Most of us have noticed the character Harry Potter emerging from nowhere 9-10 years back. And before we could notice, it has become a household name, a fantasy for kids, a timepass for teenagers and an amazement for adults and 'elderly' people. Probably even the author would not have imagined that her works would become so famous one day.
Harry potter is a series of seven novels by the famous author J K Rowling. This series is about a boy named Harry J Potter and his study at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a school for young wizards and witches. The entire plot focusses on Harry Potter's fight against the evil lord Voldemort. Basically, it is a fight between good and evil and the author has creatively brought in the whole idea of witchcraft into this so called 'war'. Voldemort kills Harry's parents Lily and James potter 18 years back, in a personal vengeance when they try to stop him from taking over the magic world. However, when he attempts to kill Harry, the Avada Kedavra killing curse rebounds upon him, and he gets destroyed, becoming nothing more than a spirit: neither dead nor alive. Meanwhile Harry is left with a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. Harry is the only known survivor of the killing curse, and his mysterious defeat of Voldemort results in him being dubbed "The Boy Who Lived" by the wizarding community. Voldemort is known as "He who should not be named".
Harry is raised by his relatives, the Dursleys, who are very cruel to him and intentionally hide his magical secrets and keep punishing him.However, as his eleventh birthday approaches, Harry has his first contact with the magical world when he receives letters from Hogwarts school which are delivered by owls. The letters are taken from him by his Uncle before he has a chance to read them. On his eleventh birthday he is informed by Hagrid, the gamekeeper of Hogwarts, that he is in fact a wizard and has been invited to attend the school. Each book describes one year in Harry's life, which is mostly spent at Hogwarts, from then on.
Who doesn't like magic and tricks? And this is exactly the trump card for potter's stories. And apart from just the books, slowly movies were made on HJP (Harry J Potter) and video games and merchandise gained immense popularity. Some people feel that all this is fantasy and unbelievable. In South India, we simply call it a 'Vittalacharya movie' a nickname for movies made with tantra and magic as base. There are several famous movies in this genre viz., Mayabazar etc. And so when people still swear on the creativity and logic of these Vittalacharya movies till date, I am one of the millions who swear by Potter-mania.
The wizarding community shown and depicted in this series is both imaginary and yet intimately connected to our own world. While Narnia was a fantasy world and Lord of the Rings a mystic past, I felt that the magical world in HJP is very much believable. Most of the institutions and locations are in towns and cities, including London for example, that are recognisable in today's world.
Regarding the narration style of Rowling, I have always felt that her novels have drawn inspiration from a whole lot of authors (like Stephen Kings, Sherlock Holmes) ofcourse making it an irresistable combo and ultimately a super hit. Her stories are always told from a third person point of view except in few books like opening chapters of Philosopher's stone, Goblet of Fire and few chapters of Half Blood Prince, where the reader comes to know the truth as and when Harry comes to know. All books follow the same pattern though - Each begin with Harry at home with his relatives ill treating him and later he going to a magical location like Diagon Alley, Weasleys' or No.12, Grimmauld Place for a period after which he boards the school train at Platform 9 3/4. Honestly, i felt that was such a creative thought of Rowling to imagine a platform in between 2 platforms.....which would instantly give the reader a sense of magic :-).
Once at school, Harry is shown interacting with old and new characters, be it teachers or students and challenging issues to be overcome inspite of few people swearing to make his life difficult. Also as Harry grows old, awkward crushes, confusing affairs are also shown. All stories reach the climax just before or after final exams when he confronts either Voldemort or one of the death eaters. He learns some lesson out of this and interacts with Dumbeldore and becomes one more step closer to the headmaster. The scene always closes with him going back to Dursleys at the end of the year.
Whatever it may be, this film and books have been constant entertainers and fascinated people like me over a very long period. It is like i wait for either one to be released.... and this month is a bumper gift for Potter fans. The 5th book's film and the 7th book's publication is out in the same month, which is adding to the ecstasy like never before. All said, i do not like just one thing and that is the highly priced books which are not affordable in original print by the age group of people who actually ought to read it - Kids & Teens.
As employed people, it is okay to buy a 500/- book.... but the last book "Deathly gallows" is priced at a whopping Rs. 975/- in India.
Yet, people are ready to make Rowling and her publishers rich day by day. This in turn is also encouraging piracy experts who sell "indian version" at cheaper rates.
Rowling once fondly said that she is in favor of killing Harry potter and making him immortal so that she doesnt want other authors to write sequels on say for example, Harry life after Hogwarts etc. This has stirred off a fear among fans if it will be true and she has seen a constant pour of fan mails and requests asking her to rewrite the story with an alternative conclusion.
All depends on 21st July when the book will finally be released. Some silly websites quote statistics like "80% of readers say they will flip to the last page first to see if their hero is alive or dead."
And as the non-reader population of HJP sums it up, its a big revolution persuading people into unreal stuff and imagination which makes them dream a lot and do unreal stuff. Yes it is a revolution but as far as i see, it aims at giving a person a chance to dream, a chance to feel powerful, magical and equipped.... For those few hours, one can just forget everything and bask in an imaginary glorified cloud.
For me- thats entertainment....and thats the reason why I am a true Harry potter fan.
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