"Poovan Pazham" (; ) is a short story written by

Vaikom Muhammad Basheer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (21 January 1908 – 5 July 1994), popularly referred to as the Beypore Sultan, was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature, a humanist and an Indian independence activist. He was a novelist and short story writer not ...

and published in 1948 in the collection '' Viddikalude Swargam'' (Fool's Paradise). It is one of the most popular of Basheer's stories. It was adapted into a telefilm of the same name by P. Balachandran.

Plot summary

The story is about Abdul Khader Sahib and his wife Jamila Beebi. Jamila is a B.A. degree holder, while Abdul Khader who is the rowdy of the town has only studied up to school final. Abdul Khader married Jamila, despite objections from their parents and the community, after confessing his love for her. However, he struggles to live up to her expectations of becoming a gentleman and changing his behaviour. One day, Jamila asks Abdul Khader to bring her some poovan bananas. Abdul Khader agrees, but fails to find them at the local shop. He takes a ferry to find them elsewhere, but he gets distracted by old friends and loses track of time. Unable to find poovan bananas, he buys oranges instead. By the time he sets out to go back home, it is already too late, and the ferry has left. He is left with no choice but to swim across the river in the heavy rain. He finally made his way back home after a long and arduous journey. Upon returning home, Abdul Khader showed Jamila the oranges he brought instead of the bananas. She becomes angry and contemptuous towards him. Jamila announces that she is going to bed and refuses to eat the oranges. Abdul Khader tries to convince her to eat them, and when she still refuses, he becomes desperate and resorts to threatening and gently hitting her until she ate the oranges. She even finally accepts his fantasy that he did actually bring home poovan bananas and not oranges. Realising he has gone too far, Abdul Khader felt regret for beating her and expresses his love for her. Many years later, they fondly reminisce about the incident and share a laugh over it. Abdul Khader asks her, what had he brought for her years ago swimming across the river; she answers, 'Poovan bananas'. And how did they look? 'Round like oranges!'

Reviews

''Poovan Pazham'' is one of Basheer's most cherished stories. A review by E. V. Ramakrishnan in ''World Literature Today'' noted that Basheer handles the theme of love with great subtlety and charm in the story. A review by Stuart Blackburn in the ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'' of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, noted, "Such is Basheer's world: slightly off-kilter, recognizable but exaggerated, where unpredictable emotions and capacity for self-deception create chaos yet invariably end with a small victory for love."

Translation

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Adaptation

P. Balachandran directed a telefilm for

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

titled ''Poovampazham'' based on the short story. The screenplay is by Sreevaraham Balakrishnan.

Nedumudi Venu Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in M ...

plays Abdul Khader Sahib and

Zeenath Zeenath A. P. (born 29 December 1964) is an Indian actress and dubbing artist. She was a prominent supporting actress during the 1990s in the Malayalam film industry. Background Zeenath married Malayalam drama director and producer K. T. Mu ...

plays Jamila Beebi. The story also had

theatrical adaptation In a theatrical adaptation, material from another artistic medium, such as a novel or a film is re-written according to the needs and requirements of the theatre and turned into a play or musical. Elision and interpolation Directors must mak ...

Plot summary

Reviews

Translation

Adaptation

References

External links

Further reading