Cinematic Adaptation

We have been discussing cinematic adaptation, we need to begin by clarifying what we take “cinematic adaptation” mean. We take cinematic adaptation to mean the process undertaken to put the mental images, which arise while reading the literary text, into the visual one. This is the journey of a story which needs a collaborative endeavour, planned by director with the help of script-writer, producers, cameras and the other humane and technical aids besides personal. Thus, a film adaptation is the transfer of a written work into a feature film. Different film theorists have taken different views on screen adaptations. Andre Bazin2 saw them as translations from one language to another language (i.e. linguistic medium to a visual medium); whereas

Of course, cinematic adaptations of Hollywood are path breaking in many ways but the glimpses of history of Bollywood showcases that Indian cinema has its own way of adapting the literary texts. Over the decades, Bollywood has, on several occasions, looked up to books for inspiration for stories. Many books, either, falling under the title World classics or Indian literature, have provided the plot for many a super hit film. Among cinematic adaptations in Hindi Cinema, the first name that comes to one’s mind is that of Saradchandra Chattopadhyay 's Devdas. This classic Bengali novel has been adapted into movies many times over with the latest being the contemporary version of the classic love drama, Dev D (2009) by Anurag Kashyap. Umrao Jaan (1981), starring Rekha, is another timeless classic adapted from an Urdu novel by Mirza Hadi Ruswa and this vintage saga has years later been retold by J. P. Dutta (in 2006). There are innumerable Indian works that have been adapted — Raajneeti (2010) by Prakash Jha (Mahabharata), Hum Saath Saath Hai (1999) by Sooraj Barjatya (Ramayana); Parineeta (2005) by Pradeep Sarkar, Pinjar (2003) by Chandra Prakash Dwivedi, Shatranj ke Khiladi (1977) by Satyajit Ray, Guide (1965) by Vijay Anand are adaptations

Hindi cinema has made earnest efforts in taking inspiration from the British novel as well. One of the earliest film adaptations has been that of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, the silent film Dil Farosh (1927), produced by the Excelsior Film Company and directed by Udvadia. Then came Zalim Saudagar (1941), another adaptation of the play by J. J. Madan. As the epitome of all things romantic, Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet has been a benchmark for playwrights and filmmakers. Bollywood too has made umpteen desi adaptations of the immortal love story over the decades: Romeo and Juliet (1947) by Akhtar Hussain, Ishaaq (2007) by Manish Tiwari, Ram-Leela (2013) by Sanjay Leela Bhanshali. Angoor (1982) by Gulzar and Do Dooni Chaar (1968) by Debu Sen are the examples of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. Besides Shakespeare, there are also other others who have been adapted in Bollywood for example - Emily Bronte’s distinguished novel Wuthering Heights was adapted into a Hindi film titled Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966) by Abdul Rashid Kardar and Dilip Kumar; A.J. Cronin’s The Citadel was a groundbreaking novel which was adapted in Hindi film as Tere Mere Sapne (1971) by Vijay Anand. Yash chopra’s Daag: A Poem of Love (1973) was inspired by Thomas Hardy’s classic novel The Mayor of Casterbridge. Other than Indian and British literature;