Anbe Sivam

''Anbe Sivam'' () is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Sundar C. and produced by K. Muralitharan, V. Swaminathan and G. Venugopal under the banner of Lakshmi Movie Makers. The film was written by Kamal Haasan, and Madhan provided the dialogues. ''Anbe Sivam'' stars Haasan, Madhavan and Kiran Rathod, with Nassar, Santhana Bharathi, Seema and Uma Riyaz Khan playing supporting characters. The film tells the story of Nallasivam and Anbarasu, two men of contrasting personalities who undertake an unexpected journey from Bhubaneswar to Chennai.

Produced on a budget of 120 million, ''Anbe Sivam'' takes on themes such as communism, atheism, and altruism and depicts Haasan's humanist views. The music was composed by Vidyasagar. Arthur A. Wilson served as the cinematographer and M. Prabhaharan served as the art director.

The film was released on 15 January 2003 to positive reviews from critics but underperformed at the box office. Despite its initial failure, it has gained recognition over the years through re-runs on television channels and is now regarded as a classic of Tamil cinema and a cult film. ''Anbe Sivam'' was screened as part of the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India in 2003. At the 51st Filmfare Awards South, it received a Special Jury Award and nominations in the Best Film and Best Actor (Haasan) categories. Madhavan was awarded Best Actor at the 2003 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.

Plot

Two men waiting for a flight to Chennai at the Biju Patnaik Airport in Bhubaneswar engage in conversation. One is a commercial director, Anbarasu, who prefers the abbreviated name A.Aras, and the other is a scarred and deformed socialist, Nallasivam (Nalla). When the flight is cancelled due to heavy rain, Aras initially suspects Nalla is 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 Nalla has to deliver a 3,200,000 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 Coromandel Express 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, Nalla repeatedly bails Aras out of trouble while Aras tries escaping from him at every juncture, only to end up with him again. While waiting for the train at the Ichchapuram railway station, Nalla begins to tell Aras his story.

A few years earlier, a healthy Nalla took part in various street theatre performances protesting against multinational corporation-driven industrialisation, which resulted in the marginalisation of the labour force. 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 Kerala.

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 has 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. 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 Nalla's cheque to the union workers. He invites Nalla to his wedding, where, to his utter astonishment, Nalla sees that Aras's bride is Bala. Padayatchi spots Nalla 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 Nalla's demands. After signing the papers, Padayatchi instructs his assistant to eliminate Nalla. However, his assistant has a change of heart as he is about to kill him. Padayatchi's assistant believes that the misdeeds he committed for Padayatchi resulted in the death of the assistant's daughter. Padayatchi's assistant requests Nalla to stay as far away from his boss as possible. Nalla assents and walks away.

Cast

* Kamal Haasan as Nallasivam
* Madhavan as Anbarasu (A. Aras)
* Kiran Rathod as Balasaraswathi
* Nassar as Kandasamy Padayatchi
* Santhana Bharathi as Padayatchi's assistant
* Seema as Balasaraswathi's aunt
* Yugi Sethu as Uthaman
* R. S. Shivaji as the Ichchapuram railway station master
* Vishwanath as Padayatchi's assistant
* Balu Anand as the train ticket checker for the Coromandel Express
* Ilavarasu as a police inspector and aide of Padayatchi
* Muthukaalai as a roadside drunkard
* Uma Riyaz Khan as Mehrunissa
* Pasi Sathya as a tea stall owner
* Nellai Siva as a street theatre performer
* Benjamin as a street theatre performer
* Poovilangu Mohan as a grieving father
* Kalairani as a grieving mother
* Krishnamoorthy as a union worker
* Sujatha Narayanan as a tea shop owner who helps Nallasivam
* Madhan as himself
* Vasanthi as a dancer in "Naatukkoru Seithi"

Production

Development

In the late 1990s, Kamal Haasan narrated the premise of a film to the director K. S. Ravikumar as they sought to collaborate following ''Avvai Shanmughi'' (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 Sri Lankan Tamil communist, while the other was a person who followed a right-wing political belief. Haasan had wanted to act in the film alongside Mohanlal, 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 '' Thenali'' (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 Malayalam filmmaker Priyadarshan 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 ''Anbe Sivam'' was derived from the Shaivite saint Tirumular's poem '' Tirumantiram''. In June 2002, Priyadarshan opted out of the project owing to creative differences. Sundar C. came in as a replacement to work on the film. ''Anbe Sivam'' was co-produced and distributed by V. Swaminathan, K.Muralitharan and G.Venugopal under the production banner of Lakshmi Movie Makers.

Cast and crew

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 Anuradha Sriram. Uma Riyaz Khan played the role of Nallasivam's friend and professional colleague, Mehrunissa. In a 2019 interview with ''The Indian Express'', the film's script assistant and costume designer, Sujatha Narayanan, revealed that Nandita Das and Shobana were the original choices for Balasaraswathi and Mehrunissa respectively and that both of them declined due to schedule conflicts.

