MALAYALAM
Rags to riches
ENTE KUTTIKKALAM: Charlie Chaplin, Retold in Malayalam by M. Sujatha, Mathrubhumi Books, Kozhikode-673001. Rs. 45.
CHARLIE CHAPLIN'S journey from the misery of the London's slums to the glory of a successful Hollywood career makes an absorbing story. Amidst his mother's spells in an asylum and his own in poor homes, young Charlie nursed dreams of making it big on the stage.
He was not yet 13 when he got his first break. Although there were a few setbacks in the beginning, his talent won recognition and he went on to establish his reputation as one of the great entertainers of his time.
The book under review, which contains Chaplin's own account of his childhood, is notable for the matter-of-fact narration of a life of deprivation. His recollection of the Boer War goes like this, "Everyone was talking of the war, except my mother. She had her own battles to fight."
There was a brief respite from poverty when he and his mother received an invitation to spend the summer with a former stage associate of hers, who had married a colonel. He remembers that he quickly got used to the affluent lifestyle of that household. The return to their humble abode was a sad experience.
On his very first assignment as a child artiste, he writes, "I was only twelve and a half years old but I lied that I was 14." He put to use his early experiences in broken homes and orphanages in some of his plays and movies.
Sujatha retells his own account of his childhood in simple Malayalam. She then adds a chapter about his later life by drawing material from other sources. The switch from first person to third person at the end is jarring.
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B. R. P. BHASKAR
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