I was in college when a friend gave me a copy of a book which, he said, had a very explicit sex scene on page 26. And that is how The Godfather came into my life.
After that page, I read the back cover which said something about the mafia, a word which I had never ever heard. Having nothing better to do, I started reading it. The narrative, the characterisations and the drama were so gripping that I read it back-to-back three to four times. The impact was so strong that my interest in wanting to become a storyteller through films started from The Godfather. So you know whom to blame.
I have often taken references from The Godfather — the scenes, the dialogue style and even shifts of locations, especially in Shiva and Satya. For example, in Satya, the voice-over after a murder, describing the aftermath, was a direct rip-off from a chapter in which Mario Puzo described the immediate results of the killing.
Although many people may not have heard of the word “mafia” then, since it was an American phenomenon, it had a wide resonance across the world. Because there’s no shortage anywhere of gang lords, political leaders and dictators who can influence people with the strength of their personalities and power.
The tone of the novel impressed me much more than its film adaptation, because the book has a certain mythological, larger than life quality. If you haven’t already read it, you should be shot.