Book Review: Thanalidam

I have always been a great fan of Padmarajan- the eternal romantic who could come up with novel plots and handle almost anything well. His oeuvre of films stand testimony to this fact and they have rightfully stood the test of time. I still believe Padmarajan’s death was a major loss to the Malayalam film industry- the kind that has created a void which no one will be able to fill at any point of time in future. It is this unabashed attraction to Padmarajan that made me choose Thanalidam to read. Thanalidam is the first work of fiction by Radhalekshmy- Padmarajan’s wife who had released her memoirs on Padmarajan titled “Padmarajan Ente Gandharvan” Thanalidam is the story of a Nair family that focuses on the ladies in the family and is set somewhere in the Valluvanadan milieu. It deals with the lives of a few characters from the family- Leela, Seetha, Malathy and Meenakshy- their lives, relationships, ups and downs in life. The good thing of the novel is that it does not limit itself to one character as its protagonist- all the four ladies have equal significance to the plot and the narrative shifts back and forth between the lives of all of them. Radhalakshmy has a good style of writing, but she often borrows from M T Vasudevan Nair. The very premise of the story- the feudal Nair nalukettu based in the Valluvanadan area- sounds straight out of an MT novel/ script. One also gets the feel of Radhalakshmy being influenced by “Thinkalazcha Nalla Divasam”- that unforgettable Padmarajan movie that extracted a sure shot award winning performance out of Kaviyoor Ponnamma.

In spite of all of the above, Thanalidam still manages to hold your interest and that is really what matters!