Ananthabadhram - Sunil Parameswaran - Book Review

                     After reading Yakshi recently, I have been searching for a good horror novel in Malayalam; that being my most favorite genre. A good friend of mine suggested the book and I chanced upon this on my recent outing to the library. There is a movie adaptation of the book which I have not seen yet; waiting to lay my hands on the book before watching the same. Now, let's see what the book is all about.

                    The story starts with Ananthan coming to his native village of Shivapuram with his mother Gayathri's ashes to fulfill her last wishes. Gayathri is a part of the famed Madambi family which boasts of a lineage of powerful magicians. Ananthan grew up hearing a lot of stories from his mother about the mysterious Shivapuram. Gayathri who was destined to become a female god personification ran away with her love from the village never to come back. Ananthan who is a filmmaker and resides in the US is not a man who believes in all these humbugs. But the moment he steps into the sleepy village; he is introduced to a new experience of black magic, Yakshis, Gandharvas, Snakes. The much-feared black magician Digambaran is also back inShivapuram around the same time to exact his revenge on the Madambi family. Raman Jolsyan and his son Sivadas, Niranjan, Chemban set out to beat Digambaran at his own game and tries to protect the family and the village from his wrath. How Digambaran ups his power and they counter the same forms the remaining crux of the story.

                     What I loved about the book is the solid storyline. The story creates an eerie mystic feeling right from page one and this is carried with the same tempo till the end. The storyline is highly impressive and the characters play their roles well. Even though Ananthan and Bhadra seem to be the main protagonists in the story, Raman Jolsyan, Sivadas, Chemban, and Digambaran play more important roles. It is seldom we see antagonists get to the same level as a protagonist in Indian books and the character arc of Digambaran plays itself to perfection. He instills fear in us and keeps us hooked to the book till the very end. Equally enigmatic is Dr.Sivadas who makes his appearance halfway into the book (like Dr. Sunny in the movie Manichitrathazhu) and takes the story to another level. The author is able to weave in various elements of the Malayalam folklore like Yakshi, Gandharva, Adharvana vedham, aabhichaaram, sarpa kaavu, Parakaaya pravesham all in a single story without losing steam anywhere thereby maintaining the mysticism of Shivapuram. There are a lot of other characters like Amminikutty, Kunjoottan, Chemban, Niranjan Bhadra, Bhaama, Chellankurukkal, Ravunni Nair, Velichapaadu, the six-fingered blue baby, and Chithira the Shikandi. Every one of the characters has their own parts to play and that is the beauty of this story. There were places where I got confused whether this was happening for real or was a figment of Digambaran's black magic. Another very interesting part was whether the author cleverly intertwined the backstory of Digambaran and Bhama and I felt it was apt. When Sivadas and Niranjan step in to fight the black magic they seem to add the medical element also which was different. Above all, the author was successful in imbibing the village of Shivapuram and the Madambi Tharavadu in its full enigma and mystery giving us many a heart-out-of-mouth moment.

                    I am yet to watch the movie which I will be doing so quite soon. But as an avid reader, I am sure that the movie will not entice me as the book did. But still worth a try. This was the winner of the 2013 Malayala Manorama most favorite novel which I feel is justice done to the way this book is written. In short, a very pacy, pulsating, quick read intermingling the mystic lore with a good vs evil story. There is a second part to this by the name 'Digambaran' which I plan to get during my visit to the library and equally hoping that it stays up with the tempo of this book.