Behind the screen of reality television

The recently released Tamil novel, Meinigari (‘virtual reality engine’), is Kabilan Vairamuthu's third, and is arguably the first Tamil novel that takes a look into the world of reality television.

Kabilan Vairamuthu’s recently released Tamil novel takes a look into the world of a reality show

Poet and writer Kabilan Vairamuthu, son of renowned Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu, has condensed all his experience of working as producer for a noted Tamil news and entertainment channel in a novel.

The recently released Tamil novel, Meinigari (‘virtual reality engine’), is the writer’s third, and is arguably the first Tamil novel that takes a look into the world of reality television.

“The story unfolds from the perspective of the video editor, simply because video editors string the images together into a story. The world of reality TV is unpacked through its characters. Hopefully, the readers will also understand how this form of television is constructed,” he says.

Unlike his first two books —

Boomerang Bhoomi , on the inter-connectedness of south Indians and Australian aborigines, and Uyir Chol , which deals with postnatal depression, Meinigari , he says, has been written to appeal to contemporary Tamil youth.

“My first two novels had a very dense language, which was the reason it did not appeal to the younger audience. Meinigari , however, will mostly have characters speaking in casual Tamil,” he says.

In this novel, Kabilan says that he aspired to go beyond just telling a story.

“I wanted the book to illuminate (through its characters) the readers about the origin of reality shows, the nuts and bolts of production and about the all-important TRPs, in 31 chapters. It will be a book that visual media aspirants would want to read,” he says.

Even before he wrote his first novel he had already published books on poetry.

“My early writings were poems about things I saw. I published my first book of poetry when I was 18 and since then have six poetry books to my credit,” he says.

Is he happy with his evolution as a poet? “First, my poems were mostly about what I observed. My first book of poems, written when I was young adult, mostly dealt with patriotism and heroes. After a point, I started writing about how I was affected by the society,” he says.

Now, even as he works as a freelancer producer for television channels, Kabilan has started writing lyrics for movies.

Will he eventually become a lyricist just like his father and his brother, Madhan Karky? “Is it not a dream for anyone to see their poetry turned into songs?” he asks.