2.5 / 4 STARS
DIRECTOR: SUNDAR C.
ACTORS: KAMAL HAASAN, MADHAVAN
ACTRESS: KIRAN
MUSIC DIRECTOR: VIDYASAAGAR
STORYLINE:
Anbarasu (Madhavan) is a selfish advertising executive who needs to get from Bhuvaneswar to Chennai for his wedding but because of heavy rainfall, all his routes are blocked. He meets up with Nallasivam (Kamal Haasan), a humanitarian with a disfigured face who consistently annoys him.
The story is of the two men's travel from Bhuvaneshwar to Chennai together, and how slowly Madhavan became more and more caring towards others, learning from his traveling partner.
COMMENTS:
"Anbae Sivam" is a movie you should see, despite my 2.5 / 4 rating. It's different; it's entertaining; it's never boring; and it's got a heck of a message.
This movie has been bombing at the box office (while people have been going to see repackaged masala like "Dhool" instead) because, according to many sources, it's not "commercial." What nonsense. Has the word "commercial" come to mean nonsensical stories, dumb songs interjected six times at odd intervals, and ten fights? There is nothing "art film"-like about "Anbae Sivam." It is a commercial movie -- it's just not a masala movie. Please don't mix up masala with commerciality.
First off: the title "Anbae Sivam" fits the theme of the movie perfectly (and does even more since Madhavan's name is "Anbu" and Kamal's is "Sivam"). That itself is much better than the usual dumb titles we've been getting ("Chocklet" and "Jjunction" come to mind).
Second off: it's a good theme and the movie has done a good job of bringing it out, owing in no small part to Kamal Haasan's screenplay. The movie works! Yeah, I know it's amazing for a Tamil movie, but when the script intends to be funny, it's funny. When the script intends to be sad, it's sad. There are no awkward moments where I'm wondering if the director knew what he was doing (the director is ostensibly Sundar C., but it's very obvious Kamal Haasan had a huge hand in it). Everything is sensibly done and everything is neat, and the screenplay, in function, is very flawlessly and cleverly done. There are no wasted dialogues. When the two men exchange their blood-types in the beginning, that's not "chummaa." It comes back later. The script is, in function, the quality of English movie scripts. That's a huge plus point right there. It's not thrown together. Everything feels planned and revised and thought out.
Thirdly: the acting. Now that I've mentioned the quality of the writing and direction, let me mention the acting -- it's good. Kamal Haasan is good as always (I've never seen the man act badly, not once) and Madhavan, while not excellent, is probably the best young actor to complement him. His acting is also very good (when he's doing the comedic scenes, they're hilarious), and the only time he falters is in one scene where he's supposed to cry. The Madhavan-Kamal link is going to continue in a new movie, "Nala Damayanti." I'm happy. Another great actress in this piece is new actress Uma Riyaz Khan. She manages to make us laugh and be touched at the same time when she's expressing her secret love for Kamal.
So okay. The movie is leaps and bounds better than "Panchatantiram" and "Pammal K. Sammantham" and "Thenaali" and all these brainless movies. So why is it a 2.5 / 4 instead of a 4 / 4? Well, firstly, there's the flashback. It seems too long and too self-promotion on Kamal's part. While it's intelligent and cleverly written, it's the one point of the movie which seems drawn-out. A simple romance, a simple car accident might have been far better rather than the song-and-fight full-blown-story flashback we get here. (But even the flashback has its strong points -- the painting Kamal draws on the wall and its hidden subversive meanings are remarkably clever, for example, and Uma Riyaz Khan's actign). I know why Kamal did it -- for commercial reasons. But in my eyes, it might have been better cut down a bit. The other bigger reasons for knocking the movie's score down are explained in the Spoiler Comments section.
All in all, a thoughtful well-executed picture which, despite its flaws, you should see.
Oh yeah, the first part of the movie might have been inspired by "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles," but is different in theme enough to say that it's not a copy.
It's very funny throughout ("what time does the train get here?" "222222"), and very touching throughout.
SPOILER COMMENTS:
The main reasons I knocked the score down are plausibility factors. It didn't seem believable to me when at the end of this, Madhavan said, "You're like my big brother; come stay with me forever." That just seemed unbelievable and dumb.
The other believability thing I had a problem with was the fact that it was Kiran who is Madhavan's intended bride. I predicted that to be so from the very beginning but was hoping throughout the movie it wouldn't turn out that way. It did. The coincidence just seems too grandiose to believe; of all the people to travel together with from Bhuvaneshwar to Chennai, Kamal latches onto his former lover's fiance. Just doesn't seem convincing.
These are the quibbles I had with a movie and why I was unable to give it higher than 2.5 / 4.
NOTE ON THE MUSIC:
"Poo Vaasam" is pretty good. "Elo Machi" is good with the situation. "Naattukkoru Seiythi" is nice to watch but painful to listen to on its own.
RECOMMENDATION:
Watch this movie -- either in the theater or on VCD / video. It's a much better film than all the other "Pongal" releases.
VIJAY VANNIARAJAN