‘The young adults now don’t find the genre of mythology interesting. To make them explore this genre, a new level of imagination is need of the hour’, says Trisha Das on giving a new spin to the lives of the women from Mahabharata in her book Ms Draupadi Kuru. Ankita Jain reports
When one thinks of the women in Mahabharata, the first thing that hits our mind is the victimised image of Draupadi, who had to shuttle between the Pandavas, and was abused in the name of a game between the Kauravas and Pandavas. Kunti was forced to live in a forsaken forest along with her children and Pandu. Amba’s whole life was focussed on destroying Bhishma and Gandhari resolved to spend hers blindfolded to share the frailty of her visually-challenged life partner. “What stood out were always the women and a certain sense of unfairness or outrage on their behalf. They deserve a second chance,” believes Trisha Das, documentary filmmaker and author.
Trisha, whose collection of short stories, Mahabharata Re-Imagined was well-received and now has come up with novel Ms Draupadi Kuru: After the Pandavas, said, “The book has a humorous take on several mythological themes with a fresh plot and a ton of attitude. Draupadi, who lives in heaven and is bored of perfection. goes for a holiday with her other female friends. They arrive in their human avatar in modern day New Delhi. With new identities, they venture out into modern society and find new kinds of heaven, hell and everything in between. This novel is an adventure of multiple lifetimes but thirty days are all they have and time is running fast. And the twist here is — will they want to leave when the party's just startedIJ”
Further talking about the main character, she added, “My Draupadi is a strong, intelligent and a modern woman. She knows how to fight back for her rights and is a loyal friend.”
Along with Draupadi, the tale also sketches the story of three more powerful women fromMahabharata — Kunti, Gandhari and Amba. This fiction is a perfect read for those looking for a coming-of-age, girl-buddy story with a big dollop of mythology and humour.
Draupadi has always been one of the most elusive characters of the mythical tale for authors and even filmmakers now. From Mahashweta Devi to Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, everyone has interpreted her in their own way. “Infusing our culture with modernity is a trend now. It is being picked up by many. Also this attracts the young generation as well and gives us the privilege to play with the plot having established characters,” she explained.
Talking further about youths loving mythology with a pinch of humour, she chuckled, “I have grown up reading Mahabharata and other mythological stories. But the young adults now don’t find the genre of mythology interesting. To make them explore this genre, a new level of imagination is need of the hour. After all, we as story-tellers cannot let this die. And my novel doesn’t require one to read the epic battle beforehand.”
“It’s sad to share that the culture of documentaries is not well accepted here as compared globally. Keeping both on the same light, my dream was to always be an author. Authoring became a bit of a daunting profession, so I started making films,” admitted Trisha, who is also a National award winning documentary filmmaker.
When asked if the author’s brother and also a renowned standup comedian and actor Vir Das helped in the humorous plot, she giggled, “He did contribute in terms of publicity and marketing. We make a good team in this context. And regarding creative inputs, we both have different subjects to focus on.”
Trisha, who worked on the book for the past five years, during the span of which she became a mother of two, said, “It’s tiring. I would have to attend to a crying baby, feed the baby, make the baby sleep, and this went on in a loop. My writing happened in short spells, whenever I got time off being a mommy. This is the reason why it took so long.”
She also has two other books in the pipeline and has already planned a second part of Ms Draupadi Kuru: After the Pandavas.