Kamal A2Z: Anbe Sivam
Editor’s Note: Here’s a reader who has just now turned author on this blog, with this wonderful post. Please welcome, Deepauk! Who’s next? How about taking up Aasheerwaadam or Anthuleni Katha or Aval Appadithaan?
To paraphrase Bertrand Russell, a stupid man’s report of what a clever man intends to portray on screen may never be accurate. Nevertheless I shall attempt an interpretation. The movie has been alternately hailed and dismissed from different sections for various reasons. I will touch on the screenplay and the characterizations, two items that are sometimes knocked.
A frequent criticism leveled against the movie is the script, especially the flashback sequence. A simple exercise to determine if a scene is superfluous to a screenplay is to remove that scene or sequence and see if the movie still holds together. Anbe Sivam stands up to this test very well. Apart from 2 songs (an occupational hazard in the Indian Film Industry), the removal of any scene would rip through the entire fabric of the movie. Some sequences while clichéd from a birds eye view are less so when examined. The minor banalities in structure are acknowledged by the writer through Madhavan’s “Puratchi Kathaanayagan Thimiru pudicha Kadhaanayagi” (dashing hero, arrogant heroine) dialogue.The entire sequence in Bala’s house serves to emphasize the romance, Kandaswami Padaiyaachi’s opportunistic theism and finally the reason for Bala’s continued involvement with Nalla. The action sequence sets up the scene afterward in the police station (the actor playing the inspector is a riot). It forces Nalla to come to terms with the consequences of his dalliance with the daughter of the man whose policies he resents.
I would like to mention 2 specific scenes that contrast the range of anecdotes that were drawn upon to deliver exposition in the movie. First, the portentous scene about the Tsunami that plays out in the Bhubaneshwar Hotel; the description of the photography-enthusiast consumed by the seas is supposedly based on a tragedy that befell a close friend (source: Kamal the writer himself in an interview to Sun TV). The scenes at the mural unveiling in Kandaswami Padaiyachi’s office are based on, I presume, Diego Rivera’s mural for the Rockefeller Center (a point to note here is Nalla’s allegiance, much like Russell, lies more with Marx than with Lenin). Referencing an intensely personal experience as well as global pop culture in the same movie should be a stretch, but it is pulled off with consummate ease.
The obvious strengths in the Nalla role apart, what is really meant to step out of the movie and slap the average yuppie viewer’s face is the Anbarasu character. Madhavan delivers the wake up call well, combining socially accepted selfishness and naivete’ with aplomb. Even small characters like the members of the Koothupattarai (street play troupe in Tamil Nadu), Mehrunnisa and Pounkunju in particular, are given a lot of depth. And for the piece-de-resistance we return to Nalla. For nearly 2 hours the man is infallible. He has fought the Indian government and won, waded through floods, chased a train, lost and donated blood and through his generally gregarious nature managed to traverse nearly the entire east coast of the country on a leg and a half. And then suddenly the self-assured “last-word-freak” has all his insecurities laid out in one line. “Manaivingurathu oru karpanai walking stick. Manam Nondaama Irukkanum Ille” (”The concept of wife is an imaginary walking stick. The mind shouldn’t go lame, right?”). Nalla’s imaginary walking stick clearly shows Kamal Haasan’s imagination needs none.
[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]
September 28th, 2007 at 3:50 am
nice write-up by deepauk. keep it up, man!
anbarasu = anbu + Ars
nallasivam - nallaa + Mr.Sivam
Anbe Sivam. Anbarasuvee Nalla sivam. Anbarasu accepted and transformed into [another] god!
wow, even title had a [good] double meaning!.
i somehow find the anbarasu character a bit delved, and made to look comic, a bit, wantedly…anyway it helps a lot! in the story…
then, deepak, inga kanjam varrathu! - http://mayyam.com/hub/viewforum.php?f=18
September 28th, 2007 at 5:43 am
Wow. Deepak. Welcome to the definitive blog. Of course, there is the famous hammer/sickle reference from Nalla himself (about himself, and implicating the communist symbol as a process, bow down to Kamal ‘the writer’ there). The communism isn’t stressed out in any way, it’s more like they debate it out in conversation. Many see the altruistic angle to be the best about the film, but I think the commentary in few places from Kamal to be the speciality. I have read comments about the verbosity being a negative point, but please, who found those dialogues boring. I certainly didn’t. And yes, The flashback sequence could have been a whole lot better with someone more talented than Kiran, who is just hopeless.
September 28th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Deepauk,
That was a superb write-up on the film, especially some compelling notes on the flashback sequence. Yours truly is one of those who think the flashback pulls the movie down (in general, unlike most Kamal fans, I don’t place this film in the league of the best Kamal films), but that’s not to question the writing that went into these sequences. If anything, it’s the strong writing that saves the flashback. But, honestly, the way these sequences are staged and executed left things to be desired.
I love the way Kamal delivers the walking-stick line in broken pieces of words with a sort of cheerfulness, but it doesn’t betray his insecurity as much as acknowledge it.
