Page 44 - Seniorstoday March 2024 Issue

crime drama Dayavan directed by Feroz
Do Dooni Char 1968 was adapted on Shakespeare’s Comedy
of Errors
Mansoor Khan directed Qayamat Se
Qayamat Tak, a musical romance in 1988,
starring a very young Aamir Khan and
Juhi Chawla, in his loose adaptation of
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
One of India’s favourite authors for
kids and adults alike, Ruskin Bond, has
also had his stories immortalized in
film. Noteworthy among them is Vishal
Bharadwaj’s delightful adaptation of The
Blue Umbrella in 2007. Vishal also adapted
Bond’s short story Susanna’s Seven
Husbands, and made a slick thriller with
Priyanka Chopra and a harem of seven
men in tow. This was 2011. Ruskin Bond’s
novella A Flight Of Pigeons was recreated
on celluloid by Shyam Benegal as Junoon
in 1979, a war drama (set around the Indian
rebellion of 1957). The film starred Shashi
Kapoor, Jennifer Kendall, Nafisa Ali,
Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah.
Mario Puzo’s Godfather has been a
veritable Bible, siring innumerable desi
versions for Indian audiences. The 1988
Sarkar did not match up to the original
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Khan with himself, Vinod Khanna, Amrish
Puri and Amala in lead roles was itself a
total lift from the Tamil hit film Nayakan,
also a Godfather adaptation. Mani
Ratnam’s Nayakan starring Kamalahasan
was a hit film though.
Ram Gopal Varma made Sarkar in 2005,
Amitabh Bachchan playing the Godfather,
a well-known politician of earlier years,
grooming his son (in real life and in reel
here) Abhishek to take over his empire.
Dynamic desi Corleones all, the film was a
thundering success, leading to 2.0 and 3.0
too. They didn’t match up to the original.
In the more recent scenario, at polar
opposite of classics being fodder for
films, Chetan Bhagat, a truly mediocre
to blah writer, has had five of his trashy
novels adapted, and each one of them has
been a good or great film. This is where
the director’s skill and vision do their
work I imagine. It rained Chetan Bhagat
adaptations for a few years before that
well dried up thankfully. The first was
the Salman Khan film Hello, in 2008,
which was created from Chetan’s novel
One Night At A Call Centre. 2009 saw
the immensely successful 3 Idiots Aamir
Khan, R Madhavan and Sharman Joshi
star in the adaptation of Bhagat’s bestseller
Five Point Someone. That was Kareena
Kapoor and director Rajkumar Hirani
making up the five. Abhishek (Gattu)
Kapoor directed Kai Po Che, in 2013, a film
based on Bhagat’s The Three Mistakes
Of My Life. Young actors Sushant Singh
Rajput, Rajkummar Rao and Amit Sadh
unmistakenly took the film to another
level with their performances. The film did
well at the BO. 2 States-The Story Of My
Marriage (how Chetan Bhagat met the now
Mrs Bhagat) was the inspiration for the