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Under the grip of Potter mania

RELEASE of fifth film and seventh book in Harry Potter series, within a span of a week, this month has put everybody on a high, writes S. AISHWARYA

Photo: M. Moorthy

Overwhelming Ringing cash registers

Bookshop owners can finally breathe easy and perhaps look forward to their cash boxes ringing from today. For, it can’t be better time than this for Potter fans. It’s a dual treat –— the release of Harry Potter’s fifth m ovie and the seventh book this month!

While the fifth sequel ‘Harry Potter and Order of Phoenix’ conjured up a good business from the day of its release across the globe, it is the final book that has grabbed all the attention this week.

The film, being the darkest so far with Harry forming ‘Dumbledore’s army’ to protect people against dark arts, however, got off to a subdued release in the city. The dubbed version ‘Harry Potterum Phoenix Kattalayum’ has not enthused Potter maniacs who have read it in print.

Ask for a reason, and an entire bunch of kids chorus: “We just can’t watch Harry speaking Tamil. We are waiting for the release of DVDs in English.”

But they aren’t all that let down either. The final book, ‘Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows’ will hit the book stores in the City today (July 21), coinciding with the global release.

The book has fuelled unprecedented imagination and expectations by virtue of being the decisive sequel on future of Harry’s life.

The previous six books, so far, had good-over-evil endings, with wizard Harry Potter fighting against all odds.

Be it the ‘Harry Potter and Sorcerer’s Stone,’ in which Harry comes to know about his magical family and meets his new best friends Ron and Hermione at the magical school Hogwarts or the penultimate ‘Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince,’ which unravels the mystery behind the soul-splitting of Lord Voldemort, the king of dark arts, each of authoress J.K.Rowling’s book has had the fans simply bowled over.

A gripping storyline and an imaginative narration has caught the fancy of millions of minds across the world.

“When we read the book, we are into a different world… the magical world of Potter and his friends. Not many fictions deserve a second reading but I’ve read each of the sequels at least a couple of times,” gushes Sharada Preetha, just out of school.

What is amazing is that Harry Potter series is not just a kid’s stuff. But it entices much more. Though the initial books had Harry and his friends struggling to cope with academics and dark arts at school, the fourth sequel ‘Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire’ drew the attention of the adolescent group, where a more matured Harry takes up towering responsibilities.

The sixth book mounted the speculations on Harry’s love life.

The book, which talks about the budding relationships of Ron and Hermione amid their everyday row, alongside Harry and Ron’s sister Ginny, has pulled a whole new set of teen group in.

But the hysteria is more feverish than usual for it caps the 10-year journey of Harry Potter. Potter fans are on tenterhooks and since Ms. Rowling is known for upping the stakes in the climax of every book, readers are not sure whether she will let them have the cake.

“I can’t imagine Harry getting killed. It would be worst ending ever written,” says a fervent Supriya, a class VI student, who got her dad help her wade through the first six books.

What if the hero dies and returns back like Sherlock Holmes did, after a popular demand? “It would be absurd. Sherlock Holmes series wasn’t really a sequel. It revolved around his cases all the time and involved less people.

Harry has got a host of characters depended on his wellbeing. It would be better to give it a happy ending,” says S. Manikandan, who is the proud-owner of all the six sequels as hardback copies.

Despite the mushrooming online bookselling websites that are offering heavy discounts, bookshop owners still stand to make more what with pre-orders pouring in. “There is a 15 per cent discount and a complementary book. We expect to sell over a 1000 copies soon after its release,” says John Bosco, the store manager of Odyssey.

Whatever the book has in store in its climax, parents are glad that the magical spell cast on the kids has triggered off some good reading habit among children.

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