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LITERATURE TO FILMS: INDIAN CONTEXT

Aishwarya Chatterjee1

1Senior Faculty, Department of Media Studies, Institute of Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Development, Kolkata.

ABSTRACT

The journey of Indian cinema has been noted and studied several times. Indian cinema has itself been a revolution. The movie making perception in India is beyond parameters. The regional and the film industry, in India is one of the biggest contributors to the Indian economy. The concept of playwriting and storyline has many factors. Indian films scripts portrays human emotion, action, romance, crime, horror, mystery, violence and many other interesting moods. This paper deals with the trend, which is not really new to Indian or International movie making. This work attempts to find out diverse range of novels or any other literary texts which have been adapted to make Indian films. The list of Indian films which have been adopted from books is included in this paper. This paper also tries to discuss about the audience of a particular age group and their choice over such novel based movies. The survey has indicated this popularity trend. Some of the popular novels which have been adopted into movies have been discussed in this paper. Research has shown that most of the filmmakers find adapting the novels into films a better option to get more viewership. Some Shakespeare classics, Jane Austen classics and Sherlock Holmes have been remade countless times, and yet continue to garner a positive audience around the world in several languages.

KEYWORDS Indian Cinema, Novels, Adaptation, Literature, Films, Authors.

HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Chatterjee A. Literature to films: Indian context. J. Advances Bus. Management 2016;2(2):110-114, DOI: 10.14260/jadbm/2016/27

INTRODUCTION Devdas (Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s classic novel Cinema, the large screen is considered as the mirror of the adapted into the films thrice – 1936, 1955 & 2002), 3 idiots, society, reflecting various happenings and issues in the society Omkara and so on. through live characters. The live characters of cinema are either from the reflection of real life, or from the pages of any HYPOTHESIS novel. The past India is very different from the present time in Every Study has some Objectives which the Researcher which we are living. With the advancements and upgradation has to Prove. The Hypothesis for this Paper is discussed as of technology adopted by cinema makers has shown a great below improvement, which gives a chance to many creative film 1. Cinema has an impact either strong or weak on the makers, to put forward their interesting ways of re-presenting masses. literature content. Like literature, cinema has produced much, 2. Cinema is the mirror of the society. which touches the innermost layers of human emotion. So, 3. Cinema is a medium between literature and society, for cinema and literature together can make a big difference. It is the exchange of information and views. believed that only Western filmmakers are drawn towards 4. Cinema puts forward various existing novels with several novels and have an urge to adapt them into films. However, issues in front of the audience. stories have influenced film making directly or indirectly time 5. Novels have created their own position in the world of and again. Stories from the Indian mythology like Raja Harish cinema. Chandra (which became the first ever motion picture in 6. Novels and cinema go parallel today. Bollywood), Ramayana, have been continually adapted into motion pictures. Rather, these stories form the Globalisation of cinema has brought-in magnitudinal crux of any film’s story. Speaking about the recent trend in changes in, exchange of information and entertainment. India films, impeccably Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti inculcated Cinema picks up the themes from existing society and even stories from Mahabharata. Relating to the current and the then from society reflected in books. political scenario is a treat in the film. Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Lajja, is a recreation of Sita from Ramayana, which reiterated Brief History of Indian Cinema the condition of a woman. On the other hand, classic examples The history of Indian Cinema goes back to the nineteenth of novel adaptation would be Guide (references taken from century. In 1896, the very first film shot by the Lumiere R.K. Narayan’s The Guide); Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (Bimal Brothers was shown in (Then Bombay). But history Mitra’s novel was made into a movie by the same name, in was actually created by Harish Chandra. It was the Beginning Bengali & Hindi respectively). of Bollywood. Father of Indian Cinema;

released the first ever full-length feature film ‘Raja

Financial or Other, Competing Interest: None. Harishchandra’ in 1913. The was a commercial Submission 29-04-2016, Peer Review 05-05-2016, success. Acceptance 12-05-2016, Published 18-05-2016. Corresponding Author: The initial growth of the Indian Film Industry was not as Aishwarya Chatterjee, fast as that of Hollywood. Films based on mythological and Diganta Apartment, historical facts and episodes from Mahabharata and Ramayana Flat No. 11, dominated the 20s, but Indian audiences also welcomed 1/98, Bijoygarh, Jadavpur, Kolkata-700032. Hollywood movies, especially the action films. E-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.14260/jadbm/2016/27

