Love Is God)[4] is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language slice-of-life drama film directed by Sundar C and produced by Lakshmi Movie Makers.

Anbe Sivam stars Haasan, Madhavan and Kiran Rathod, with Nassar, Santhana Bharathi, Seema and Uma Riyaz Khan playing supporting characters.

Produced on a budget of ₹120 million, Anbe Sivam takes on themes such as communism, atheism, and altruism and depicts Haasan's humanist views.

Despite its initial failure, it has gained recognition over the years through re-runs on television channels and is now regarded as a classic of Tamil cinema and a cult film.

Two men waiting at the Biju Patnaik Airport (in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, for a flight to Chennai, Tamil Nadu) engage in conversation.

When the flight is cancelled due to heavy rain, Aras initially suspects Sivam to be a terrorist and informs the authorities, only to discover that he was mistaken.

Both need to return to Chennai: Aras to be present at his wedding, and Sivam has to deliver a ₹32,00,000[a] cheque, recently awarded to him after he won a court case, to a group of union workers.

A few years earlier, a healthy Nallasivam, going by Nalla, took part in various street theatre performances protesting against multinational corporation-driven industrialisation, which resulted in the marginalisation of the labour force.

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.

However, his assistant has a change of heart as he is about to kill him, letting Sivam know that he believed that the misdeeds he committed for Padayatchi resulted in the death of his own daughter.

[28] In a 2019 interview with The Indian Express, the film's script assistant and costume designer, Sujatha Narayanan, revealed that Nandita Das and Shobana were the original choices for Balasaraswathi and Mehrunissa respectively and that both of them declined due to schedule conflicts.

[29]The actors Nassar and Santhana Bharathi played the roles of Kandasamy Padaiyatchi and his assistant, respectively, while cartoonist Madhan featured in a cameo appearance as himself in addition to writing the film's dialogues.

[31] In an interview with S. R. Ashok Kumar of The Hindu in 2006, Bharathi considered both Anbe Sivam and Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1990) to be the favourite roles of his career.

[40] Anbe Sivam was shot on a restricted budget of ₹120 million, with the train and bus disaster sequences involving the use of settings and CGI.

[15] Anbe Sivam follows the events of a journey from Bhubaneswar to Chennai undertaken by two men of contrasting personalities: Nallasivam, a physically challenged and witty socialist, and Anbarasu, a commercial director who supports capitalism and globalisation.

[48] Throughout the narrative, a series of themes pertaining to communism,[b] compassion, globalisation,[b] atheism, and altruism[c] are addressed; the film also showcases Haasan's views as a humanist.

[47][51] According to Haasan, the characterisation of Nallasivam was inspired by the life of Communist playwright, actor, director, lyricist and theorist Safdar Hashmi, who was chiefly associated with his work on street theatre in India.

[54] M. Kalyanaraman and Abdullah Nurullah of The Times of India opined that Nallasivam shared similar characteristics with street theatre artist Pralayan.

The critics noted Haasan and Madhavan's character share similar traits to that of the roles played by Candy and Martin in that film, respectively.

[48][60] The portrait painted by Nallasivam on the walls of Padayatchi's house is inspired by the Mexican painter Diego Rivera's fresco, Man at the Crossroads.

"[5] Singer Charulatha Mani, in her column for The Hindu, "A Raga's Journey", noted, "Poovaasam" possessed "a charm that is born out of classicism incorporated in a populist piece".

[76] Baradwaj Rangan described the film as "Kamal's latest solo attempt to bend, twist, shape-shift Tamil cinema into forms never-before seen.

[75] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu believed that "well-defined characters, a strong storyline and intelligent screenplay" were the film's "vital ingredients".

[5] P. Devarajan of Business Line appreciated Haasan's performance and facial expressions and concluded his review by stating, "This man has intrigued me and will always.

"[79] Sujatha Narayanan, in a retrospective review for The New Indian Express commended Haasan's writing and Madhan's dialogue, finding them to be "peppered with sharp wit, trivia and emotional depth.

"[69] S. Anand of Outlook felt the film's thematic ideas of communism were presented in a "clichéd" manner, and summarised by saying, "If Rajnikant staked claim to divinity on a right-wing plank with Baba, Kamal does it with pretensions to rationalist-left rhetoric.

[83][a] Despite this, the film underperformed at the box office and incurred heavy losses for Lakshmi Movie Makers, effectively stopping them from investing in other ventures for the year 2003.

[100][101] In 2013, Haricharan Pudipeddi of the Indo-Asian News Service agency, included Anbe Sivam in his list of "Kamal's most underrated films".

"[105] The street theatre sequence featuring Nallasivam and his friends performing to make people aware of the atrocities committed by Kandasamy Padayatchi was re-created at Tiruchirappalli in 2008 by Pralayan and his troupe from "Chennai Kalai Kuzhu" under the title Nammal Mudiyum.

[107] Hari Narayan, writing for The Hindu in 2014, mentions in his article on the Indian rationalist and author Narendra Dabholkar that Umesh Shukla's OMG – Oh My God!