Actor Prakash Raj turned narrator for an audiobook that is a "story of our times".
Written by Anita Nair, "The Little Duck Girl" is a state-of-the-nation story that explores the idea of who we are as a people.
" 'The Little Duck Girl' is a story of our times, it's a story about us and that's what touched me and excited me to narrate this story. When a writer says you are walking in a dark street, I walked the dark streets I know, it gives me the freedom to live, experience with what I can and what I have been. Before we see the story in somebody else's eye it's more important that we see it through our imagination," said Prakash.
The book, which is available on a Sweden-based audiobook app, revolves around Shree Raman, or Maash as he is known. He leads a quiet life in his village in Kerala where nothing ever happens. Until one December dawn, when the ducks and the little duck girl, not so little any more, return to the village after several years of absence, and light up Maash's life again.
The year is 2019, the Indian Parliament has passed the Citizenship Amendment Act and the question of identity, especially religious identity, is at the forefront of everything. Suddenly, everyone wants to know who is this duck girl, where does she come from, who does she pray to? In a matter of days, Maash finds himself in the middle of a conflict he couldn't have foreseen.
"This wasn't a story I planned to write. But as the anti-CAA agitations grew in strength, it made me question where people like me (and a large part of India ) who are not affected by the Act stand. This story was born out of my compulsion to talk about the perils of complacency. And even as I was writing it, I knew that just one actor would be able to do justice to it. Prakash Raj. And so it happened to my utter delight," said Nair.
( With inputs from IANS )