Vishnu' s Space

I tied a rag to my head for a shadeless cap and started saying “Savari Giri Giri” to Amma right after reaching back home from watching Ravanaprabhu . My first theatre experience initiated my obsession over the greatest actor in the history of Malayalam movies, Sri Mohanlal.  As a child, my main hobby was to stay at home and binge on cartoons. When Binoy, my youngest Maman landed a job in Trivandrum, he shifted to our home for a year. He brought a VCR and a bunch of film video cassettes with him. Each of them were Mohanlal starring blockbusters. Ads of Narasimham were frequently published in newspapers during the time. So out of curiosity, I sat down with Binoy when he played the tape of Narasimham. Coming day onwards, Narasimham replaced all my favourite cartoons. I repeatedly watched it for days together. Ustaad and Aaraam Thampuran also became my favourites.    All the heroes I had seen till then maintained a trimmed physique. But this stout man wa...

Me and Amma used to regularly take part in the yearly festival held at Amma' s family temple, Bhajanamadom Sree Ardhanareeswara Kshetram. This was also an occasion of our annual family get together. Interestingly, the utsavam mostly takes place in December during the Christmas vacation. So, all my dear cousins would be there. Thiruvathira of Malayalam calendar marks the beginning date of the festival which lasts for ten days, usually up until New Year' s eve. Kodiyettam, the grandiose flag hoisting function kicks off the events in the presence of the whole neighbourhood. Special poojas such as kalasa pooja, sivasakthi pooja and laksharchana will be performed from the day onwards. Afternoon meal is also offered at the temple each day. There will be various entertainment programmes organised by the devotees in the evening. The debut performances of many native budding artists also happen in this stage. It is known as Arangettam. Indian classical dance and music are the...

When I was seven or so, the title ‘Carrie’ drew my interest. It was on the slot for 11 pm in the list of films that was to be telecasted on HBO. When I asked Appa about the film, he told me it is based on a book of the same name written by the master of horror writers, Stephen King. It was the first time I heard the name and I was fascinated. Years later, when I had to choose a topic for my college project, my guide lecturer turned down my idea of analysing a film’ s script. She encouraged me to go with analysing a post-1950 work of fiction. This made me think of choosing a book which was later adapted into a successful film, so that I can at least do something close to a film script analysis while working within the teacher’ s discretion. I skimmed through the list of the best book-to-film adaptations and found ‘ The Green Mile ’, an Oscar nominated film with Tom Hanks in the lead.  ‘ The Green Mile ’ was originally written as a serialized novel by Stephen King. It was lat...