April 3, 2012
Neelavelicham (Blue light) is a 12 page short story by Vaikkom Mohammed Basheer that served as the basis for the only screenplay he has written, Bhargavi Nilayam (Bhargavi's House).
The simple plot revolves around a young writer who rents a two-storey house supposedly haunted by 21 year old Bhargavi who had committed suicide by jumping into well after her lover married someone else. Bhargavi Nilayam, directed by noted cinematographer Vincent, released in 1964, was Malayalam's first horror movie and is now considered a classic. M.S. Baburaj and P. Bhaskaran created some of the evergreen songs in Malayalam for the movie.
The high quality instrumentation of the music, mostly Hindustani, was appreciated greatly by the likes of legendary Hindi music director Naushad who mentioned that "Thamasamenthe Varuvaan" (What is your delay?) is one of his all time favorites. The Basheer signature is all over the movie which borrows instances from his other stories and novels as well. The lines for the famous song "Ekanthathayude Aparatheeram" (the boundless shore of solitude) are taken from his fabulous Sufi mystic story, Anargha Nimisham (Momentous Moment).
The importance given to music was understandable because Basheer loved music as much as literature. I remember reading a recent interview about Basheer that said how he hated discussing literature but could gush for hours over Saigal and Pankaj Mallick. The snapshot of Basheer preserved in most Malayalee minds is that of him louging in the easy chair under his favorite Mangosteen tree with the soulful "So ja rajakumari" playing on the gramophone next to him.
I reread Neelavelicham chosen by great critic M. Krishnan Nair as one of the best 10 short stories in Malayalam for his anthology yesterday. The short narrated in first person is plenty autobiographical. It is packed with typical Basheer sentences like "Forever I am searching for a house."
The is just as much music if not more in the very short story as in the movie. In fact, it is a short story that can be considered to have a soundtrack. The young writer moves into the house with his hundred gramophone records. Having heard about the ghost in the house, he strikes up one way conversations with her from the very first night.
He wonders with whose music he should inaugurate the stay in the house."I have more than a hundred records. English, Arabic, Hindi, Urudu, Tamil, Bengali. Nothing in Malayalam. There are talented singers. Their records also exist. But the music direction in Malayalam is not up to the mark. When will Malayalam have a proper music director? Like Pankaj Mallick or Dileep Kumar Roy? Whose music shall I play today first?...Pankaj Mallick, Dileep kumar Roy, Saigal, Bing Crosby, Paul Robeson, Abdul Kareem Khan, Kanan Devi, Kumari Manju Dasgupta, Khursheed, Juthika Ray, M. S. Subbalakshmi...I remembered some names like this.Then I decided: "foreigner from the distant land has come" that would be appropriate. "door desh ka rehnewala aaya..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMebFhGENKk
Later in the story, he plays Paul Robeson's "Joshua fit the battle of Jericho", a title that Basheer left in English itself without transliterating into Malayalam. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd1fxR3TtCg
It is followed by Pankaj Mallick's "Tu Dar na sara bhi" (Don't be afraid at all) and M.S. Subbalakshmi's "Kaattinile Varum Geetham" (The song that comes in the wind). Finally, "So ja rajakumari" (sleep, Princess).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCiqqFVY4Xw
The writer develops the habit of announcing the songs to the ghost before playing them, the original Malayalam DJ! "The song that is coming next, it is by a Bengali singer called Pankaj Mallick. It is a melancholy tune. One that invokes memories. Listen carefully" he says before playing 'Guzar gaya woh zamana kaisa". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxGargpJ9XY
Up next Crosby's "In the moonlight"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7J8SoLlzfs
With all the great music generously injected into the story, the silences become heavier and spookier culminating in the abrupt ending. Even in the umpteenth rereading, if done at night, one can't help notice the rustle of the leaves outside...and is that a faint blue light coming through the window?
Here are the two classic songs from Bhargavi Nilayam movie
Thamamenthe Varuvan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7MayjJtyH8
Ekanthathayude Aparatheeram: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyM-Z43cPgE
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