..yaar Sivam..Nee naan Sivam..Anbe Sivam
This, is the title track of the Tamil movie Anbe Sivam. 
Playing along a few times during the film, it seems like this song is just lain there and the characters, their experiences are gently and fittingly sprinkled all over the stanzas. The words blend with the narrative and beautifully encapsulate its theme.(The complete lyrics are here…)
Yaar yaar Sivam…Nee naan Sivam
Vaazhvae thavam, Anbe Sivam
Anbe sivam Anbe sivam yendrum…..Anbe sivam Anbe sivam yengum
(Who is God….You and Me
Life, a penance/ a sacred test; Love is God
Love is God… Love is God always….Love is God… Love is God everywhere)
For Anbarasu (Madhavan), it takes a journey of a few days with Nalla Sivam (Kamal Hassan) to understand the significance of these words. This journey is the movie.
When Aras mistakes the disfigured, handicapped Sivam for a terrorist at an airport, it unintentionally becomes the starting point for the young, brash and uppity ad-filmmaker to be pulled out of his bubbled life defined by the dictates of the capitalistic globalised world. But it has to someone like the slightly older Sivam to open Aras’ closed mind. A man who staunchly believes that God is where love is. Each one is considered an equal and respected. An artist/activist, his street theatre group and the paintbrush are his tools to propagate his ideas while he also takes upon himself to fight for workers’ rights.
Once the bubble burst, ignorance is no longer bliss for Aras. The rickety journey shows him to be ill-equipped to handle people and situations out his comfort zone. It’s Sivam who guides him through but not without sympathetically pointing out what is wrong. And having the last word each time. At Aras’ exasperation and irritation. Reality bites. 
Dialogues, conversations abound. Ideologies clash. Through many tragi-comic episodes the youngster slowly begins to see the actuality and his shortcomings. The outburst at the train crash scene ‘I don’t know who I am. How do I handle people? Whom do I trust? I don’t know anything!’ Sivam smiles. Finally, the acceptance. You are good, he says. You’ll learn. And slowly Aras begins to. When he witnesses death for the first time despite his helping, Sivam tells him, you went out of way and helped another, empathized with him. This is all that matters. Aras smiles, realizing for the first time the meaning and significance of Sivam’s words.
Aathigam pesum adiyaarkellaam sivamae anbaagum
Nathigam pesum nallavarukkoe Anbe sivamaagum
(For theists, God is love..
For good among atheists,Love is the only God )
Sivam has his definition of Godliness but he isn’t sparing of the religious. This comes to the fore in his past shown as an interlude while he and Aras are waiting for a train. 
Yet characters he introduces here, their beliefs on the inside and the manifestation of these through their deeds seem to contradict the significance of these two lines of the song. Kandasamy Padayachi (Nasser). The presence of the nuns. These aren’t golden words etched for eternity but seem more like a conviction put forth whose significance drifts beyond the narrative. But when it’s the good that only matters, whatever the distinctions, they become just a blur.
idhayam yenbadhu sadhaidhaan yendraal yerithalal thindruvidum
anbin karuvi idhayam yendraal saavai vendruvidum
(A thick-skinned heart will be consumed by fire..
A heart of love conquers death)
Aras embodies this transformation. 
The second line is the second innings of his life. And he has just made his beginning. Sivam has come full circle though. Having felt death extend its hand toward him, not just once, he defies it. But none of this seems larger-than-life. When the rain-drenched Sivam is at the garbage dump facing Swamy’s deputy holding a large knife, he is sure that it’s the end. Stung, but that intrinsic belief in place. The readiness is only natural then.
A heart of love is also able to overcome the death of its own desires. Readily yet painfully. Just as Sivam avenges the betrayal of the only love of his life.
anbin paathai serndhavanukku mudivae illaiyadaa
manadhin neelam yedhuvoe adhuvae vaazhvin neelamada
(There is no death/end for the one who follows the path of love
Length of your life/legend will last on how broad your mind is….)
