Current Show

by Perumal Murugan, பெருமாள் முருகன், V. Geetha (Translation)

Ill-paid and always tired, Sathi, a young soda-seller, finds relief from the tedium of the everyday in marijuana and his friends—-vulnerable, desperate young men who work around a movie theatre. This is life lived in the shadows of show business, sustained by a petty and tiring commerce in sex and money.

Stylishly written in a manner that mimics the rapid cuts and forward movement of Indian cinema.

Genres: Fiction, Indian Literature, India

168 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

Primary profile for this author.

Do NOT merge author profiles in different languages/spelling.

Per GR policy, books published in another language/script should have the name on that book as secondary author, with Perumal Murugan as primary author.

Perumal Murugan is a well-known contemporary Tamil writer and poet. He was written six novels, four collections of short stories and four anthologies of poetry. Three of his novels have been translated into English to wide acclaim: Seasons of the Palm, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Kiriyama Award in 2005, Current Show, and most recently, One Part Woman. He has received awards from the Tamil Nadu government as well as from Katha Books.

Reviews

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book talks about Sathi who is caught up in a world of loneliness, hunger, drugs and poverty.
Selling soda in theatres is his only means of earning a pitiful amount just to get through.
Most of tha days he has to bear hunger or get past hunger under the influence of drugs.
Life is so unpredictable when it comes to food, shelter and his meagre pay.
He gets ill-treated where he works. Even him showing love and care upon a child is looked upon with suspicion.
He has his so called friends working with him but is it the friendship that we all think of?
He has a family, but is it worth calling a family?
His father, a leper, begs for living and they are not even aware of each other's existence, his grandmother lives in another place and comes to meet him only when she needs some money.
Who do we blame for this?
Do we blame the destiny of each of these characters for living in such pathetic conditions?
Does money matter more in reality?
Does the rules of hiring a child for work really matter to the rest of us?
Overall the story represents the pitiful survival means of a young boy who knows only the intense pain of hunger.
I cannot ignore the reality that has been portrayed in each line.
There are hints of lust along some lines as well as the appreciation of getting satisfaction with drug usage; also rape under the influence of drugs.
These youngsters getting misused for personal revenge under the name of getting extra money has also been focused in this book.
I struggled a bit while reading this book as there were no changes in the situation whatsoever.
It is too realistic yet the flow of the narration is not smooth.
The narration is dark and has bitter undertones.
*I would like to recommend his other books rather than this one.
*Not recommended for beginners, especially below 18 years.

[Kalaiselvan selvaraj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Subject : life style of the boy who is working in cinema theatre as a soda seller in 1970’s.

Mr.Sakthivel and his circumstances written well.

Recommending this book to 1960’s people.They could go to their olden days theatre experience.

[Tavleen Kaur (Travelling Through Words) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Highly disappointing. I don't understand what the point of the story was. I appreciate the fact that the author was trying to highlight the struggles of people living in poverty but nothing else in the book made sense. The story was going nowhere and there was nothing in it to keep the reader engaged.

[Gorab · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 50 pages.

Picking this was a mistake. The only book by Murugan sir I couldn't connect to at all.
Do suggest if DNF at 50 is a mistake and I might reconsider.

Why I didn't like it:
- Couldn't understand how the plot is moving. Could only grasp some poverty stricken youths trying random stuff.
- Too many unwarranted abuses.
- Not sure if its because of (English) translation.

[Nadha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't understand a thing??
No plot, but no vibes either
Maybe the whole thing was an elaborate metaphor and I just didn't get it.

