India, Feb. 21 -- Cinematic in scope and poetic in sensibility, Bride in the Hills, Vanamala Vishwanatha's translation of iconic Kannada writer Kuvempu's epic novel, Malegalalli Madhumagalu, is a giant love letter to Malenadu (Kannada for 'land of the mountains') - that part of Karnataka through which the Sahyadris run. Though the novel is a paean to the torrential rains that characterize the region, the mighty rivers that course through, to birds - many hued and exotic that fill its skies and nest in its sprawling trees as also to diverse animals and insects that throng its forests - the three love stories that it spotlights (four if you count the one between Gutthi, the serf and Huliya, the dog) are not painted in rose-tinted shades.

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