Malayalam literature has many excellent books in various genres like history, myth and thrillers. But putting all this together in a novel, that too without breaking the fun of the plot and maintaining the excitement from beginning till end by creating a ‘nail biting experience’ for the reader is a difficult task. Mr. Ranju Kilimanoor and Mr. Lijin John are the duo – authors of the novel BC 261 released by Mathrubhumi Books which has managed to win a good percentage in this attempt.
The year 261 BC is a year etched in the minds of any high school history student. The year in which the Battle of Kalinga, reputed to be the greatest war India had ever seen took place that led the great Emperor Ashoka to change his mindset to a calm and peaceful being. This is history. But when the imagination of the storytellers is combined with the history, what is born is a wonderful literary work whose threads are woven together so perfectly that it cannot be distinguished whether it is truth or fiction. It is sure that the readers will be able to go through the experience of tasting a big screen experience while telling the story of yesterday, today and tomorrow. The writers have also managed to give the readers a magical experience through a thrilling treasure hunt through the history of two thousand three hundred years.
Expectations were sky-high when Mr. Ranju Kilimanoor, author of Alexy Kadhakal, Sherlock Holmesum Murija Viralukalum, and Mr. Lijin John, author of Blood Money and Negative, teamed up. The writers have managed to keep those hopes alive. This story was first born as a script for a film. The pains that the writers endured to bring it into the hands of the readers as a novel are not insignificant. The book, which was originally planned to be released in two parts, had to be cut short a lot to make it a single book. However, after the parts that set the plot of the story, the readers will start traveling along with the story. Even after finishing the reading and closing the book, the things read will remain in the mind for a long time as if we are in the BC 261s. To some extent, the Josmon Vazhayil’s cover pic has played an important role in creating curiosity about the book and the eagerness to crack the puzzle hidden in it.
I firmly believe that no sooner we will be able watch this one as a big budget movie as well as I expect to see multi – lingual translations also to come up without much delay