On a different note, one can see that the writer Kamal exploring “the tragicomic” so effectively in this film, right from the scenes in the flood-affected Bhubaneshwar till they reach a railway station in Andhra. (Subtle, ironic and dark humour has always been Kamal’s forte, but nowhere did the humour got overtly tragicomic as here.) For example, the scene where he talks about his father’s death [*]; or when Mehrunissa opens her heart about her love for Nalla. That scene is very funny but also touching. Why, in this scene, Nalla actually says, “azhuvaRadhA sirikkaRadhA ‘nnE theriyala…”
Now this very line is repeated (’sirikkaRadhu’ precedes ‘azhuvaRadhu’ here!) in the last Kamal-written last venture — the underrated Mumbai Xpress, in which he explored “the tragicomic” more eloquently though it is rather unnoticed. The first scene with Avinasi, Daddu and Ahalya in Ahalya’s house is a good example. It is so funny because of the things the three say to the other two (especially Avinasi has “heartless” things to say here. One has to hear him reflect so blandly, “sOgamAna kadhai dhAn…” to believe it!). But, it’s also sad because we know what the characters are going through. But for the dragging sequences with Chettiar in the car and ACP SP Rao on the phone in the last hour, this one is quite a Kamal special for me. If only Kamal had not gone all-out in designing a farcical web of confusion (and obligatory automobile chases) that dragged more than tickle the funny bone, this one would have been right up there.
* - It was Gollapudi Maruthi Rao’s son, Gollapudi Srinivas, who died in a similar accident. The Gollapudi Srinivas National award is also instituted in his memory. Rao is a writer and his friendship with Kamal goes a long way back. And, of course, he has acted in many Kamal films like Swathi Muthyam, Indrudu Chandrudu, Hey! Ram (as Govardhan). This is his personal website.
September 28th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Just a correction: Madan wrote the dialogues.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
It was Gollapudi Maruthi Rao’s son, Gollapudi Srinivas, who died in a similar accident
- Zero!
Thanks! I have heard about GS’s death and the circumstances but never thougt about the tragic connection…
And your views on MX are interesting…
September 28th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Interesting stuff, Zero. Kamal uses personal references pretty regularly in his movies. Another prominent one is the “Kaadhal Piriyamal” song in Panchatantiram — it’s an unusually sad song in the middle of a laugh riot of a movie. If you relate it to what was happening in his personal life at that time, you’d realise that this song was meant for Sarika. This is why, as I mentioned elsewhere, Kamal is a creator whose chosen medium of expression is cinema.
September 28th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
To all the commenters Nandri Hai :).
@ Vijay: Anabarasu’s character had to made a bit comic or else he would have come off as incredibly selfish and not someone the audience would want to root for.
@HAL: Yes in spite of it being her best performance Kiran really sticks out like a sore thumb. Anuradha Sriram should have just acted as well :). And verbosity is a crime only if the content is tripe.
@Zero: Thanks for the complimnts. Great comments on MX.My initial reaction post MX was that the “Crazy” input might have been missed as far as the general audience reception. But there were some scenes where my laughing elicited a few stares from the rest of the audience. The name of the friend slipped my mind when I was writing the post. I think it would be a fun read to compile all of Kamal’s interviews. Along with his movies they provide a lot of insight into his growth.
@randramble: I remember thinking during the movie that it seemed curiously similar to some of his personal troubles. It is a sad fact however that what we call his personal life is so accessible for discussion on a public forum. I hope someone writes about Aval Appadithaan. To date the movie blows me. It is way ahead of its time (I remember reading somewhere that Kamal said what was said in Life in a Metro had already been studied in Aval Appadithaan). Also it will serve as an interesting backdrop to study how the polar opposite off-screen and on-screen personas of Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan have still found a lot of acceptance. (I hope no brickbats come my way for mentioning Rajini in this forum.).
September 28th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Talking of aval appadithan (althought i saw the movie ages ago - another of the movies in kamal’s oevre that definitely needs to be dvd-fied), I remember it as being off beat (and yes - way ahead of its time). It is equally interesting (looking back in time), how Kamal back then was doing movies in specific categories (be it the so called art movies ; and at same time the ‘jigginna potta disco dance, masala movies’). At some point (raja parvai being one example) is when he veered towards bridge cinema (movie having a bit of both, kinda defying categorization). Kamal seems to have learnt along the way (from the cine masters, life etc.) and made it his own. Pardon this entry for its lack of cohesive thought process.
September 28th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
I meant *the movie blows me away.* Typos !
September 29th, 2007 at 2:59 am
Speaking of Kiran and continuing on my earlier comment, I strongly feel that Kiran was chosen more for her resemblance to Sarika than her market standing at that time.
September 29th, 2007 at 7:31 am
great post again..
Anbarasu doesnt like ANBU much.. hence he shortens his name as ARS..
NallaSivam doesnt like SIVAM much.. hence he shortens his name as NALLA..