Chennai, Feb 18:
Actor Suriya has thanked writer Vennila for her novel “Neeradhigaram.” The novel has generated a
positive reader response because it was published as a series in a leading weekly magazine weekly.
A novel is constructed about the British man Benny Cook, who endeavored to construct a dam in order to
quench the period of drought on the territory near Madurai. Vennila, in her series of novels titled
“Neeradhigaram,” brings out historic references with a tinge of fantasy to fathom the struggles and
tragedies that Benny Cook had to go through while making his dream come true for the dam. The novel-
turned-book is an account of the challenges, fieldwork, and journeys done by Vennila for this
documentation.
Since Vennila spoke so highly about the novel, actor Surya showed his interest in reading it. In one of his
interviews, he said that he wanted to narrate the “Neeradhigaram” novel, and it appears he could narrate
it personally.
Suriya has all praise for the hard work done by Vennila on the novel, paying special mention to the
depiction of the 130-year journey of the Mullai Periyar Dam by Benny Cook. The dam that saw the
prosperity of the Kampam Valley has a relation to the history developed for Madurai by the Sangha Tamil.