[Ashutosh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading or trying to read is more apt – Perumal Murugan’s Current Show. This is the first Murugan book I am reading and I am not sure that it is the translator’s – V Geetha – fault or the original too was equally drab and uninterestingly written.
This is a story about three boys – Sathi, Natesan and The Hulk (because he is overweight) – who eke out their living by selling soda in a movie theatre, and the people they exist with and the people they meet. I am 56 pages in (out of 186) and still haven’t got a clue as to what this book is all about.
Murugan is especially competent or extremely adept at describing the gory and filthy parts – be it the filth on his characters including their hair, clothes, noses, eyes, mouths and where not, the filth that surrounds them, the filth in the theatre and the filth in the food they eat or the filth in the drinks they sell. This gets too much – at least for me – and I started skipping the ‘filthy’ parts altogether, and found that I did not lose the thread – if there was one – in the story so far.
The characters are defined through their appearance – or should I say their dirty appearance. The way they dress, the amount of dirt in their clothes and hair and eyes and noses, the way the spit dribbles down their chins, the way they spit, urinate, and wash their mouths. The number of flies that surround them, and so on. They sleep in foul smelling rooms, drink from water tanks surrounded by urine drenched soil (and also fill their soda bottles from the same tank, it’s bottom covered with stinking moss). There are gay overtones to the Sathi and Natesan’s characters, though they are not overtly described.
The whole atmosphere is bleak and dark - which seems to be Murugan’s hallmark going by the reviews of his other books printed in Current Show. May be someone can make an art film based on Current Show sometime and also bag an award.
Murugan is a highly-acclaimed Tamil writer and after he was accused of blasphemy, had announced his decision to stop writing. This book was published in 1993, in Tamil. I guess Penguin has published this to cash on to the Murugan craze that erupted after his decision to give up writing. If so, they have failed miserably. His writing may have improved after 1993, but now I do not want to find out if it did. Current Show has really put me off him.
Disclaimer: This book was sent to me free for review by flipkart.

[Shiva Subbiaah kumar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Link to my Blog
Poonachi, மாதொருபாகன் எதிர்பார்ப்பில் நிழல் முற்றம் படிக்கக்கூடாது. Too dry to read.
நிழல் முற்றம் M.G.R காலத்து சினிமா கொட்டகைகள் பற்றி பேசுகிறது. மூங்கில் மூச்சு போன்ற புத்தகங்கள் திரயை பற்றி பேசியது, இங்கே பெருமாள் முருகன் அவர்கள் அங்கே வேலை செய்பவர்களை பற்றி பேசுகிறார்.
சிறுகதை போன்று அங்கும் இங்கும் உள்ள நிகழ்வுகள் சொல்லப்படுகின்றது ஆனால் கதையில் சுவாரஸ்யம் குறைவே.
கெட்டவார்த்தை கொட்டிக்கிடக்கின்றன என்பது தனி ஆனாலும் இந்த புத்தகத்தை பரிந்துரை செய்வது கடினம்.

[Aruna Kumar Gadepalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This brings nostalgic experience to those who have lived or experienced the single-curtain theaters (Cinema hall) in small town or village. The entire story revolves around the same. Though at a outer level it looks simple story brings out various layers of division, whether it is the commercial viability that is based on movie timings, the kind of movie is released and the other businesses that are based on cinema hall.

[Shalini Maiti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Current Show, by Perumal Murugan is less a narrative and more a descriptive. Readers who enjoy stories that have well formed plots with the whole Curtain-Pace-Finale sequence, might not enjoy reading this. This story, although well paced, is like water swirling in a glass, lost in the pattern of its own whirlpool! To the observant, there's a certain beauty to its rhythmic motion, but it isn't going anywhere... its beauty walled within the confines of the glass.

Set roughly in the late 50's or early 60's, (when movies of MGR, Gemini Ganesan and the likes were popular across cinemas in Tamil Nadu) the story revolves around the lives of Sathi and his friends who work as soda peddlars and odd-job boys at a movie theater near Karavur. Their lives lack ambition or direction, living in abject poverty. The mistreatment that they face at the hands of their employer (or pretty much anyone else who is better off than them, like the theater manager or the paan shop fellow) is heavily normalized! Their poverty seems to overshadow everything, and everything seems to circle back to their poverty!

Brilliantly translated (in my humble opinion), the tale is one of dispossessed youth living homeless, anchorless, with barely enough income to have one meal a day. In spite of this, they seem to survive from day to day on a steady diet of friendship, and the numbing haze of marijuana. Their sense of right, wrong, pride, and shame is vastly different from our version of normal!

The writing is speckled with curses and slurs like "beggary dog", "leftovers eating dog" and "son of a leper" which I'm sure hold more color in their original colloquial from. While reading, I found a part of me wishing and wondering... Wishing that I knew Tamil so I could experience this novella in all its rawness, and wondering how much might have been lost in translation despite the earnest efforts of the translator. If your appetite for reading can handle stories with no definitive end, then I recommend you give this a read.

