Ananthabadhram - Sunil Parameswaran - Book Review

                     After reading Yakshi recently, I have been searching for a good horror novel in Malayalam, my favorite genre. A good friend of mine suggested the book, and I chanced upon it on my recent outing to the library. There is a movie adaptation of the book, which I have not seen yet. I am waiting to read the book before watching it. 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 in Shivapuram 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 try 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 can 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.

Yakshi - Malayattoor Ramakrishnan - Book Review

                    The human mind is an indecipherable labyrinth. I try to gobble up on whatever I can get to read anything involving a mix of human minds and horror. This book has been sitting idle on my shelf for five years now and at last, I sat to read this last week. Horror; being my favorite genre; I was excited to read a story involving Yakshi.But did it turn out well?

                   The story is told through the voice of Sreenivasan, a Chemistry professor, who was handsome and brainy from the confines of a mental asylum. He has very limited friends in Ananthan and Chandrasekharan and their families. An accident in the laboratory disfigures his face pretty badly and this creates a huge complex in him. He builds a wall around himself and starts alienating him. Enter Ragini a beauty beyond words and they start getting close ending in marriage. Due to the mishap and mental trauma, Sreenivasan is unable to consummate their marriage. He starts to believe that Ragini is a yakshi set out after him for his blood distancing from her. The rest of the story tells us if Ragini is indeed a yakshi and what happens between them.

                    The story seems pretty simple and predictive from a distance. But once you start delving deep into the book, you will be really amazed at how the story has been written. The complexities and hallucinations of the human mind are brought out so vividly and in detail. Even today the topic of mental health is considered taboo and not openly advocated. Considering the times when the book was written, we can see that the writer has done his research on how the mind swings about like the restless monkey on a tree. The supernatural atmosphere works out very well. The character transformation of Sreenivasan from a mild-mannered college professor to a doubting husband happens without any hiccups and there seems not a moment of disbelief during the same. The way his mind works to believe anything happening around him being directed by Ragini was very interestingly portrayed. The scene where he hallucinates about how yakshis reside in space and travel on comets was a treat to read. Coming to Ragini; the beautiful girl starts off as an enigma for us just as she was for Sreenivasan but down the lane, we see her for what she is. Her character arc was far more interesting and intriguing for me than any other character. The author tries to sow the seeds of distrust in us also initially along with Sreenivasan. I was in fact confused during the incidents with the dogs and the one at the theatre. There are a handful of characters like Viajaylakshmi, Vanaja, Chandrasekharan, Ananthan, Kalyaniyamma, Thankam who play their part aptly. Chandrasekharan as a trusted and dedicated friend was an interesting character which I liked very much. The language was not as tough as I expected and was fluid enough to convey the feelings to us. On the negative side, I can say that the ending seemed abrupt or ambiguous for me. Well!!! That might just be me not understanding clearly; being a non-native Malayalam reader.

                    I heard there is a movie adaptation of the same and a very good one. This; I definitely will have to check out. From time immemorial, one thing that still stays behind the shadow is the topic of mental health. Even in these advanced times, people are not opening up on the topic (me included). The book rightly portrays how worse the problems can be and what all effects they will have eventually on our health as in the case of Sreenivasan. Having said that, this is a definite read for everyone. In particular, people who love a mix of horror and psychological thriller. Go for it!!!