Anbe Sivam

One more of Kamal Hassan's Gems. Excellent acting by Kamal Hassan and Madhavan. Wonderful music by Vidyasagar. More of an art film than an entertainer. In my opinion it is the best Tamil film in recent times. And one of the best non Mani Ratnam film ever. The socialism is subtle yet clear and the director has handled the movie very well. It will go down as a classic in Tamil movie history. As always with good art films, the movie didn't do very well at the box office but made an impact all the same. Personally, it is my favorite Tamil movie till now and I recommend this to everyone. You will not regret watching this movie. That is why it is the only movie I have rated 10.

Before I begin with the film, I want to express a doubt on this site's functionality. Have the critics gone mad? You guys give this masterpiece just a 7.8? This film beats Hollywood films in many ways, trust me. Firstly, the atheism theme in this film is not intended to encourage people to join atheism, but not to misunderstand atheists as they're human beings as well. Kamal Haasan has been highly underrated in most of his films although he teaches us things that we don't learn in the daily screwed up education syllabus. This film teaches us patience, love, honesty, and sincerity. The work of art in this film is undoubtedly wonderful as they're presented in subliminal ways. This film is not a remake of Planes, Trains And Automobiles, but just inspired character wise. This film deserves several Oscars and many other awards as well. Besides that, I really look low upon IMDb in this as films such as The Avengers and Skyfall are overrated despite their illogical film making. Overall: 9.3/10

I happened to see this film which was a perfect blend of philosophy, realistic acting and the fine art of film making.

Now, I am not a big fan of Kamal. Never was. The arrogance so clearly etched on his face is a major put off for me. But ever so often, Kamal makes me admit ( albeit grudgingly ) that he is the best at what he does.

The philosophy of the film is best explained by the words of the title song, ...

A rough translation goes something like this,

For the theists, God is love. For the good among the atheists, Love is God.

Who here is God ? You and me.

The story is written by Kamal as is the screenplay. He has sung a couple of songs as well out of which the haunting title song stands out. Madhavan is but a tool in Kamal's hands which he uses effectively to his advantage.

Kamal's character changes from that of a bumbling idiot in the first few scenes to a communist union leader with a artistic vein in the middle scenes to a god like figure in the last few scenes. In the last scene, as Kamal walks away into the horizon, we are left with no option but to stand up and salute the indomitable spirit of a man from whom life has taken away so much but still manages to smile.

I wouldn't describe anything more about the story because any words that I can conjure up here wouldn't be enough. The film tells a philosophy that is best seen and understood.

When Love lives in your mind, you are God.

Kamalhasan is known for his extraordinary performances in Indian cinema but this movie is something special for him for he has not acted but lived as Nallasivam . The movie speaks about an universal issue in the most simplest yet the beauties way. Special congrats to Madan for writing some mind storming dialog. Special congrats to Madavan for putting an wonderful performance that too when kamalhasan is present. The movie created a pain in every viewer's heart that remained for two or three days. I can compare this movie with any Hollywood drama for it has got everything love, philosophy, emotion, action above all an excellent way of telling the story. Indian cine industry can follow this at least from now or else they can never get noticed. In one line " A movie that can knock the doors of Hollywood"

Why is Anbe Sivam regarded as the best movie in the history of Tamil cinema by many? Did this movie have any story at all? First of all is it a movie? No. Anbe Sivam is an experience, not only for one Madhavan but for another few thousands, who care to learn quite a lot of things and feel conceited about themselves, but fail miserably to confront the vagaries of life. What was the movie all about? An experienced matured man and a squeamish, egotist but tender hearted youth (a typical modern day youth) travelling together from Bhubaneshwar to Chennai(East coast of India).Fate hinders their journey in all possible ways which Madhavan initially considers exasperating but later reveres as an experience of a lifetime. The story is as simple as that but the associated scenes,dialogues and the lessons learnt reverberate through your mind for a long time.

Be it the floods,train accident or the little boy's death it is Madhavan who breaks down and get shattered. But Kamalhassan adapts himself and reconciles himself to reality and helps in the best possible way he can. While it takes a lot of effort for Madhavan to tell Kamalhaasan about his fraternal love towards him, Kamalhaasan finds it easy to tell 'A.Ars, you are a go(o)d man' (it's not that easy to tell it to someone earnestly). From where did Kamal get this maturity? The story moves into the flashback of Kamal,a communist, who loves the daughter of a capitalist, Nasser, whom he opposes as a worker regarding wages. When the duo decide to elope to Kerala for marriage, their bus meets with a gory accident. Kamal is badly bruised losing a limb and is totally disfigured. While struggling in bed for life, Nasser speaks extremely rude and blatant to Kamal. On conjuring up the scenes after the accident, he evaluates stark contrast of Nasser and the sister. Kamal sees god through the sister and sees it subsequently in quite a lot of people who propagate love.His outlook changes completely.

The first half with some lighter moments, the middle with some interesting dialogues and the last with some really shaking scenes Anbe Sivam stands tall amidst other usual Tamil movies. Madhavan is extraordinary communicating the emotions powerfully(especially in the climax dialogue with Kamalhaasan). The one fight scene in the middle could have been avoided. Rather than going abroad for shooting songs, this movie has brought out some really excellent locations in India( not only in machi machi song). The choice of season to shoot this movie has been brilliant with the monsoon accentuating the kind of feelings to be conveyed. Does the name 'Anbe Sivam' mean 'Anbarase Nallasivam' trying to say 'All are one soul'? Kamal only knows. Finally, I'm sure it would not take any effort for anyone who has seen this movie to say 'I love you Dr.Kamalhaasan' for such an excellent story and screenplay.