‘Pig Flip’: Malayalam writer Joshy Benedict’s unique style redefines Indian graphic storytelling

In a country where graphic novels are rarer than the rains in the May summers, Joshy Benedict’s The Pig Flip is an anomaly: a translated graphic novel. Joshy mentions in an interview, “I’m not even sure if most Malayalam readers have an understanding of what graphic novels are.” And that extends beyond the state of Kerala and Malayalam literature. Graphic novels, at their very best, exist as comic strips for kids in regional literature and don’t extend to “mainstream” and “serious” literature. From that perspective, this book is a much-needed step in the right direction.

The story

In an unnamed village in Kerala, the men assemble on an isolated island at midnight to play the “king of all card games,” the spot flip. And there resides Babycha, who’s stuck between his love for his wife and his gambling addiction. You see the typical inner gambling voice in Babycha’s lines, as “the cards favour the fair and the wise” and “with luck on your side, one flip of a single card can fetch you a fortune in a split second.” But when he comes across the beautiful Paulikutty, he’s forced to choose between the two loves of his life. A true gambler, he contemplates “putting an end to the night sessions and going only for daytime gambling.”

Addictions have a cruel way of seeping into lives, no matter what comes, and the same happens here. When he loses everything to gambling, to “Money” – thommi, his family has to step in and take matters into their own hands.

The style

Surreal and hallucinogenic, the book perfects its graphic aspect as images bleed and blend, and colours paint the flux of emotions and circumstances. Instead of the conventional text boxes and bubbles, the text here fills the gaps between the images. This fresh approach goes a long way in creating an atmospheric impression.

The changing panel colours reflect and influence the circumstances, each compounding atop the other. When Babycha is courting Paulikutty, the panels are colourful, dashes of paint flushing their romance. In contrast, as Babycha’s family takes up pig farming, the colours grow muted, matching the colours of pigs and mud, reflecting the disgust and helplessness our protagonist feels: “It was getting unbearable. I was choking on the humid stench seeping into me.” Or when Babycha sneaks out at night, quiet and secretive, the panels are dark and reserved.

But amidst the splendid watercolour paintings and picturesque landscapes, the story truly excels in its interpretive nature. For Benedict, the images are not complementary but the story itself, with the text being a mere tour guide. Created using a ballpoint pen and painted with watercolour, the old-school style of painting helps evoke the intentional, “old-school” world charm. You see an eye movement or a hand gesture, and that’s enough to convey the state of a character’s mind or an implied statement. This choice can be seen more prominently in his second work, Koprachevu (2017), where the visuals take on an even more prominent role.

The story’s brevity further fleshes out its interpretive nature. Various panels feature Babycha and his shadow or reflection, creating a dual strand: one of the external self and another of the self lying within. As Babycha stumbles and lies his way through family and moneylenders, Benedict’s silent, reflective illustrations perfectly depict the inner trappings of his mind.

And then there’s the setting at hand, drawn with a sharp perceptiveness, colours in spots and patches beneath the canopy of summer trees, light and shadows flickering and bending against each other, the wetlands of the Western Ghats of Kerala residing within the story as more than the setting. In bringing to life the local, Joshy portrays the universal: a story all too common, a story all too relatable. Addiction is a common tale: gambling, narcotics, alcohol, the list goes on. And almost as common are the back-and-forth stories of leaving and returning, interspersing with the male ego and entitlement.

“I felt a cool, calming sensation inside me when I touched the card soaked in cold morning dew.”

While any comment about the translation would likely be futile, having not read the Malayalam text myself, the choice of the translator is excellent here. A graphic artist and production designer, KK Muralidharan does a wonderful job of adapting the original text to English here, perfectly fitting the spatial voids amidst the illustrations.

For a 120-page graphic novel with sparse texts, The Pig Flip by Joshy Benedict packs a lot. Not only is it a story of addiction and the struggle between tending to your loved ones and giving in to the temptations of gambling, but it’s also the story of the Kerala locale, with sloping roofs, muddy waters, and wispy moustaches. The landscape of graphic storytelling has a long journey to cover in Indian literature; The Pig Flip is hopefully the first step of many.

The Pig Flip, Joshy Benedict, translated from the Malayalam by KK Muralidharan, HarperCollins India.