[Amara Bharathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

கதை நாயகன் ஒருவனைக் கொண்டு நேரடியாகக் கதை சொல்வதாக இல்லாமல், ஜன்னலின் இடுக்கிலிருந்து வரும் துண்டு வெளிச்சமாய் ஆங்காங்கே சில கதைகள்; அதன் ஊடாக நாம் மறந்துபோன மனிதர்களின் வாழ்க்கையை அச்சு அசலாகத் தருகிறார் பெருமாள்முருகன். பல இடங்களில் தொய்வடைந்து பொறுமையை சோதிக்கவைக்கும் படைப்பு.

[Bhavik (Semi Hiatus) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such books are why I don't feel like reading Indian books at all.
What a stupid plot with gross descriptions.
I wonder if something got lost in translation?
Because this is terrible.

[Girish · Rating 1 out of 5]

The raw, unvarnished lives of ordinary people often resist the form of prose—or so it felt while reading this book. Perumal Murugan’s portrait of those who work in a tent kottai (theatre) introduces us to people we seldom pause to think about, and to the daily uncertainties that shape their existence. The narrative revolves around Sathi, a soda seller at the theatre, and unfolds through a series of vignettes that reveal a harsh, unembellished reality.

What didn’t work for me were the particular episodes chosen to represent this world, along with the relentless, often tasteless swearing that fills the pages. Scenes like the ganja-fuelled rambling between Sathi and a friend, the encounter with a prostitute who frequents the theatre, or even the petty theft of a new slipper—while perhaps true to life—felt gratuitous. There are no character arcs or conventional plotlines here, just an “as-is” chronicle of lives lived on the margins. Murugan seems intent on forcing readers to judge, fully aware that his characters may not inspire much sympathy.

It makes me wonder: is this discomfort because such people and lives do exist—and we prefer to smooth over their rough edges, unintentionally marginalizing them further? I’m not sure. What I do know is that this wasn’t the book I expected when I picked it up. Not a judgment, simply a realization: this one wasn’t for me.

[Babu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't know about the original tamil version of the book, but didn't like the translation if the book not that catchy and finished it just like that not much of a story to read

[Abhishek Chauhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a small town somewhere in Tamil Nadu, Sathivel is a young soda seller in a washed out film theatre. Fatigued from running errands for the menacing soda shop man, he lives off marijuana and the company of his friends employed around the theatre. Cinema has no charm in a world where stacks of bottles are to be sold and sales counted at the end of each run. His sole comfort, a tender and passionate friendship he has formed with one of the boys, keeps him together in his miserable state of hunger, penury and shame. As much as he may wish to run away, the desperation corners him, collars him and suffocates him.
“No escaping them. They pursue him in tight, dirty spaces.”
Sathi’s paralysis is almost Joycean. He can wish to escape, but is always pulled back.
In Current Show, Perumal Murugan has etched a most vivid portrayal of poverty. It is dark, bleak and reeks of squalor. He is particularly intent on evoking unrelentingly revolting imagery, producing an honest if not most palatable narrative voice. V. Geetha in her translation from the Tamil has rendered the book a unique prose style which feels oddly appropriate to its setting. With its sharp sentences and swift, cutting movements, the novel reads like a screenplay and adds a semblance of pace to a story that otherwise moves meditatively and quietly.
Of the story itself, there is little to speak of. The chapters are episodic, effectively digging into the many facets of the underbelly of small town existence. Murugan’s later novel Seasons of Palm tells the story a young dalit boy whose spirit is broken by brutality. Here he more subtly alludes to Sathi’s identity as an untouchable trying to make ends meet. His disgust for his leprous father –who notably refers to him as a “half caste” – reveals his shame for a part of his own self that he loathes. After all, he’s at an age where identity is delicate and fragile. Though the ages of the boys are never explicitly mentioned, it is clear that they have to be teenagers. Sathi’s confused sexuality indicates that he has to be just on the threshold of puberty, making him an easy target for exploitation.
The language is strong and the matter desolate, but I would urge the reader to take up this book. It’s a powerfully realistic narrative of misfortune. And whatever you take away from it, you will most certainly never see a local theatre the same way again.

