Manju (novel)
| Author | M. T. Vasudevan Nair |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | DC Books |
Publication date | 1964 |
| Media type |
Manju (Mist) is a novel by M. T. Vasudevan Nair published in 1964. The novel is set in the mountains and valleys of Nainital where Vimala Devi, a teacher in a boarding school, waits in hope for the winter of her discontent to vanish. The eco-feminist theme of patriarchal domination and exploitation gains more prominence in Manju, MT's only novel with a female protagonist. The novel stands apart as set in a milieu different from the usual one, the Valluvanadan village.
The plot of the novel is allegedly similar to a Hindi story Parinde (Birds, 1956), by Nirmal Verma.[1] However both MT and Verma have rejected these claims. MT said in an interview with India Today , "I don't remember having ever read Verma's story although we are very close friends. I wrote Manju immediately after I returned from a visit to Nainital."[1] Verma himself says it is ridiculous to accuse an author of MT's calibre of plagiarism. "My story's English translation was published only five or six years ago by HarperCollins. I don't think MT reads Hindi works in original. So there is no substance to the charge that MT had read it before he wrote his novel," says Verma.[1]
MT also directed and scripted a film with the same name based on the novel in 1983. The film stars Sangeeta Naik, Sankar Mohan, Sankara Pillai and Nanditha Bose.[2] The novel also had a Hindi-language film adaptation titled Sarath Sandhya. This film however went completely unnoticed.
References
- 1 2 3 M. G. Radhakrishnan (September 10, 2001). "The two literary stars of Malayalam stand accused of plagiarism. Or, is envy is the motive?". India Today. 26: 109. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
- ↑ "M. T. Vasudevan Nair: Manju". Cinemaofmalayalam.net. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
