Ponniyin Selvan and RRR fanfiction gain popularity online as Indian stories garner interest

Films and epics from India realise new outcomes and conclusions in the world of fanfiction.

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.