[Sofia · Rating 2 out of 5]

இந்த புத்தகத்தை கதை என்று சொல்லாமல் வறுமை, பசி மற்றும் தனிமையால் ஆட்கொள்ளப்பட்ட ஒரு இளைஞனின் வாழ்வில் நடக்கும் நிகழ்ச்சிகளின் தொகுப்பு என்றே கூறுவேன்.

LGBTQ, பலி வாங்க கொலை செய்தல், ஒருவருக்கு உறவை விடவும் வயிற்றை நிரப்ப பணம் மற்றும் தன்மானத்தின் முக்கியத்துவம், அடைபட்ட நெஞ்சுக்கும் குழந்தையின் சிரிப்பின் ஆறுதல், இளவயதில் போதைப் பொருள்களின் ஆதிக்கம் போன்ற பலவற்றை தன்னுடைய மற்ற நாவல்களை போலவே இதிலும் மறைமுகமாய் சுட்டிக்காட்டியுள்ளார் கதாசிரியர்.

எனக்கு மிகப் பிடித்த எழுத்தாளர்களில் பெருமாள் முருகனும் ஒருவர். அவருடைய படைப்பின் கதை களங்களும் கதாபாத்திரங்களும் எப்பொழுதும் முழுமை பெற்றிருக்கும். ஆனால் இந்த நாவலில் அது மிகக் குறைவே. அதற்கான காரணம் கதை சொல்ல கூடாது என்று கதாசிரியர் எடுத்த முடிவேயாகும் என்றே கருதுகிறேன்.

இந்த புத்தகத்தில் ஐம்பதாம் பக்கத்தை கடக்கும் தருவாயில் படிக்காமல் விட்டுவிடலாமா என்று தோன்றிற்று. ஆனால் ஒரு புத்தகத்தை பாதியில் விட மனம் அனுமதிக்காததால் தொடர்ந்தேன். அதை நன்று என்றும் கருதுகிறேன். ஏனெனில் படித்து முடித்த தருவாயில் நாஞ்சில் நாடன் அவர்கள் எழுதிய இந்த புத்தகத்தின் முதல் பதிப்பின் முன்னுரையை படிக்க நேர்ந்தது. அவர் இந்த நாவலின் கதைக் களத்தை அழகாய் விவரித்துள்ளார். "மனித உறவுகளுக்கு இடையேயான போராட்டங்களின் சின்னப் பதிவு இது. மத்தியதர வர்க்கமும் கீழ் மத்தியதர வர்க்கமும் தங்களின் எல்லாவித நடவடிக்கைகளையும் நியாயப் படுத்திக் கொண்டு அலையும் போது, அந்த அக்கறைகள் ஏதுமற்று ஜீவித நியாயம் ஒன்றைக் கொண்டு மட்டும் திரியும் அடிமட்ட மனிதர்களின் இருப்பை புலப்படுத்தும் நாவல் இது".

அத்தகைய மனிதர்களின் வாழ்வில் நிகழும் நிகழ்ச்சியை கதாசிரியர் ஒளிவு மறைவு இன்றி பச்சையாக எடுத்து காட்டியிருப்பதால் கொச்சை சொற்களும் கெட்ட வார்த்தைகளும் சற்று அதிகமாய் பயன்படுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளது.

ஒரு நல்ல கதை களத்தையோ, சுவாரசியமான கதையையோ, ஒவ்வொரு அதிகாரத்திற்கும் இடையேயான கதை தொடர்ச்சியையோ, பெருமாள்முருகன் அவர்களின் மற்ற புத்தகத்தை போல இருக்கும் என்ற எதிர்பார்ப்பையோ கொண்டுள்ளவர்களுக்கு இந்த புத்தகம் ஏமாற்றத்தை அளிக்கக் கூடும். ஆனால் நாடகக் கதைகளையும் ஒரு நிகழ்வின் ஆழமான விவரிப்பையும் விரும்புபவர்களுக்கும், அந்த காலத்தில் கொட்டகைகளில் திரைகளில் படம் பார்த்தவர்களுக்கும் இது ஏற்றதாய் இருக்கக்கூடும்.

[Ayush Sengupta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Current Show, a book that chronicles episodes in Sathi the young soda seller's life in a movie theatre, is a huge letdown, a yawn fest.

