It is now common knowledge that in Kalki’s celebrated magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan, Raja Raja Chola marries Princess Vanathi.
But what if he had to travel through multiple universes, challenges and a curious situation where Vanathi and his brother fall in love instead? This is the premise of a piece of fanfiction written by anonymous blogger, Kovaipaavai, on Tumblr, the micro-blogging platform.
In its simplest sense, fanfiction is narrative fiction written by fans of a story, or a person, where the story arc changes in ways they want. .There are thousands of stories available online, in websites like Archive of Our Own (Ao3). And, so are the many published retellings of The Mahabharata and The Ramayana.
The online hubs of Archive of Our Own (Ao3) and Tumblr, the microblogging site, are seeing new works, now centred around Indian stories. Khyati, a writer and blogger on Tumblr cites the pandemic, and Doordarshan’s reruns of The Mahabharata as the primary reasons for her interest in writing fanfiction. “It is about war and succession, and I like writing about that,” she says.
Ao3 saw an uptick in stories around familiar characters like Karna and Duryodhana, but in completely new settings. Most recently, the Ponniyin Selvan franchise (2022 - 23) and RRR (2021) have received the fanfiction treatment by both Indian and international amateur writing communities.
“What compels me to write Ponniyin Selvan fanfiction is how the universe has been set up by Kalki,” says Kovaipaavai. A 36 year-old IT consultant, Kovaipaavai, has been writing fanfiction since the early teens — based on the books. “Now that the movies are out, I am fascinated by the multiverse of stories created,” said the consultant. The scope of a fictional world, along with complicated storylines are considered compelling reasons to write fanfiction. It is what made Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones so popular. People like building on what they have already seen.
Another reason people write fanfiction is to strengthen or play with enduring relationships in the original work. That is where RRR finds its stories. The relationship at the centre of the movie is that of Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem, and most of the RRR fanfiction found online depicts them in a romantic relationship.
And, due to RRR’s global popularity, its longest fanfiction online is 1,41,000 words and counting — and is entirely in Mandarin.
Published authors have varying opinions on fanfiction. Some authors feel honoured by the interest towards their work, while others have a more disapproving stance. Elango Kumaravel, one of the writers for the Ponniyin Selvan franchise, takes the middle ground. Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan is part of the public domain, and is not under copyright. Therefore, people are free to legally publish and profit off work surrounding it. Elango encourages fans to explore the story, and spin it however they wish. “It is the people’s, you can do anything. You cannot do that with other books,” says Elango. He believes that artists deserve control over their work, and who writes in their world. “Even when they do not monetise it, it is like taking a photo of someone without telling them,” he says.
Juhi, a Tumblr user, who writes RRR and Baahubali fanfiction concludes, “It is beautiful to see people’s thought processes, and how so many other minds perceive the same story.” With more films, the world of fanfiction continues to dream and define new dimensions.
