Anbe Sivam

I watched the movie because of the stars - Kamal Hasan and Madhavan. I do not understand Tamil, yet the movie has been so well made that at times you do not feel that you need the dialogs.

In brief, the movie shows two extremely different characters who are forced to spend time together due to circumstances.

The movie tends to slow down in the middle, when it goes into the flashback of Kamal Hasan's life. However, for the most part, it is a pretty sensible piece of art - something that is a rarity in Bollywood. The movie could have been shorter - and that is the only complaint that I have. Otherwise, it is a brilliant idea that has been executed to near perfection.

Kamal Hasan - as always - excels. Madhavan is great, too. The music score was really good.

A must see!

I consider "Anbe Sivam" as the best movie of all time. Fabulous story, exceptional screenplay and apt comedy make this movie a treat to watch. It's doubtful if anyone else will be able to make a movie again in the same caliber. Unfortunate that it was not sent for the Oscar's. It's music is riveting and apt for the situation. The characters are brilliant. The way the change of heart occurs for Anbu is perfectly done through the screenplay.Kamal at his best throughout the movie and well supported by Madhavan, Naser and others. It is one of the few movies to have a title that was apt for it's screenplay. It speaks about communism, love, friendship and what not. 10 out of 10

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.

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.

this is one grossly under rated movie. it is really touching, funny and one off the best all time title songs. kamal is at his best and madhavan manages to prevent being over shadowed with some cheeky timing sense. only' black dot in the film is kiran who can neither look good nor act or even wear some nice dresses. we would have loved to see simran or abirami do the role(she was awesome in "virumandi"). no one can come out of the theater without a heavy heart after seeing the climax. dialogs by madan is too good and small roles like "Poun Kunju" and that of villain Nasser uttering praising lord siva and the co incidence of saying it in the end is brilliant.if don see this movie u r missing some thing