Perumal, the author, has a very interesting style of describing characters, and he manages to paint elaborate pictures with his imaginative description of the manner people from the lower strata of society generally behave.

The problem lies with the principal story itself. You do not feel invested in Sathi's life and wonder where the overarching storyline is going. Sadly, you never figure that out even after you have finished the book.

This is a definite miss and you'd be better off steering clear of this mess.

[Sujani Koya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just what you would have been if you were not you.
If you had been the homeless boy sleeping under the stairs leading to his workplace
If you were a "lowborn" whose caste is spat at you like spittle at a roadside shrub (hugs and very sorry if this indeed was you)
If you turn from person to thing in a moment
If you are used and abused , body mind and soul

A slice of life of a group of workers at a cinema hall in the 80s. How they cope, how each young man picks through the thorns to pluck the roses he wants. If you're prone to self pity, this will make you look at your privileges in a new light. Current Show by Perumal Murugan

[Pri · Rating 1 out of 5]

Buying it was a blunder, no less. This is the first write up by The author which I didn’t like at all. I get that it’s about poverty, identity crisis, estrangement, friendship but then what???? Also, it’s written in episodic form which clearly shows author has been way ahead of his time writing such a piece but still What is the plot about and how is it moving ahead? What is the underpinning of the story? The book is highly AVOIDABLE. The translator has done a really terrible job (really really! sorry to say) but don’t buy the English version at least. You’ll be wasting your money.

[Srihari Iyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

நான் வாசித்த நாவல்களில் Malgudi days, ஶ்ரீரங்கத்து கதைகள் வரிசையில் அன்றாட வாழ்க்கையில் நடக்கும் சுவாரசியமான நிகழ்வுகளை வைத்து எழுதப்பட்ட நாவல். ஒவ்வொரு அத்தியாயமும் ஒரு புது கதையில் தொடங்கி அந்த அத்யாயதிலே முடிவு பெறுகிறது.

சிறு நகரம் ஒன்றில் இயங்கும் theatre-ல் நடக்கும் சம்பவங்களும் அதன் ஊழியர்களும் தான் கதை களம் மற்றும் கதாபாத்திரங்கள்.

வறுமை கோட்டிற்கு கீழ் இருக்கும் மக்களை பரிதாபமாக காட்டாமல் அவர்களின் அன்றாட வாழ்கையை இயல்பாக பதிவு செய்திருப்பது வித்தியாசமான வாசிப்பு அனுபவமாய் இருந்தது.

[Karishma · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sure this is a very clever book, but I didn't understand any of it.

[Manikandan Chellamuthu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A natural story in the cinema theatre .

[Ambalika Das · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly, translated works feel like they're lacking in something to me , but, there definitely are some, where you can't even understand that it's been translated unless you're told!
One such example is Current Show by Perumal Murugan.
I'd wanted to read his other works, ever since I read Poonachi. Then I got my hands on 'Current Show'. As always, Murugan has poured life into his characters. You can almost see them walk about doing their jobs in front of your eyes!
The book gives us an insight into the small-town life. It revolves around a young soda-seller, Sathi, who works in a cinema hall. He's not paid much and his everyday relief from his labour lies in Marijuana.
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Almost the entire story is set in and around the cinema hall. It had me thinking, how so many lives are connected to that one run-down building and how we never stop to give this a thought , when we pass by theaters or halls. Indeed so much goes on in the lives of these non-existent (for us) people.
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The characters are definitely lively. The story has a sad side to it that makes you feel the despair in the lives of these unnoticed people. There's a hint of LGBTQ+ abuse at some point, though I'm not very sure many would notice that!
Another thing which caught my attention was, Murugan has made LGBTQ+ behavior sound so normal, so natural, in his story. It felt really accepting. :)
BUT.
I wouldn't say it was a "page-turner".
Hence, it's a 3.5/5⭐ for me.
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Happy Reading all!
~Amber🌻
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#bookhaul #bookstagram #bibliophile #booklover #bookstagrammer #indianbookblogger #indianbookstagrammer #indiabookstagram #bookishallure #perumalmurugan #bookfairhaul

[Insha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story revolves around a movie theatre in an unnamed village in Tamil Nadu and young adult men who make a living out of selling sodas to the incoming audience. The story takes you through the life of these 4 young men.