This is Sivam’s life. One end is not the end. Aras, Kandaswamy’s deputy, the theatre group and the workers too, all denote this. The lines then belong to each one of them. And beyond.
If Anbe Sivam is simplistically yet effectively able to put forth this philosophy, its Kamal Hassan’s screenplay that takes the credit. Layering Sivam’s character with communist ideas, atheist leanings, the need to fight for justice and internal conflicts especially after his disfigurement, Kamal Hassan ensures all these facets reveal themselves throughout the story. Each has an implication and in the end given its deserved conclusion.
For the street theatre song, KH specifically asked Pralayan, founder of Chennai based Kalai Kuzhu, (a theatre group that focuses on social issues based stories) to write the song. The title Anbe Sivam does mean Love is God. Kamal Hassan chooses names for his characters also such that the meaning is kind of derived from both of them. The song Yaar yaar Sivam is the signature of the movie. Vairamuthu has wonderfully captured what the film is through his lyrics. Its given a voice by Kamal Hassan himself with Karthick.
Anbe Sivam isn’t a movie that preaches. Yet it makes us aware of how bottled up our lives have become. How alienated are we from what is around us and what illusory reality have we created for ourselves. It is a struggle. It is thoughtful. It swathes me with a feeling of kindness, and I end up wondering how much of it is there within.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Great read…Arthi..
Though I did not enjoy the film, definitely beauty of Vairamuthu’s words linger in my ears…
Just wanted to add some porul to the lines….though your translation is eminently acceptable as it conveys most…This is just my interpretation
idhayam yenbadhu sadhaidhaan yendraal yerithalal thindruvidum
anbin karuvi idhayam yendraal saavai vendruvidum
(The heart, if considered flesh, would be consumed in the funeral pyre
The heart, if considered the source of love, would live beyond death)
Good one, Arthi. Though I don’t understand Tamil, have watched this movie many times with & without subs. Didn’t know the title song captured the essence of the movie.
Good one, the film deserves much attention than it has been given..
thank you so much..
I dont know tamil that well..so i tend to miss out some subtle strokes of genius when i hear songs or watch movies..
“Aathigam pesum adiyaarkellaam sivamae anbaagum
Nathigam pesum nallavarukkoe Anbe sivamaagum”
I didnt understand this till now..
And the movie..fantastic..I got goosebumps when i saw it..now wen i saw this article and the shots from the film attached..I get gb’s again..
Thanks for making my morning..
Great stuff!
Just words here and there Rahul….im no pro in Tamil..I got the fundu words translated…just had a vague idea….it was a neat layout then..the song plays at crucial points…amazing blend i thought…
Hey!Arthi this was a lovely take on the movie.Interestingly even I saw the movie again a few days back.Every time I see the movie I’m just amazed at the way the movie unravels its layers.There are so many things that go right in this movie.Kamal Haasan is able to maintain a balance between his dynamic flamboyance in the flashback while he superbly underplays in the present.The cameraderie between Kamal and Madhavan is outstanding.Even Nasser’s portrayal is very convincing.And the ending, well I can go on & on.Saw the movie first day,first show when it released- keep re-visiting it.BTW have you noticed the movie talks about Tsunami & what a co-incidence? no one really knew what Tsunami was in India until it actually hit India nearly 2 years later.
Sethu, I saw it for the first time..I never expected it to be such…KH kinda takes a backseat for once. Tsunami…ya…when Aras just hushes him away..ive forgotten the reference tho…Nasser can never fault i think…..loved the scene at the end, when his deputy updates him n he invokes God….both their expn’s are superb…
An awesome post. Right there at the top among my favorite movies. The narrative is so good despite of touching various topics right communism to meaning of life… simply brilliant… another huge plus point for the movie was the dialogues by Madhan…which suited the movie to perfection….
The film deserved and deserves much.
