Dhamayanthi (writer)

Dhamayanthi is a fiction writer, poet, lyricist, and director in Tamil.^[1]

Life

Dhamayanthi was born in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. Her parents were teachers, and she imbibed her love for reading and arts from them. She claims that the books her father would gift during her birthday and the inevitable loneliness of childhood made her develop immense interest in books, which later enabled her to develop her passion for writing.^[1]

She did her B.A. in English from Sarah Tucker College, Tirunelveli, and her M.A. in English from St. John’s, Tirunelveli. Her first couple of short stories were published around this time and she won cash prize for both of them. Her stories garnered much attention and an anthology soon came out. She also continued writing poetry, though her fiction was generating more attention and interest. She worked as a radio jockey and program produce in Tirunelveli for a while. She later moved to Chennai seeking opportunities to work as a writer in the film industry.

Works

She writes popular stories with the intensity and depth of the literary in them.^[2] She strikes a balance between her deep with gender inequality and socio-political issues and her intent to narrate a tale that reveals the unpredictability of the human mind.^[3] Her stories focus on the subtle power play in man-woman relationships in a family, which borders on physical violence, and the more obvious violence played upon the woman’s body to establish patriarchal power during communal violence and crimes of passion.^[1] She was inspired to study English literature after she came across the poetry of Emily Dickenson.

She has published six short story collections, a novel, and an essay collection.^[4] She has translated Sylvia Plath’s poetry into Tamil.

Having been in television media for years , she made a debut as a script writer in Samuthirakani’s debutant serial produced by Minbimbangal. She has directed many documentaries on social issues and a docu-fiction on surrogate mothers. She co-wrote one of the three stories of Vizhithiru along with director Meera Kathiravan. She co-wrote the script for the Tamil film Vizhithiru (2018). Apart from Vizhithiru, she has written lyrics for eleven other films.^[5] She is working on a script for a film which she intends to direct.^[3] She has written a script for Bharat Bala and another to be directed by Kutti Revathi. Thadayam is based on her short story published in Ananda Vikatan.^[6] Her short story on the thermal power station — the environmental devastation caused by its effluence — was made into a short film.

Awards

She was conferred The Hindu (Tamil) Bharathi award for her contribution to women’s writing.^[7]

References