Trend of Movie adaptations from books

More filmmakers are opting for bestsellers rather than conventional movie scripts. Bollywood, over the years, has drawn heavily from literature. Filmmakers are looking at a slew of award winning books that not only have a huge fan base of their own, but also helps build the curiosity factor around a film.

The veteran filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj is particularly fond of adapting literary works into his movies. His Blue Umbrella was an adaptation of Ruskin Bond's novel by the same title. His movies, Maqbool and Omkara were adapted from Shakespeare's Macbeth and Othello. 

His last, Saat Khoon Maaf was based on Bond's short story, Susanna's Seven Husbands. Directors like Govind Nihlani, Shyam Benegal, Mira Nair, Deepa Mehta and Anurag Kashyap have quite often adapted novels.

Shakespeare has been the biggest muse to Bollywood filmmakers and among the Indian authors, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and Premchand have been the favorites.

More than 15 Chattopadhyay novels have been adapted into films, out of which Devdas and Pareenita remain popular. Bollywood filmmakers PC Barua, Bimal Roy, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Anurag Kashyap have made film versions of the novella.

Chetan Bhagat seems to be the current favourite of Bollywood. With two of his books already made into films (including 3 Idiots), two more are on the anvil. 

Anurag Kashyap ambitious project Bombay Velvet that he was going to make with Danny Boyle has been in limbo for more than two years. The film is loosely based on Gyan Prakash's 'Mumbai Fables'. He was initially planning to make this with Shah Rukh and Aamir Khan but later the director denied the news.  Karan Johar has landed the movie rights of this debut book – Immortals of Meluha by the bestselling author Amish Tripathi. 

Vishal Bhardwaj is going to adapt a story from the Mumbai-based crime reporter S Hussain Zaidi's (of Black Friday fame) book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai. Mira Nair's next The Reluctant fundamentalist is based on Mohsin Hamid's international bestseller. The film will star Kate Hudson. Her last film Namesake was adapted from JhumpaLahiri's famous novel with the same title.

Movie Adaptations to watch out for in 2012

2012 will see these international films adapted from books: 

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by David Fincher stars Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. It hinges on Stieg Larsson's crime novel and releases this week.

The much-anticipated "The Descendants" starring George Clooney is based on Kaui Hart Hemmings' work with the same title. Jonathan Safran Foer's 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close with a 9/11 background has Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock in its big screen adaptation. 

Colin Farrell-Keira Knightley starrer film noir London Boulevard builds on Ken Bruen's gangster novel. Hugo marks Martin Scorsese's debut in 3D. Yann Martel's bestseller Life of Pi has been adapted into a movie by Ang Lee.

So, the trend of movies being made out of books shall continue. Breaking news also demands us to share that Ashwin Sanghi's 'Chanakya Chant' is also going to be made into a movie as rights of it have been bought today by a production house driven by Ashutosh Gowariker. 


But what is your take on this? Do you believe a movie lives upto people's expectations, once they have already read the book?

What are your favorite movie adaptations? Let's hear it from you!

Regards,

Team Librarywala

Karan Johar brings life to Immortals Of Meluha

We are sure many of you have read the book “Immortals of Meluha”. But soon you shall see Karan Johar bring LIFE to the book. 

Karan Johar's Dharma Productions has landed the film rights of Amish Tripathi's best-selling debut novel, The Immortals of Meluha. An insider says, "Karan credits the buying to the CEO of Dharma Productions, Apurva Mehta, who had been negotiating for the book rights for months."

Amish Tripathi was on the lookout for a producer to adapt his book.  There were herds of producers who spoke to Amish to attain the film rights. But finally Amish chose Karan.

That search has now ended. A happy Amish says, "I believe that my books are a result of Lord Shiva's blessings. He is a God who excites intense passions. If one wants to tell His story, it can only be done with intense passion and commitment. And that is what I saw in Dharma Productions towards The Immortals of Meluha. I believe that my book is in very safe hands with Karan and his team."

Karan Johar has been a happy soul since he got the rights. He says, "I was blown away with the world of Meluha and riveted by Amish's creation of it. I think the book lends itself beautifully for celluloid and we are very excited to promote Amish's labor of love effectively."

We all are waiting for this film to release. But who do you think will do justice to the roles of Lord Shiva and Parvati? Who would you like to see on the big screen? Share your views below J

For those who haven’t read the book, can rent ‘The Immortals Of Meluha’ at www.librarywala.com. Till then have a great week ahead J