardan of places the losses at 65 million, while Arun Ram of states the losses incurred to be 50 million. Srinivasa Ramanujam of compared the film’s failure at the box office to that of . Both K. Muralitharan and Haasan defended the film’s failure by blaming , with the latter stating that “lots of people saw it, but they didn’t pay”. There’s only one artiste in the whole Universe (!). It’s Kamal Hassan. Without him there’s no cinema. Have you watched ? Following its release, has attained in Tamil cinema and receives re-runs on television channels. When the film was in post-production, Haasan revealed to film critic and journalist that he was impressed with Madhavan’s enthusiasm and performance during the making of the film, subsequently signing him to appear as the protagonist in his production venture, (2003). Baradwaj Rangan wrote that was “leagues ahead of the average Tamil – why, even Indian – film”, though he felt that “the masses were unwilling to accept the experimental nature of the film”, while talking about the film’s box office failure. During his acceptance speech after winning the in 2010 for (2009), director revealed that a scene in where Haasan says to Madhavan, “when we love others unconditionally without any expectation, we become Gods”, inspired him to make his film. Bala also made a reference to in his 2003 film, , in a scene where ‘s character goes for a screening of the film with his friends. A dialogue told by Haasan to Madhavan, “Do you know what a is? .” (It’s not just a big wave … it’s a mountain) also attained popularity. In 2008, S. R. Ashok Kumar of listed among the “top five directorial ventures of Sundar C.” In a 2008 interview with , Sundar C. stated that “changed [him] personally and professionally”, making him a more confident person and altering his outlook towards life. He later contradicted his statement after revealing that the film’s failure led him to become almost bankrupt and he remained unpaid for his work. The froze his bank accounts for a year as he was not able to pay his taxes. He admitted that while he received praises for the film after its theatrical run, he would not make a film similar to any more and that he chose to continue making commercial cinema, which he felt better matched his interests. In 2013, Haricharan Pudipeddi of the agency, included in his list of “Kamal’s most underrated films”. He believed the reason for the film’s commercial failure was that audiences misunderstood the “sarcastic undertones associated with atheism”. On Haasan’s birthday, 7 November 2015, Latha Srinivasan of considered to be one of the “films you must watch to grasp the breadth of Kamal Haasan’s repertoire”. The character of Nallasivam was ranked fourth in s list of “Kamal Haasan’s top 10 mind-blowing avatars”. In (2004), the character Vasool Raja (Haasan), while attending a class asks whether being a doctor is equivalent to being God, and in doing so says “Anbe Venkatachalam”, to which one of his classmates gently asks him, “isn’t it Anbe Sivam?”. Haasan retorts: “Let it be. Let’s try something different for a change.” The street theatre sequence featuring Nallasivam and his friends performing to make people aware of the atrocities committed by Kandasamy Padayatchi was re-created at in 2008 by Pralayan and his troupe from “Chennai Kalai Kuzhu” under the title . In contrast, Pralayan’s play explored gender inequality and domestic violence instead of unemployment. Kannada actor noted in 2010 that fellow actor ‘s film (2010) bears resemblance to . Hari Narayan, writing for in 2014, mentions in his article on the Indian and author that ‘s (2012) was “a toned down version of where rationality propels humans to find God in themselves, with flaws, which extols the virtue of becoming as much as that of being”. In 2015 Uthiran of in , mentions in his review of (2015) that the film’s plot might remind viewers of . In 2017, Ashok, who directed the comedy film , mentioned he was inspired by to become a director.</p>