Page 46 - Seniorstoday March 2024 Issue
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others. Bajirao Mastani in 2015, starring Ranveer
Erich Segal’s novels spawned some films Singh and Deepika Padukone, along with
which we wept our eyes out at. Love story Priyanka Chopra. It was supposedly based
became Akhiyon Ke Jharonkhon Se (1978), on the Marathi novel Raau, by Nagnath
romance and tragedy bleeding our very S Inamdar. He also took the epic poem
hearts. Ranjeeta, Sachin (Pilgaonkar), Padmavat by Malik Muhammad Jayasi and
Madan Puri and Iftekhar acted in this made the film Padmaavat with a repeat of
Hiren Nag directed film. the same cast as Bajirao Mastani, minus
Our mythological classic, Veda Vyasa’s Priyanka. Add Shahid Kapoor and Aditi
epic Mahabharata, is also attributed as the Rao Hydari.
core story for many of our films.
Shyam Benegal’s 1981 film Kalyug was
one such. The actors all bore characters
resembling those from the Mahabharata. It
was all about family dynamics gone wrong
and finance invariably. The stunning
film boasted Shashi Kapoor, Om Puri,
Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Anant Nag,
Rekha, Raj Babbar, Amrish Puri, Victor Unlike Bhansali’s other adaptations Lootera was beautifully
Bannerjee, and Supriya Pathak amongst scripted
others! Bhansali also produced another one
More recently Prakash Jha gave us of my favourites, Lootera directed by
Rajneeti in 2010. It was a political crime Vikramaditya Motwane, based on
thriller starring Ajay Devgn, Katrina O’Henry’s short story The Last Leaf. The
Kaif, Nana Patekar and Ranbir Kapoor. story was beautifully scripted for film by
Mahabharata inspired! Bhavani Iyer, and Vikramaditya.
Shekhar Kapoor’s Masoom was an ahead One of my favourite English fiction
of its time film (1983) in a conservative writers has to be James Hadley Chase. He’d
society, based on Erich Segal’s Man be spinning in his grave in excitement if
Woman And Child. It talked of adultery, he knew he had diehard fans in India since
infidelity, and illegitimate offspring, decades. The 1978 action extravaganza
not subjects that were ever discussed Shalimar, directed by Krishna Shah and
in families. The moving performances starring Rex Harrison, Sylvia Miles and
were courtesy actors Naseeruddin Shah, Zeenat Aman was a heist story adapted
Shabana Azmi, and child artistes Urmila from Chase’s The Vulture Is A Patient Bird.
Matondkar and Jugal Hansraj. Ketan Mehta also very cleverly adapted
Sanjay Bhansali has some more film Hadley Chase’s The Sucker Punch as Aar
adaptations to his credit. With the amount Ya Paar, the 1997 crime thriller, starring
of cinematic liberty he took with the films, Jackie Shroff, Kamal Sidhu, Deepa Sahi and
he was threatened within an inch of his life. Ritu Shivpuri
And the veracity and credibility of history Tell me, was the Rekha-Shekhar
has gotten lost amidst the sands and the Suman starrer Utsav really based on the
billowing curtains of his films. He made Kamasutra?
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