J. Advances Bus. Management/eISSN-2395-7441/pISSN-2395-7328/Vol. 2/Issue 02/ Apr-June 2016 Page 110

Jadbm.com Conceptual Article

Beginning of the Talkies cinema, it has far more other responsibilities as it impacts the The first ever Indian talkie film ‘Alam Ara’ by Ardeshir Irani mind of the audiences. was screened in Bombay (1931). The first song recorded was ‘De de khuda ke naam par’ by W.M. Khan. Literature to Films The ever changing trend in the Indian film industry has gone Growth of Regional Films through several experiments. The concepts have shifted from The regional film industry also made its own mark. The first romance to conflicts, family dramas to social issues, and also it Bengali feature film ‘Nal Damyanti’ (1917) was produced by has been noticed that there have been a good amount of Indian J.F. Madan. Soon after, in 1919, the screening of the first silent movies whose scripts were adapted from popular novels. South Indian feature film named ‘Keechaka Vadham’ was done. Literary text like short stories or popular novels is an easy The first ever talkie film in Bengali was ‘Jamai Shashti’ (1931), way out for filmmakers to create movies. This trend can not produced by Madan Theatres Ltd. H.M. Reddy’s ‘Kalidass’ was only produce a mass following, but also mint loads of money, the first Tamil talkie released in Madras (Oct 1931). Apart yet to present it artistically, is not a meek man’s task. It is not from Bengali and South Indian languages, regional films were an easy task to change a novel into a movie script when it also made in Assamese, Oriya, Punjabi, Marathi, and many comes to visual portraying. What does exactly change when more. In 1932, V. Shantaram’s ‘Ayodhecha Raja’ was the first the novel is being compressed into a three-hour long film? It is Marathi film. the perception of the audience. The viewers need not put in effort to imagine things; they A New Era was Born can see it on screen. At times, compressing the story to fit in The birth of modern Indian Film industry took place around the time length may clutter the essence of the story; that is 1947. Filmmakers like Satyajit Ray and Bimal Roy made why, at times, novel adaptations may lead to poor box office movies focusing on the survival and daily miseries of the lower results. Although many adaptations, till date have turned out class. The historical and mythological subjects took a back seat to be a success at the Box Office, yet the novel remains a priced and, the films with social messages began to dominate the possession for the readers. Literature adaptation has industry. In the 1960s, new directors like Ritwik Ghatak, witnessed success, as well as a failure in the box office. , and others started dealing with the real problems Now the adopted films need to be discussed. As of the common Indians. They directed some outstanding mentioned earlier, the literary text adaptation is not a new movies that enabled the Indian film industry to carve a niche trend for Indian cinema. As it is known to all, India is rich in in the International film scenario. cultural and literary content; there is a variety of literature, which is found in several regional languages. Umrao Jaan Golden Age in the History of the Cinema which was based on Mirza Hadi Ruswa’s Urdu novel and The 1950s and 1960s are considered to be the golden age in Masoom which was based on Erich Segal’s Man, Woman and the history of the cinema and saw the rise of some memorable Child were adopted into very popular films. Pinjar (Amrita actors. Music and songs became an integral part of Indian Pritam’s novel by the same name). movies. Indian films gained a unique look as compared to The Namesake (Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel by the same name), international films. The Blue Umbrella (Ruskin Bond’s novel by the same name), Maqbool (the film drew references from Shakespeare’s Bollywood – The Pioneer of Masala Movies Macbeth), Parineeta (Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s classic By 1970s, Indian cinema saw the advent of Masala movies in by the same name), Black Friday (based on Black Friday – The Bollywood. The audiences were captivated and mesmerised by True Story of the Bombay Bomb Blasts, a book by S. Hussain the aura of actors like Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Zaidi), Omkara (References from Shakespeare’s Othello) and Kumar, Hema Malini, and many others. Manmohan Desai was Slumdog Millionaire (based on Vikas Swarup’s Q&A) and this considered as the father of Indian Masala movies. The ground- long success list continues till the recent times in Indian breaking film ‘Sholay’ by Ramesh Sippy not only got cinema. However, films like 3 Idiots (partly inspired from international accolades, but also made Amitabh Bachchan a ’s 5 Point someone) and Kai Po Che (Chetan ‘Superstar’. Several women directors like Meera Nair, Aparna Bhagat’s 3 Mistakes of My Life) and 2 States still retain their Sen came in forefront by 1980s. The new generation of actors charm amongst the audience. like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Aamir Khan, Amongst the plethora of films, some did not work out at Juhi Chawla and Chiranjivi became popular in 1990s. This new the Box Office. Naming few, The Mistress of Spices (from the Genre upgraded the Indian Film Industry. In 2008, A.R. book by the same name written by Chitra Banerjee Rahman received two academy awards for best soundtrack for Divakaruni), Bride & Prejudice (an NRI-ised version of Jane Slumdog Millionaire. Austen’s classic, Pride and Prejudice), 7 Khoon Maaf (Susanna’s Seven Husbands by Ruskin Bond), Hello (One Night Recent Trend in Indian Cinema @ Call Center by Chetan Bhagat), Aisha (a glamorised, modern Indian cinema is no longer restricted to national boundaries, version of Jane Austen’s Emma), Saawariya (White Nights, a and today it has large international audience resulting into a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky), were complete huge contribution from the overseas market in its box office disappointments. collections. Around 30 film production companies were listed Persistent failures of such films at the Box Office and with on National Stock Exchange of India by 2013. Indian films have the audience, the filmmakers had become skeptical about moved to multiplexes, which boomed in India due to tax adapting a novel completely, or even base their screenplays on incentives. Though entertainment is the key word of Indian a book into a film. But, the trend soon showed reversal once again, as exceptions like Rituparno Ghosh, Mira Nair and some

