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Taking On the Critic
Accused
yet again of plagiarism, writer Vasudevan Nair decides to go to court.
India Today's M.G. Radhakrishnan reports.
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| Jnanpith
award winner and filmmaker M.T. Vasudevan Nair appears in court |
It's
being touted as the "mother of all spats" on the state's cultural
front. On the one side is Jnanpith winning writer and filmmaker M.T. Vasudevan
Nair (69) and on the other is M.V. Devan (74), Kerala's widely acclaimed
artiste and critic. Once the closest of friends, the two are now at loggerheads
with Devan accusing Nair of habitual literary plagiarism and Nair suing
Devan for criminal defamation and seeking damages worth Rs 10 lakh.
According
to Nair's complaint filed before the chief judicial
magistrate, Kozhikode, the allegation of plagiarism has
considerably damaged his reputation and income as a prominent
writer and filmmaker. The notice served to Devan mentions that
since he had illustrated many of Nair's novels and both had been
colleagues—at Mathrabhumi—for long, the chances of Devan's
charges being contrued as true in the public eye were great.
It all began with Devan's controversial remarks which appeared
in an interview in the Kalakaumudi newspaper's Sunday magazine
published from Mumbai. Referring to "Vasu's" latest novel, Varanasi,
Devan questioned the originality of the book. "What
kind of literature is it?" he asked. "I wonder if it is actually
his own. Who knows if it is filched from somwhere?" Years ago,
Devan claimed that he and N.P. Muhammed had discovered that Nair had plagiarised
from foreign publications like NewYorker and
Partisan Review. "Vasu asked us who is going to find this out?"
he adds.
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| Kerala's
widely acclaimed artiste and critic M.V. Devan |
Though both
Nair and Devan refused to talk to India Today on the issue, both revealed
that they would not change their positions. Although levelling charges
of plagiarism against prominent writers is a regular feature in Kerala,
this is the first time it is being dragged to court. The reason perhaps
is Nair's exasperation with a seemingly unending stream of similar charges.
Only a few months ago, a college professor had alleged that Nair's celebrated
1964 novel Manju (Mist) was a direct filch of Nirmal Varma's Hindi novel,
Parinde (1956).
When asked to explain the striking similarities in both the works set
in Nainital, Nair said he had no clue about it since he never read Varma's
novel. Later, Varma himself came to Nair's rescue by saying that although
Parinde was published much earlier than Mist, its English translation
came out much later. "I don't think Nair would have read it in Hindi."
Last year, another short story writer charged that Nair's latest
film Oru Cheru Punchiri was based on his work. But Nair claimed
that he had drawn on a Telugu story from whose writer he had
bought the rights.
Stunned by the spate of controversies, many from Malayalam's
cultural world have jumped into the fray. Sukumar Azhikode,
critic and former chairman, National Book Trust has blamed Devan for levelling
unfair charges and said he was against dragging the
issue to court. "The merit of a literary work is to be judged by
people, not courts," he says. Interestingly, Azhikode himself had
faced charges of plagiarism. Mathrubhumi's Managing Director M.P. Veerendrakumar
has accused his award-winning Tatvamasi as a direct lift of Max Muller's
works on Indian philosophy. "But I never took anyone to court for
I know my work will stand the test of time."
There are others, however, who see nothing wrong in Nair's
reaction. Says writer Paul Zacharia: "What Devan has done is
deplorable. He should have the moral courage to substantiate
the charges." Zacharia too had faced similar charges when a young
writer recently said one of his novels was a copy of a story by 19th century
French writer Anatole France.
As the debate goes on, critic M. Rajeev Kumar gives Nair the
benefit of doubt saying the line between inspiration, influence
and plain plagiarism is very thin. In other words, Nair's
voracious reading might have unknowingly left a mark on
his works.
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