Anbe Sivam
- Release Date : 15 January 2003
- Genre : Adventure, Comedy, Drama
- Language : Tamil
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[a] 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. However, in an unexpected turn of events, Nalla and Padayatchi’s daughter Balasaraswathi (Bala), 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.
[Source: Wikipedia]