Chandrakanta (novel)
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| Chandrakanta | |
| Author | Devaki Nandan Khatri |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Lehri Book Depot, Varanasi, India |
Chandrakanta is a popular Hindi novel by Devaki Nandan Khatri. It is considered to be the first work of prose in the modern Hindi language, and may have significantly contributed to the language's popularity.
[edit] Story
The story is a romantic fantasy about two lovers who belong to rival kingdoms: the princess Chandrakanta of Vijaygarh, and the prince Virendra Singh of Naugarh. The king of Vijaygarh holds Naugarh responsible for the death of his only brother, who was actually assassinated by the evil Krur Singh, a member of the king's court who dreams of marrying Chandrakanta and taking over the throne. When Krur Singh fails in his endeavor, he flees the kingdom and befriends Shivdutt, the powerful neighboring king of Chunargarh (a re-naming of "Chunar-fort", referring to the fort in Chunar that inspired Khatri to write the novel). Krur Singh coaxes Shivdutt to ensnare Chandrakanta at any cost. Shivdutt captures Chandrkanta and while running away from Shivdutt , Chandrakanta finds herself as a prisoner in a tilism. After that Kunvar Virendra Singh breaks the tilism and fights with Shivdutt with the help of aiyyars . Chandrakanta, the novel, has many sequels, prominent being a 7-book series (Chandrakanta santati) dealing with the adventure of Chandrakanta and Virendra Singh's children in another major tilism.
[edit] Tilism and Aiyyars
Chandrakanta is notable for introducting the concepts of "Aiyyar" and "Tilism" to Hindi literature.
An Aiyyar (male) or Aiyyara (female) is a spy, in the service of a king, who specializes in making disguises. The Aiyyar can make his face resemble any person, or sometimes an animal, using special makeup. He generally captures a target and imprisons him, then impersonates the prisoner while furthering his or the king's own cause.
A Tilism is a kind of maze containing many secret locations, passages and prisons. It is intended to be "broken", or deciphered, by a person; once broken, all its doors are opened and all its prisoners are released. The person who successfully breaks the Tilism also gains the immense treasures hidden within it.
The novel depicts a number of friendly and unfriendly Aiyyar.
Aiyyars on the side of Virendrasingh include:
- Tejsingh
- Jeetsingh (Tejsingh's father)
- Devisingh;
Aiyyars on the side of Chandrakanta:
- Chapla
- Champa
- Chandni
Aiyyars on the side of Krur singh:
- Nazim
- Ahmed
Aiyyars on the side of Shivdutt:
- Badrinath
- Chunnilal
- Pandit Jagarnath
- Rangilal
- and three others
Later on in Chandrakanta Santati, many more Aiyyars were introduced, including:
- Bhootnath
- Bhairosingh
- Tara singh
- Indradev
[edit] Adaptations
Chandrakanta was converted into a television serial in the mid-1990s, but the serial was never completed due to financial reasons. However, the only congruence between the novel and the teleserial was in the name of a few characters, the rest of the storyline being completely different from the book. The teleserial also introduced many new characters and both these deviations were not popular with viewers.
Indian filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra is producing a film adaptation of the book, which will be directed by Ram Madhvani. The film has been titled Talismaan and includes Amitabh Bachchan among the cast, playing an Aiyyar.
Abhishek Bachchan will also be seen in this screen adaption of the tale of Chandrakanta. Staring in lead roles, both Amitabh and Abhishek have reportedly suggested Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's name to producers in a bid to bag her the role of Chandrakanta. However, Vidhu Vinod Chopra has refused to cast Aishwarya in this role as he feels she has already portrayed the role of a princess in Ashutoush Gowarikar's Jodhaa Akbar, and he wishes to give someone else a chance.