Nice post on a wonderful song and it’s one of my favorite song. The awesome lyrics, souring music and kamal’s rendering makes it a brilliant song and it is interspersed in the movie at the right places to evoke the perfect emotions. But i beg to differ with the film itself. I think Anbe Sivam is one of the mediocre effort from Kamal Hassan and i’m an adrent fan of his work and films. To me the main deterrent in appreciating it is Madhavan’s character in the film, it felt like he was more of a caricature rather than a real character. Meaning, in my opinion, his character comes across as an one-dimensional mumbling idiot existing solely for the screenplay’s convenience rather than a real person. I guess this could be because the film dose not have any back story for Madhavan’s character to root for or know about him, instead he feels like screenwriter’s (in this case Kamal) concoction of a guy in bubble as opposed to a real person. I’m not sure what dose Madhavan’s character realize by the end of the film, did he have any real insight into the world which exist outside his bubble or dose he simply thinks kamal’s character as a nice man inspite of his looks.
Either way i did not care and that sadly was my feeling after i saw the film.
A very interesting post Arthi!
Anbe Sivam was a movie I saw 5 times.
I saw the movie fully the first time and for the remaining 4 times, I saw it till the scene where Ars lands up in the party office and finds out about nalla. After that the marriage scene and the climax were something forced on the viewer – for it didn’t say anything new about the characters and were inserted to raise the saintliness levels of the nalla character.
What needs to be underscored in the movie is the awesomeness of the small characters – right from Mehrunnisa (played by the much talented, yet underused Uma Riaz) to the comrade who perishes in the bus to the pettyshop owner in the hill played by ‘pasi’ Sathya and not to forget the delightful cameos of Yuhi sethu as ‘Uthaman’ the fraud. These characters make their delightful appearance and save the movie when the capitalism Vs communism related lectures seem to drag every once in a while. The dialogues of the movie are penned by the popular cartoonist Madhan who also is a film critic in Vijay TV delivering not so harsh criticism of trashy movies.
Special mention must be made on the art direction (prabhakar?) for the cyclone effects scenes of Bhuvaneshwar and Andra and specially the train wreck. Vidhyasagar’s music is superb with the song that you have highlighted playing either as it is or as a theme in significant portions. The movie’s message of Love towards a fellow human was lost in the box office for strange reasons, but fellow film makers were very impressed and one guy Bala decided to include the scenes of Anbe Sivam in the pre climax scene of Pithamagan as a tribute to Kamal’s valiant effort.
Overall as someone mentioned, the screenplay and dialogues of Anbe Sivam deserve a closer analysis.
Jaiganesh, techniques and the side actors were good but yet I cant limit this movie down to those parameters.
…
This film wants to say something and it succeeds, despite Madhavan’s character being caricatured to an extent, despite Nalla Sivam , being named so (coming from Kamal Hassan, what could this name mean…much more if looked like its his voice…), Kandaswamy , Arasu …despite singling out atheists (check that line in the song), despite Kiran being not much of a voice, despite the comm vs cap debate as white n black, i couldn’t it pin it down….
And for me thats where AS worked…it no longer disappears once its ended..
I have no clue who Madhan is but I am fairly sure its not his dialogues through and through…it seems like KH there…blatant in the dialogues…may be im wrong too
Anbe Sivam is a pretty black and white take, but for me it became a means to an end….and the message comes across…thats all..
@jaiganesh
I assume all the 4 times you did see the scene where kamal is confronted by Madhavan after finding out about nalla..’the imaginary wife is just like a walking stick for the heart not to limp..’ (assume got the translation rite). Just as you mention about the cameos..even the drunkard on street ..who appears when madan meets kamal before the party would have done justice to his role. Anbe sivam was poorly marketed and sadly it was a dud at Box office, yet i find it to be the most favourite of Kamal movies(post 2000) universally in most of the net forums.
BTW Madhan even plays himself on screen in the movie.Thats the sequence when Kiran’s character slowly starts liking Kamal’s Nalla.And all said & done C.Sundar the director of the movie
( who is now enjoying some limited success as a hero ) would definitely be proud of having the film in his filmography- so what if its true that it was largely ghost directed by KH himself.
