An animation film by a Santacruz studio, consisting of six spooky tales, has been adapted into a fun book designed like a graphic novel
Panels from the novel feature illustrations of the elusive elephant-like creature Aana Marutha
Mumbai-based animator Suresh Eriyat believed his father’s tall tales until he was in his 40s. In the film Kandittund! (Seen It!), produced by his Santacruz studio, Studio Eeksaurus, and animated by Adithi Krishnadas, we get a glimpse of these stories. PNK Panicker, his father and the protagonist, takes the listeners on a journey through six ghost stories that are “a mashup of some harmless lies” and “unbelievable exaggerations”. When we catch up with Eriyat, he tells us, “My father was always an amazing storyteller. He was so convincing that we never realised that these were all merely stories. They were an extension of reality for me.” The film, originally in Malayalam, has recently been adapted into a book, P.N.K. Panicker’s Ghost Stories (Tulika Publishers), in English.
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Eriyat recalls being eight years old and listening to his father’s narrations as they walked to his village near Alleppey (Alappuzha) in Kerala. On one of their trips, his father showed him the exact spot where he had caught sight of a ghostly creature called Aana-Marutha once, with descriptions of the time and place where it escaped to. “It sent a shiver through my spine,” Eriyat recalls. Several such fantastical creatures from local myths have made it to the film and the book. Having listened to vividly-described stories for years, Eriyat realised that there was a need to reintroduce his audience to the power of oral storytelling and the charm of storytellers who exist among us. “I started to record my father’s versions. That way I could document his talent forever,” he shares.
Neet Arukola. Illustrations courtesy/ Adithi Krishnadas
The book carries the same content as the film, but a new medium changes the experience of consuming it. “The book has a different quality,” Eriyat comments. “[Putting it together] meant that people had to relish the stories a little more, through a medium where they could go back and forth and look at the different illustrations and frames. Only a book could do that,” he adds.
When Krishnadas first saw the video footage of Panicker’s narration, she felt the scope of the project would fulfil a lot of what was on her wish list. “I always wanted to do something cartoon-y, something that was a well-done 2D-animation, but in Malayalam, my regional language.” The film offered her an opportunity to play around with her craft. “Most of the things you get to see normally are sloppily made, hastily produced Hindi TV shows, and occasionally someone will make a short film, but not in Malayalam,” she tells us. She gave shape to the footage, bringing it all together and adding background music to it. “Once I had a soundtrack, I would draw whatever made me smile and storyboard it, putting it on the timeline. Then I made a very rough storyboard using the whole soundtrack; that was the starting point.” Eriyat believes his vision was accentuated by Krishnadas’s rendition of his father in animation.
Suresh Eriyat and Adithi Krishnadas
Eriyat stumbled into the world of animation during his years at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, dazzled by its ability to turn a small figment of imagination into something as tangible as a film. “Without getting an actor, or a location, you could actually create something with just your art, and it’ll be just as convincing.” To him, that was the magic of animation. Krishnadas, who joined his studio in 2020, agrees. “With just one person you can really make a character come alive. You can also experiment with sound. You can paint your own background, and add colour to your animation. It’s one person’s project.” Animation wasn’t always a popular form; its status changed gradually. When Eriyat visited the Bologna Book Fair in 2001, publication houses hadn’t shown much interest in it. “The urge to show the Indian audiences the potential of this space was an instigation to start making these films, funding ourselves, and putting them out on Youtube, a place that’s free of cost for people to watch,” he concludes.
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