''Tulasi Dalam'' ( te, తులసిదళం, English : Basil Leaf) is a Telugu

thriller novel Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. S ...

written by

Yandamuri Veerendranath Yandamuri Veerendranath is an Indian novelist and screenwriter known for his works in the Telugu language. He influences younger generations with his socially relevant writings and youtube videos. In his writings he addresses many of social prob ...

. It was published in

Andhra Bhoomi ''Andhra Bhoomi'' (transl. The land of Andhra Pradesh, Andhra) is a Telugu language, Telugu-language daily newspaper India covering the whole of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with editions from Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, ...

weekly in 1980 as a serial and got tremendous popularity.Tulasidalam in The Encyclopaedia Of Indian Literature, vol. 5, by Mohan Lal, 2006, pp. 4405.
/ref> It was republished many times as a paperback and sold approximately 50,000 copies. It was one of the initial novels of Yandamuri that became popular and he was appreciated widely for his narrating style. It was partially inspired by the 1971 bestselling novel ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty ...

''. ''Tulasi Dalam'' was first adapted into a 1985 Kannada movie titled ''Thulasidala'' and later in Telugu as ''Tulasidalam'' (1989),in Hindi as ''

Phoonk ''Phoonk'' (English:''Blow'') is a 2008 Indian supernatural horror film directed by Ram Gopal Varma and produced by Praveen Nischol. The film stars Sudeep, Amruta Khanvilkar, and Ahsaas Channa in the lead roles, while Kenny Desai, Ashwini Kalseka ...

'' (2008) and its remake in Telugu as '' Raksha'' (2008).In 1986, a story based on this novel called ''Kashmora'' was filmed for which Yendamuri Verendranath has worked as writer.

Plot

Sridher was a self made millionaire, working as one of the directors of a multi national company. He was happily married to Sharada and lives in a peaceful neighborhood of

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

. His younger sister Anita and Sharada's mute brother Narayana Rao stay with them. Approximately eight years after their marriage, Sharada conceives and immediately after that Sridher loses his ability to beget a child after an accident. They name their daughter Tulasi and raise her with utmost affection. When Tulasi was six years old, Sridher saves his employer, Richard's grandchild from a fatal accident. Richard later leaves India and arranges that Tulsi will get twenty lakhs (two million rupees) on her tenth birthday. His will says that if she dies before that, money would go to an orphanage run by Chidananda Swami. Sridher's company plans to send him along with his family to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

to help their business there and Sridher happily agrees. Minutes before their departure, Tulasi suddenly becomes ill, postponing their journey. Later that night, she starts to show strange symptoms, indefinitely postponing their tour. It all happens when she was about to turn ten in two months. She shows varying symptoms everyday, puzzling experienced physicians. Their family members resort to various conventional and non conventional methods to save her while doctors are attempting their best. Finally, Sharada turns to a famous hypnotist Jayadev whereas Sridher turns to Santhaan Fakir, a paranormal expert. They both try their best to save Tulasi whereas Anita decides to go in a completely different way. In the climax, Sridher goes to Odissa along with his engineer Brahmin and his lawyer Vidyapathi to stop the evil Kadra, while Sharada and Jayadev stay with her to protect her from receiving evil hypnotic signals. Climax deals with whether they succeeded in saving Tulasi and by what means they save her.

Reception

Tulasi Dalam gained wide popularity and acclaim when it was published as a weekly serial. It helped Yandamuri to establish himself as a professional writer. Though many critics panned it saying that it was helping to re-popularize the forgotten superstitions regarding witchcraft, it remained as one of the best selling novels in Telugu literature.

Films

''Tulasi Dalam'' was first adapted into a 1985 Kannada movie titled '' Thulasidala'' directed by Vemagal Jagannath Rao starring Sarath Babu and Aarthi. Later it was adapted into the Hindi film ''

'' (2008) and the

Telugu film Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, Hy ...

'' Raksha'' (2008).

Television series

Tulasi Dalam was made into a soap in 1999-2000, aired on Gemini TV. It was directed by Yandamuri and also received many awards including Nandi Award. It was also adopted in a daily soap aired on Star Maa but it was not as successful because the makers lost the natural and organic base of the plot.

Sequel

It was followed by sequel Tulasi which starts after ten years of the initial events.

References

{{reflist

External links

Tulasidalam book at Scribd.com

20th-century Indian novels Novels about exorcism Indian novels adapted into films Indian horror fiction Indian novels adapted into television shows Indian thriller novels Telugu novels Horror novels