J. Advances Bus. Management/eISSN-2395-7441/pISSN-2395-7328/Vol. 2/Issue 02/ Apr-June 2016 Page 111

Jadbm.com Conceptual Article other directors, continued to pay tribute to the literature- carved words. It seems the film industry in the past few years has yet again started developing a fascination towards the wealth of literature. The innovation they look for in the script leads them to a range of novels.

Yet to be Filmed Soon, Hollywood filmmakers will reel out few Indian-English literature at its zenith with two famous novels namely ‘Keep off the Grass’ (Karan Thapar) and ‘The White Tiger’ (Aravind Adiga). Some other best-sellers like ‘Chanakya Chant’ (Ashwin

Sanghi), ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ (Amish Tripathi), and ‘Midnight’s Children’ (Salman Rushdie), ‘The Story of My Fig. 2 Marriage’ (Chetan Bhagat) will also be made into motion Fig. 3: Explains the survey result to understand the audience pictures. On one hand, UTV is lined up to buy the rights of reaction about the adoptation of novels into films. Majority of ‘Revolution: 2020’ (Chetan Bhagat), Red Chillies is engaged in the audience think that the original story loses its uniqueness wooing Anuja Chauhan, the author of the novel ‘Zoya Factor’, as it is commercialised into a film. Nikhil Advani has announced his next which will be based on Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Little Women’ while is contemplating on bringing out a film based on Robin Sharma’s ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’. After turning through the pages of history, it’s now time to discuss a few points which have evolved out from this survey of 100 youths, between the age group of 18-23, based in Kolkata. The young audience has a great deal of exposure to the Hindi film industry. The findings of the survey are as follows:

Fig. 1: Explains the survey result of few factors that effect the audience recation about the adoptation of novels into films.

Fig. 3

Fig. 4: This doughnut chart gives a clear representation about the choice of the audience, who believe books should be read before the film is watched.

Fig.1

Factors are 1. Is it a good idea to adopt novels into films? 2. Does this adoptation proves the shortage of good film

scripts? Fig. 4 3. Do you think the authors popularity increase after book has been made into a film? With the booming Bollywood film-industry, its impact 4. Is it ethical to dramatise characters of the novel in films, can’t be ignored. This paper also identifies the list of films to suit the commercial version? which are adaptations or based on literary contents in India. 5. Is novel adoptation a threat for screenplay writers of the In the table below, there are names of about 30 films with its film industry? year of release and the director’s name. The table also portrays the names of the novels/books and their authors, who were Fig. 2: Explains the survey result of the popularity of few films the inducing sources for the 30 films mentioned in the table that are adopted from text. This figure proves that not only the below. The table below also shows any exception. In 2005, the box office report for the film of 3 idiots was great, but its film ‘Water’ by Deepa Mehta was penned down by Bapsi success among the viewers is also considerably high. Though Sidhwa into a novel in 2006. So, this is reverse of what we have Devdas has been filmed more than once, still the popularity been discussing till now. The book was named ‘A Triumph.’ trend of the latest one is also impressive.

