Accidental poet: Vismaya Mohanlal's debut book hits the shelves

What Vismaya Mohanlal has unquestionably inherited from her more famous father is his way with words, albeit on a different medium. Literally and figuratively, she is at home with creativity. Precisely why at various phases of her life, her thoughts and feelings converged into poems, her art skills complementing her words.

Vismaya’s poems and illustrations rightfully found their place in her first book titled Grains of Stardust. On February 14, Vismaya’s father, actor Mohanlal, released the book published by Penguin Random House India.

“The book came together so unexpectedly,” says Vismaya. “I never sat down and planned to write a book.”

Vismaya Mohanlal with her family. Credit: Vismaya

“It just so happened that one day when I was looking through some of my old sketchbooks that my brother (Pranav Mohanlal) gave me the idea of putting some of my art and poetry together and turning it into a book.”

Vismaya, however, refuses to call herself a poet. “An accidental one, perhaps,” she adds.

Most of Vismaya’s schooling was done at Hebron School in Ooty after which she spent time in Prague, London and New York studying art and performance.

Her book has been described “as a synesthetic stream of consciousness that does not distinguish between journey and destination but meanders unchecked upon the river of human emotion”.

The muses are many, and not one. “Most of these poems and thoughts were written at different phases of my life,” she elaborates. “I didn’t sit down with the intention to write them, they just happened. I’m sure many artists, writers and poets would have inspired me subconsciously,” Vismaya recollects.

What is also striking is the foreword written by a proud father about his daughter’s work. “My father was very happy to write the foreword and he has written his thoughts about the book in it,” she says.

The young poet has a penchant for art, in any form, be it painting, music, theatre or dance. “I absolutely love to dance,” she says. “It’s not something I’ve gone to classes for when I was a kid or anything, but it’s something I love to do to block out the noise. I also love hiking and being outdoors in nature.”

For most of 2020, she was in Samui, Thailand, at a camp called Fitkoh where she did Muay Thai (a martial art form). “I am not a pro or anything. That was the first time I tried it,” she admits.

Ask her what it means to be her father's daughter and she says, “My parents are beautiful and genuine people. They’re artistic and have always supported us in our creative endeavours, no matter how big or small they may be and I find that inspiring”.

Inspiration is in her backyard, aplenty, from the world of cinema, for instance. But writing fiction or screenplay is something she has left for the future to decide. “I don’t see that for myself in the near future, but anything can happen, who knows?” asks Vismaya who has clearly emerged from her father's shadow.