The preview of 3 Idiots is out and it does look fresh and youthful. Since I’d liked the book ( Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat), I’m looking forward to seeing all those characters come to life on screen. Haven proved time and again that he’s a sensible director, I believe Raju Hirani must’ve done full justice to this losers’ tale of goof-ups and adventures.
Book adaptations although are a trend in the west we have few of our directors attempting to take up this challenge. The expectations people have from such a movie are far more than a run-of-the-mill commercial movie, since they’ve something to compare it to. It becomes imperative for the director to use his vision while retaining the originality and soul of the storyline.
I’m an avid reader and read all kinds of stuff. While reading a story it usually happens that I get so involved in it that all its characters start taking form in my mind. The character might be a sixty year old lady or a 2 year old kid, I empathize with them, feel a connection with them. This I believe happens with everyone who takes reading seriously. Hence when I’m subjecting myself to seeing a movie based on a book I liked, my expectations are unreasonably high.
There have been movies that’ve taken the book to another level. Say for example,Godfather. All the Godfather movies were so close to being real. One could never say that he thought Michael would be any different from Al Pacino or that he’d picturised someone else as Don Corleone,not Marlon Brando. They looked like they’d been picked up from the book itself. Such is the way book adaptations are meant to be. Unfortunately it does not happen everytime.
The argument and criticism that surrounded Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown prompted me to read it. Although we’d leave it on more qualified and learned people to deduce whether it had any fragment of reality,as a fictional novel it was not bad. The movie though disappointed me. More so since it had Tom Hanks in the lead. A good book, but a not-so-good movie.
Talking about our own film industry we’ve had a masterpiece like Guide made by Dev Anand which was made on a book by the same name written by R.K.Narayan ,and a cold turkey like Hello which was made on One night @ call center by Chetan Bhagat. Its not just the difference between the movie and the book. The choice of actors and their acting also gives an edge to the story. For example, Meera Nair's The Namesake. It was also due to the performances of Tabu and Irfan Khan that the movie was such a success.
The vision of a director might be different from that of a writer, but their intention is the same. To give life to their imagination, to take us on a ride to a make-believe world. We can only hope that when these two come together, the world they show us is out of a dream,not a nightmare.