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Jadbm.com Conceptual Article

Sl. Name of the Name of the Year Language Director Author No. Film Book/Novel Bimal Roy / 1955/2002/ Hindi Sarat Chandra 1 Devdas Sanjay Leela Devdas 2013 (3 times) Chattopadhyay Bansali 2 1963 Guide Hindi The Guide R. K. Narayan Dil diya dard 3 1966 Hindi A.R. Kardar Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte liya 4 1968 Do doni Chaar Hindi Debu Sen A Comedy of errors Shakespeare

5 1971 Uphaar Hindi Sudhendu Roy Samapti(the end) Rabindranath Tagore Hindi, Tere mere 6 1974 Bengali, sapne The Citadel A J Cronin Telugu Umrao Jaan (urdu 7 1981 Umrao Jaan Hindi Muzaffar Ali Mirza Hadi Ruswa. Novel) 8 1982 Angoor Hindi, Bengali A Comedy of errors Shakespeare Ek Chadar Sukhwant Ek Chadar Maili Si (Urdu 9 1986 Hindi 's Maili Si Dhadda novel) 10 1988 Dayavan Hindi Feroz Khan God Father Mario Puzo Suraj Ka Satvan Suraj Ka Satvan 11 1992 Hindi Shyam Benegal Dharmavir Bharat. Ghoda Ghoda 12 1993 Black Friday Hindi Anurag Kasyap Black Friday S. Hussain Zaidi The Earth Deepa Mehta 13 1998 Hindi Cracking India Bapsi Sidhwa (1947) Dr. Chandra 14 2003 Pinjar Hindi Pinjar Amrita Pritam Prakash Dwivedi 15 2003 Maqbool Hindi Vishal Bharadwaj Macbeth Shakespeare Choker Bali: A 16 2003 Bengali Hindi Rituparno Ghosh Choker Bali Rabindranath Tagore Passion Play Bride & 17 2004 English Gurinder Chadha Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen Prejudice Ram Gopal 18 2005 Sarkar Hindi God Father Mario Puzo Verma Deepa Mehta Author Bapsi Sidhwa wrote the novel based upon 19 2005 Water Hindi the film. The book was named ‘A Triumph’ 20 2006 Omkara Hindi Vishal Bhardwaj Othello Shakespeare Sarat Chandra 21 2006 Parineeta Hindi Pradeep Sarkar Parineeta Chattopadhyay 22 2006 The Namesake Hindi Mira Nair The Namesake Jumpa Lahiri The Blue 23 2007 Hindi Vishal Bhardwaj The Blue Umbrella Ruskin Bond Umbrella Sanjay Leela 24 2007 Saawariya Hindi White nights Fyodor Dostoesky Bansali One night at call 25 2008 Hello Hindi Atul Agnihotri Chetan Bhagat centre 26 2009 3 Idiots Hindi Five point someone Chetan Bhagat

27 2010 Aisha Hindi Rajashri Ojha Emma Jane Austen Susanna’s Seven 28 2011 7 Khoon Maaf Hindi Vishal Bharadwaj Ruskin Bond Husbands The three mistakes of 29 2013 Kai Po Che Hindi Abhishek Kapoor Chetan Bhagat my life Abhishek 30 2014 2 States Hindi 2 States Chetan Bhagat Varman 31 2014 Haider Hindi Vishal Bharadwaj Hamlet Shakespeare

Table 1

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Jadbm.com Conceptual Article

CONCLUSION are works of ideology and are the mirror of reality. The The recasting of classics or Indian Literature into Popular changing realities are no doubt one of the conditions that make Cinema has emerged as the most reliable route to Bollywood these films possibly try to reflect an aura, depending on the blockbuster. From 'Guide' to ‘2 States’, there are more than a creations of contemporary and orthodox authors. few popular novel based movies, which are increasingly banking upon literary work, for both, appreciation and REFERENCES monetary gains. For those, who are still not convinced, should 1. Ambrish Saxena. Indian Cinema Society and Culture. consider the box office success of films like ‘3 Idiots' and Kaniska Publication New , 2014. ‘Devdas’ which validate the book-to-movie adaptations. Only 2. Madhava Prasad M. Ideology of Hindi film: a historical time will prove, how well can these showmen recreate magic, construction, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, P 258, but the growing popularity of the novels amongst the 1998. filmmakers only makes our belief stronger that novels truly 3. Ravi S Vasudevan. Making meaning in Indian cinema. inspire – a filmmaker, a storyteller and an audience. This is a Oxford University Press, New Delhi, PP 99-121, 2000. fresh genre of movie making and is relatively free from the 4. http://www.mapsofindia.com/my-india/history/history-of- spectacles of feudal film making. The narratives of all the novel indian-cinema adaptations which create a type of film that portray old 5. http://www.scoopwhoop.com/news/bollywood-book- concept with the emerging development and style. These texts adaptations

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