Aah - Sujatha novel

Few months back when I had posted about “Saithan” movie, I had quoted that, the movie was based majorly on “Aah” by Sujatha. I happened to read the novel recently and was amazed at how fresh the story is, despite having seen its adaptation on screen and having read the story once long time back. Considering that it was first published quarter century ago, some of the situations and terminologies involved were astonishing!! The reason why Sujatha is much sought after even today, is his ability to weave futuristic technologies and identify, amongst those, which will be most relevant and would be popular and above all, present such a nascent idea in simple language, all the while making a story out of it!! Such was his genius to spot technologies that would change the world was that, almost all of his sci-fi stories from 2,3 decades back have become common place situations in present day world.

Going with the theme for the month, the works of Sujatha are master piece case studies on how to mix science and fiction in the simplest form possible. More than that, with so many new inventions and discoveries being made almost on a daily basis, keeping track of them, understanding their application and making a story out of them requires amazing levels of observation and relating capacity. Needless to say, the master had this all in abundance as a mere look at the vast areas of topics his novels covered and his penchant for ancient Tamil literature.

In “Aah”, he beautifully mixes up the concept of rebirth with auditory hallucinations and takes it to an almost logical conclusion, even though it feels hurried and forced, only to make the final flourish of a twist as ending. The novel is so gripping, wonder how it would’ve felt to read it as a weekly episode on any magazine. Would’ve been a raging hit is what I am hoping and guessing. After reading the book, I somehow feel, the climax of “Saithan” movie felt a more logical ending, albeit cinematic.