Books on the big screen

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Adapting books on screen is becoming a popular trend in the film industry. Translating graceful words into indelible visuals whilst retaining the beauty of the story is a challenging yet stimulating endeavour that the Bollywood is taking up. While Kai Po Che is breaking records at the BO many other books soon will come to life on the celluloid.
“These days when script and dialogues play a vital role in the success of the film, books seem to be an ideal inspiration for films,” says Amit Sadh, who played Omi in Kai Po Che, which is based on Chetan Bhagat’s Three Mistakes of My Life.
And books are inspiring many filmmakers. Midnight’s Children based on Salman Rushdie’s book, Life Of Pi based on fantasy novel by Yann Martel, Aisha based on Emma and Saat Khoon Maaf based on Susanna’s Seven Husbands by Ruskin Bond are some of films adapted from books. And it seems more are in pipeline. Anusha Rizvi’s upcoming Afeem is based on Amitav Ghosh’s book Sea of Poppies.
“Sea Of Poppies is a love story set against the backdrop of the opium trade. Filmmakers all over the world, including Bimal Roy, Martin Scorsese and Satyajit Ray have adapted short stories and novels for their films. It’s not easy to write an original script,” says Anusha who was happy to get pointers from scriptwriter Howard Rodman whose Saving Grace (2007) was based on a novel too.
While the trend is picking up in India, Sonam Kapoor has recently bought the rights of Anuja Chauhan’s books. Imran Khan will be seen in the film being made on 2 States by Chetan Bhagat. Adapting a book into film can be tricky though, says director Kapil Sharma. “Books have a lot of imaginative details that can help a director visualise the film. However, making a 2-3 hours film and bringing out the complex and layered characters from a book on screen can be a difficult task,” says Kapil.
In the bargain the filmmaker may not be able to do justice to the reader’s perspective of the vivid expression of the book, says director Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan. “However, the challenge is very enticing. Tokyo Underworld however is a book I would love to bring to life on the celluloid. A reverting account of organised mafia crime in Japan in the 1945 and the vital role played by Americans in its evolution, this book chronicles the rise and fall fortunes of Zappetti and I cannot wait to make a film on it,” he adds.