The movie describes the single-screen theatre’s dwindling glory and how the lives of the 4 men revolves around it. For instance, the income of these young men depends on the movie that is being played on the screens. If you’ve seen the transition of single-screen to our current multiplex screens, you will find the situation relatable.

The protagonist is Sathivel. He lives a simple life, not by choice but by compulsion. From being a destitute, he is now a soda seller in the theater. He finds solace in puffs of marijuana while struggling to make his ends meet. As you read along, you uncover the tender relationship that Sathivel shares with one of the young men. He finds safety and reassurance in this friendship. Until certain chain of events sets everything haywire.

To be honest, I feel the book is lost somewhere in the translations. It might have been a notable literary work in its original language. But the English version just feels like a snooze-fest. The story seems hazy and aloof. The narrative is monotonous and plain. It gets difficult to understand the characters. Although, the author tries to vividly tries to paint a picture of the village, he somewhere lacks the same zest while portraying the characters.

Overall, take up this book if you’ve read the previous titles. But, this shouldn’t be your first pick for the author.

[சந்திரசேகரன் · Rating 2 out of 5]

நிழல்முற்றம் நாவல் திரையரங்கை மையமாகக் கொண்டு, அதை நம்பி வாழும் மனிதர்களைப் பற்றியது.

நாவல் , கதைக்களத்திற்கு ஏற்ப திரைப்படத்தை எப்படி எடிட் செய்வார்களோ அதைப்போல எழுதப்பட்டிருக்கிறது என குறிப்பிடப்பட்டுள்ளது.

ஆனால் ஒவ்வாறு அத்தியாயங்களும் தொடர்பில்லாமல் நகர்கின்றன. திரைப்படத்தில் கதை நகருவது போல் இதில் இல்லை.


ஆகவே இதில் கூறியுள்ள "எடிட் செய்வது போல் எழுதப்பட்டது" என குறிப்பிடுவது வாசகர்களை ஒருவாறாக சமாதனப்படுத்தும் முயற்சி என்றே வைத்துக் கொள்ளலாம்.

வாசகர்கள் ஒருவிதமாகக் கதையைப் புரிந்து கொள்ளலாம். திரையரங்கை நம்பி வாழும் எளிய மனிதர்களை கதாப்பாத்திரங்களாக வடித்துள்ளார். கதாப்பாத்திர வடிவமைப்பு நன்றாக இருக்கிறது.

ஆனால் கதை கத்தரித்து கத்தரித்து எழுதப்பட்டு, தொடர்சியாக அல்லாமல் எழுதப்பட்டிருக்கிறது.

பூக்குழி, மாதொருபாகன் போன்ற படைப்புகளை எழுதிய பெருமாள்முருகனிடம் இதை எதிர்பார்க்கவில்லை.

புது விதமாக எழுதலாம் என எண்ணி முயற்சி செய்துள்ளார். அது பாராட்டுக்குரியது. ஆனால் கதையில் தொடர்ச்சி இல்லை. திரைப்படம் (திரைக்கதை) போல் இருக்க எண்ணி செய்துள்ளார் போலும். ஆனால், திரைப்படத்தில் ஒரு தொடர்ச்சி இருக்கும். கதை நகர்ந்து கொண்ட இருக்கும்.

ஆனால் இந்த நாவலில் அப்படி இல்லை.
யானைக்கும் அடி சறுக்கும் என்பதற்கேற்ப வைத்துக் கொள்ளலாம். ஆகச்சிறந்த படைப்பாளியான பெருமாள் முருகனின் மற்ற படைப்புகள் போற்றத்தக்கது.

[Nikhil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story of a bunch of wastrels working for a small theatre in a small town, back when movies were a new thing in general.
Nearly every chapter begins with Sathi sleeping in some dirty corner.

I’m sure the original Tamil version contains a lot of “colourful language”, since even the translation had one insult being thrown at one of the boys in every second paragraph. My favourite one was Leftovers Eater, which, as it turns out, really hurts if true.

