Tamil Novel by "Devan" (R. Mahadevan).
This novel came out as a series in Ananda Vikatan in 1953-54. It's a courtroom drama. A man dies on his sickbed. The doctor deems his death suspicious, and gets the police involved. The dead man's son-in-law stands accused of murder, As the case is heard, the readers discover the story and the cast of characters just as the jurors do.
Karunakaran, the public prosecutor, and Easwaran, the lawyer representing the defendant, call the witnesses, examine them and try to bring out their respective stories. The witnesses represent a cross section of the society - doctors, nurses, policemen, drivers, maids, financiers, neighbours and servants. The two lawyers have a healthy respect for each other, but still fight each other tooth and nail, given their respective roles. Witnesses of varying levels of importance and truthfulness come and go, and the story gets revealed a bit at a time. The public reaction is captured through ‘water cooler’ conversations among members of the public, press and jury.
The judge lends his name to the novel. He plays a key role, but does not play as dominant a role as the reader might expect. Jagannathan is typical of Devan’s characters - genial, competent, and wanting to see goodness in others. I thought the author may have had a greater role for Jagannathan in mind when he started the series, but decided to let the flow of the story dictate the space for the characters.
The author, perhaps intentionally, has made education a goal of the novel. The members of the jury are educated on the protocols and their responsibilities by the judge. The readers are educated on courtroom procedure by the explanations along the way. It is no easy task for a storyteller to do this, and still keep the story moving. The court proceedings are authentic. The judge admonishes the lawyers when they seem to go on tangents, and brings them back on track. Contrast that with movies and novels made decades later, where lawyers and witnesses are allowed to make emotional detours for dramatic value.
The storytelling is breezy. The author uses mild humour in dialogs to keep the story readable amidst the gravity of the proceedings.
Reading the novel now gives us a window into society in the early 1950s. Most people use their caste names as surnames. Being overtly religious seems to be the norm. The use of English words (such as "defence", "prosecution") and Hindi words (“zaroor”, “sheesha”) shows their wide use those days. This is understandable in dialogs, but the author uses ‘manipravalam’ (mixed language) style in his descriptions as well. That seems a bit odd, and in contrast with the works of Kalki Krishnamurthy, who was Devan's contemporary.
Another reminder of how times have changed is how people are addressed. It’s hard not to notice that the lawyers address people in upper sections of the society, including the defendant in respectful language (plural), but use singular in addressing the nurse, the maid, the driver, and younger people.
The members of the jury are key characters. I couldn’t help being a bit disappointed at them during the scenes of their final deliberation. (“Why are you wasting time talking about these? Haven’t you been listening to the judge all these days?”)
Arthur Hailey, the British-Canadian author popularized domain-specific novels. His stories tend to be dramas in areas such as aviation, banking and health-care. Devan wrote this Arthur Hailey-type novel a little before Hailey got his start. Deven died young at 43. This novel makes you wonder what he could have achieved with a longer career.
I also wonder if the play “Dr. Narendranin Vinodha Vazhakku” (a later courtroom drama, written by Sujatha and dramatized by Poornam Vishwanathan) was inspired by this novel. There are striking similarities in how the case is revealed progressively, and how key characters keep silent to protect others, fully aware of the consequences of their silence.
I thorougly enjoyed the novel. There also seems to be an English translation by Lakshmi Venkatraman. Full disclosure - I haven’t read the translation.
Picture Credit: “Kizhakku”, New Horizon Media Pvt. Ltd.
