Neelavelicham Novel Malayalam
Neelavelicham (2023) is an adaptation of renowned Malayalam writer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer’s short story Neelavelicham (1952; translated as The Blue Light by V. Abdulla, 1983). It is also simultaneously a remake of an earlier film adaptation of the story by AA. Vincent, Kerala’s master storyteller of the silver screen. Bhargavi Nilayam (1964) Vincent’s film adaptation, incidentally, his first feature film, is beloved in the history of Malayalam cinema, as is its famed soundtrack with songs written by the eminent Malayalam lyricist and poet P. Bhaskaran and set to music by the equally acclaimed music director M. S. Baburaj. This is the unavoidable and ineluctable paratextual context of this new film lurking in the minds of all Malayali film viewers.
To be sure, neither Basheer nor Vincent is an easy act to follow, nor is such a comparison fair to a contemporary director who wishes to reimagine this timeless story in a new cinematic idiom. Even so, the sense of dissatisfaction one feels at the end of watching Abu’s Neelavelicham stems not so much from the trappings of unfair sentimental nostalgia, but from a deeper and more troubling and sober regret at how the new retelling misses the main point of the story.
Neelavelicham Novel
You can download the Neelavelicham Novel PDF using the link given below.