The biggest weakness of the movie was the character of Kiran herself. Probably it is her weakness in acting that prompted Kamal not to shoot any scenes of her change of mind and acceptance of ars as her groom in the marriage. Also the fact that she has not been truthful to Ars about her earlier affair with nalla makes the whole marriage scene and Nalla’s sacrifice ‘yuk’. Those were the weakest segments in the movie and hence the dampner. If you get hold of the DVD, there is a beautiful scene where Mehrunnisa confronts nalla about his love towards Bala (played by Kiran) and that she loves him. Unfortunately this was chopped off in the theatrical version that I saw. A better lead heroine would have definitely elevated the movie and the lame duck arguments involving communism and GOD to some one who is a chicken kinda makes it uninteresting. Kamal maddy conversations were more like Sachin Vs henry olonga. Hopefully in Unnai Pol Oruvan Kamal gives more respect and space to Mohanlal.
Oh- I also forgot the ‘2 to 2 to 2-2′ line from R.S.Shivaji, the station master. That was cool wasn’t it?
Now that you mention it, this line…it had to be a KH stroke…Sivam’s reaction seemed like KH’s here…for me atleast…It really dumbed Madhavan’s character…seems trivial yet this was kinda exagg….yet i let it go…:)…
@VPJ : how did you conclude that she doesnt reveal her past to ars, it could have been either way. accept that the climax was kinda forced but certainly not yucky…infact kamals taking on nasser with sarcasm about his phony religious faith was certainly enjoyable IMO. And Kamal brings in the best out of co artist in his movies..not sure how could you accuse him of not giving space to madhavan in anbe sivam…arguably it was one of maddys best performance..am not quiet sure of the sachin vs olanga comparison either…the whole point of the movie was supposed to be the journey of two people..who is totally opposite in everything right from their appearance to their perspective about life .. hence the characterization worked perfectly fine for the chemistry between the two..tho i completely agree with the part about kiran..and i did catch the scene involving uma riaz on the big screen…
@KPV – Maddy’s acting was absolutely superb – I am just talking about the way it is written. In the two scenes where he gets opportunity (the post train wreck scene and the ‘what kinda design is this’) he does really well, apart from that, he is the perennially pissed off person and therefore appears more caricaturish to me.
As far as my statement on ‘Bala not informing about Nalla to Ars’ – If you recollect, Ars listens to the story’s one half about a street theatre artist’s performance on street broken up by a rich industrialist’s daughter, and still no bells ring in him. Ofcourse I dont want everything to be spoonfed to me, atleast some hint also would have done me some comfort. Also Ars is not even shown to be a person who could handle the kind of back story of Bala had with Nalla. On a different tangent, if Ars had been created equal with all the back stories, then he would have been all the more worldy wise and therefore not a chicken feed to Nalla’s winning charms and there would have been no story to show on screen.
So beating about the bush, I agree with what you said, but as a matter of cinematic convenience that is required to tie two threads together and put ‘The End’.
@arthi : the dialogues would have definitely had Kamals input..but mostly it has madhans wit all over it… it has his style of writing..i.e. putting forward some huge ideas in simple lay man terms weaved with humor…he was a close associate of writer sujatha and also the co editor of ananda vikatan… his books are a pretty interesting read…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhan
Really remarkable movie, a movie which from its limited genre and composition(super commercial star cast + songs + stunts kinda setup) is able to raise a valid voice which lingers long, deep and surprisingly as close as possible to truth. As some of you had posted earlier, I also think its the power of a script/screenplay which seems to be penned by a wonderfully observant mind. Somehow the movie reminds one of some of Shreenivasan scipts(in Malayalam) where more than anything else, some of the nuances in the script emerges as the real hero of the movie.
Even I love the movie and the song… About the street play song written by Pralayan – it was said to be a clear homage by Kamal Haasan to Safdar Hashmi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safdar_Hashmi) the person who inspired the character of Pankaj Kapur in Halla Bol as well…
I know it is largely unconnected to most of the conversation going on but still :P.