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 Crazy Mohan also collaborated with Haasan on writing some dialogues for the film. In an interview with S.R. Ashok Kumar of '' The Hindu'' in 2006, Bharathi considered both ''Anbe Sivam'' and '' Michael Madana Kama Rajan'' (1990) to be the favourite roles of his career.

Arthur A. Wilson, M. Prabhaharan and P. Sai Suresh handled the film's cinematography, art direction and editing, respectively. Brinda, Chinni Prakash and Dinesh Kumar were in charge of the choreography while the stunt sequences were co-ordinated by Vikram Dharma. 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 Michael Westmore and Anil Pemgirkar. In May 2002, Haasan completed the makeup for his character Nallasivam in Los Angeles after filming the song sequences for ''Panchatanthiram'' (2002).

Filming

Principal photography for ''Anbe Sivam'' commenced in July 2002. The first scene featuring the lead actors was shot at Pollachi Junction railway station. Haasan and Madhavan interacted closely during the initial stages of the shoot to ensure that the on-screen chemistry between the pair was apparent.

''Anbe Sivam'' was shot on a restricted budget of 120 million, with the train and bus disaster sequences involving the use of settings and CGI. Madhavan, who began shooting his portions in September 2002, stated the film was shot in relatively empty locations. The flood scenes set in Odisha were re-created with outdoor sets consisting of city roads submerged under water erected in the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border. Filming also took place in Chennai, Visakhapatnam and on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border. For a brief sequence in the "Naatukkoru Seithi" song, Haasan learnt how to play the thavil, a barrel-shaped percussion instrument, over three weeks. The pre-climax scenes were filmed in what was then known as the Campa Cola compound in Guindy. The climax scenes were filmed in a single take.

Themes and influences

''Anbe Sivam'' 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 capitalism and globalisation. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the two are forced to undertake the journey together. Throughout the narrative, a series of themes pertaining to communism, compassion, globalisation, atheism, and altruism are addressed; the film also showcases Haasan's views as a humanist. According to Haasan, the characterisation of Nallasivam was inspired by the life of Communist playwright, actor, director, lyricist and theorist Safdar Hashmi, who was chiefly associated with his work on street theatre in India. Hashmi died on 2 January 1989 after being attacked by members of the Indian National Congress while staging a play, ''Halla Bol''. S.Anand of ''Outlook'' magazine notes that Haasan's views on humanism in the film also seemed to be inspired by those of Charlie Chaplin. M. Kalyanaraman and Abdullah Nurullah of ''The Times of India'' opined that Nallasivam shared similar characteristics with street theatre artist Pralayan. According to Kalyanaraman, ''Anbe Sivam'' 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 "Siva is love" is the "final stage of evolution of man into God".

The film critic Baradwaj Rangan, in his review of another Haasan film, '' Vishwaroopam'' (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 Bengali language and meeting Bengalis in '' Mahanadhi'' (1994), a Telugu-speaking love interest in ''Nammavar'' (1994), marrying a Bengali woman in ''Hey Ram'' (2000), conducting investigations with an American associate in '' Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu'' (2006), and marriage to a Frenchwoman in '' Manmadan Ambu'' (2010). Rangan notes that in ''Anbe Sivam'', the inclusion of and interaction with the Odia people 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 '' Thoongathey Thambi Thoongathey'' (1983).

The basic plot of ''Anbe Sivam'' was reported to have similarities with the 1987 road film, '' Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' directed by John Hughes, which starred Steve Martin and John Candy. 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 Diego Rivera's fresco, ''Man at the Crossroads''. Srinivasa Ramanujam, writing for ''The Times of India'' in 2008, noted that the religious undertone in the film was similar to that of Rajinikanth's '' Baba'' (2002).

Music

The soundtrack album and background score for ''Anbe Sivam'' were composed by Vidyasagar and the lyrics for the songs were written by Vairamuthu and P. Vijay. 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 ''Shuddh Sarang'' raga. The male portions for the reprise of "Poovaasam" were sung by Sriram Parthasarathy, while the original version was sung by Vijay Prakash. Sadhana Sargam sang her portion of both versions of the song.

Malathi Rangarajan of ''The Hindu'' wrote, "Vidyasagar is scaling great heights as a composer. The theme song and the melodious are pointers. Vairamuthu's lyrics deserve special mention here." Singer Charulatha Mani, in her column for ''The Hindu'', "A Raga's Journey", noted, "Poovaasam" possessed "a charm that is born out of classicism incorporated in a populist piece". Arkay of Rediff.com found the songs to be "at best, okay". M. Suganth of ''The Times of India'', in his review for the music album, "Lovers Special – Vol. 2–4", included "Poovaasam" among the "Hot Picks" of the album.

Release

According to S. R. Ashok Kumar of ''The Hindu'', the producers were confident that ''Anbe Sivam'' would be a strong competitor at the 50th National Film Awards that they had the film reviewed by the Central Board of Film Certification 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 Thai Pongal

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