Love is God. Review on Anbe Sivam Movie

'Anbe Sivam', as interesting as the title sounds is a movie who's essence is captured in it's title, Love is God.

What it is?

The story begins in an airport in Orissa where both Nalla, a disfigured, not good looking communist leader and Aras, a smart, suave and globalised yuppie are waiting for a flight which eventually get's cancelled due to storm. They are forced to share a hotel room where all shades of both characters are aptly portrayed on screen. Aras desperately wants to get back home because he's going to get married in four days. Nalla realistically takes Aras through the world that they are in which is just too dangerous and dirty for a yuppie like Aras who cannot understand why his mobile won't work or his credit card is not accepted. Interspersed among all the opening scenes are liberal doses of humour, slapstick at it's hilarious best or should I say worst.

The story gains momentum with the storm intensifying in Orissa and Nalla and Aras take up the journey together to Chennai by rail and road. Here we are exposed to Nalla's life, the Nalla that was. The audience is transported to the world of trade unionism, Nalla's street plays, his friends, his romance with the mill owners daughter and his idealogies, which are very marxist. Somewhere down the line, things don't work out as they have to, Nalla gets disfigured in an accident, he loses his love and somehow escapes death by an inch. It's this Nalla that starts to realise the divine power. Coming back to reality, Nalla and Aras become witness to a train accident and Aras comes back to the real world after bearing witness to gore and bloodshed. In the end he marries his girl and life moves on, watch out what really happens in the movie.

The Team

The main focus of this movie largely revolves around globalisation, faith, ideologies and love for the human being. Kamal Hassan as Nalla does what he does best, act, and believe me when you see the disfigured Nalla it'll send shivers down your spine, he's put his heart and soul into the role. Madhavan as Aras does a good job, no one else could have shared frame with Kamal and not ended up looking like a joker. Nasser as the hypocritical believer in God, who swears by God's name in revenge does a splendid job. Art direction by Prabhakar is one of the strongest points of the movie, be it the flooded railway station and roads in Orissa, the mill protests in Coimbatore, the train accident in Andra, all have been re-created excellently. Vidyasagar's music is a mix of Classical Symphonies and Vidyasagar's own background score and five songs of which the title song and the street play song stand out.

Cinematography by Arthur Wilson is good though he didn't have great sceneries to picturise, he's done justice to every frame. Kamal Hassan has done the story and screenplay, one should commend him for the story but the screenplay is fudged, he must have got lost in a whirlpool of ideas and couldn't decide on which to highlight. Sundar C is the director of this movie, this is clear in the comedy scenes that make up one half of the movie, but the later half looks like it was ghost-directed by Kamal himself. It's just too unlike his earlier works and that's what makes me suspicious. Lyrics are top class, by Vairamuthu. Here's a sample from the title song:

Yaar yaar sivam, nee naan sivam(Who is God? Me and you, we are God)

Vazhvay thavam, anbe sivam (Life is a penence, Love is God)

Aathiham pesum adiyalkellam sivamay anbaagum(For the believer God is love)

Naathikam pesum nallavarkellam anbay sivamaagum(For the non believer love is God)

Idhayam enbadhu sathithaan enral erithazhal thinruvidum(If the heart is only flesh, it'll be burnt by fire)

Anbin karuvi idhayam enral saavai venruvidum(If love originates from the heart, it'll win over death)

Anbin paadhai serthavannukku mudivay illaiada(There's no end for the person who takes the path of love)

Manathin neelam ethuvo athuvay vaazhivin neelamada(Life is as long as your mind)

# Plz bear with my crass translation(trans-literation), I know just enough Tamil to understand what it means.

In essence

'Anbe Sivam', definitely watchable for the contrasting views it projects and the non-judgemental stance taken, but every frame has Kamal Hassan and that's what is a not so positive point.