What I liked, is the visiting elders - they genuinely care, even if their kid is ashamed of the parent’s deformity or has not a dime to hand over. We also learn of some boy’s circumstances include one of their parents being sexually promiscuous or has eloped with a mistress. The boys do toil, but splurge it all on ganja.

I also liked the start where we learn that the Soda Man has been repeatedly asking Sathi to work on his farm and take care of livestock, but the theatre job is more appealing to him.

Myself having grown up in a well-to-do family in Mumbai, i never imagined that uneducated & unemployed delinquents from small towns have a longing for spending their time more meaningfully than just lazing around while the goats graze.

The description of the squalor they love in is very brutal, you can nearly smell the characters.

[Arvind Sharma · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is supposedly a projection of life of poor people. Sati son of a ailing old beggar, runs away and works as handy man for a soda shop outside theater. He befriends Natesan and together they smoke away their struggles with ganja. Events or chapters of books follow usual scenarios a person under this setting faces, like fighting for payment, fighting with co workers for trivial stuffs growing from frustration, Intoxication to forget sufferings and embarrassment, lust with escorts and some fun moments like jumping in pond etc. The story ends with soda shop owner's plot to extend his family ground's entrance against his cousin's wish. He takes all the handy man from the theater to his place, bribes them with liquor and asks them to guard the workers while they secretly carry out the task on full moon night. Natesan under intoxication gets into a fight with some unknown people and gets injured. The next day soda man's is destroyed and he accuses and trashes everyone he sees including Sati. Sati having had enough, cries and decides to move on.

[Anjana Balakrishnan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murugan handles the confusion of adolescence with a clarity that is achieved only with hindsight. Whenver Sathi smokes up he thinks that he should give up on the theatre and take up the soda-man’s offer to help on his farm. But he likes the excitement of the theatre. This is a novel about the uncertainties the young feel. We have all been there. The feeling of being trapped in your own condition. The need for change in a place that has never seen change. The frustration of living an unchanging life everyday. Not having the wisdom to see that this is not forever. This is just the current show.

Current Show will force you to pause and ponder on the impermanence of our experiences. It will make you involuntarily sending up a prayer in gratefulness. Pick up this book on a day when you feel that you’ve been dealt a bad hand.

Read my full review on The News Minute: http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/...

[Prashanthi Raman]

Perumal Murugan brilliantly captures small town life in and around a movie hall in a non-decrepit village. The many happenings of a bunch of adolescent young men discovering themselves, breaking free of their boundaries, all within the showtimes and the the afterlife of a movie hall is brilliant. Every chapter starts off with a trailer-like setting and ends with a climax to move over to another aspect of a complexly woven story. The description of each of the aspect of the boys' life from their experimentation with substances, sexuality and their undying efforts to rise above poverty have been written with such clairvoyance only Murugan can manage. I found myself understanding the various people, processes and hierarchical settings of an old-timey movie halls, presenting a complexity I'd never imagined It's definitely worth a read!

[M S Ram · Rating 3 out of 5]

A raw account of life around a movie theatre in 60s or 70s rural Tamil Nadu, but what could easily have passed for early-mid 2000s Madras outskirts, this book has Perumal Murugan's signature class perspective most middle-class readers would have only had fleeting glimpses of. I am not sure exactly how much has been lost in translation but, since I often found myself picturing the characters saying their lines in Tamil, I believe it's a sizeable chunk. The characters are extremely flawed, almost despicable, but their actions seem so real, it was difficult to avoid seeking some sort of voyeuristic insight into their wretched lives. I didn't find the narrative as captivating or impactful as Poonachi or One Part Woman, and I wished there was more scope for redemption. Trigger Warning: Lots of casual physical abuse and strong language.

[S Rashmi · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are so many things in life which I take for granted and not being thankful. This book was a stirrer of such complacency. The protagonist Sathi is a small town boy who sells soda in a local theatre, that runs n reruns MGR movies and is set in that era. His dad is a leper who begs, and his family as such are his friends who work alongside him. So the broad picture looks bleak, but in lil ways Perumal Murugan has brought in life into the story that depicts, how life evolves a person even though it's only bleakness which manifests throughout. Wish I had read it in Tamil, the translation was too literal in places with foul language. Perumal Murugan always makes me feel, why I ever did pick up the book but I keep returning to the genre ....pick up the book and tread cautiously..