Literature

Resurrected
Through
Cinema
Presented By:

 Yash Danecha (L & C METHA ARTS COLLEGE)

 Vijay Goplani (CITY C.U.SHAH ARTS COLLEGE)
 Yushra Qureshi (L & C METHA ARTS COLLEGE)
 Gaurang Shrimali (L & C METHA ARTS COLLEGE)
 Film and Literature

What is film?
 Film is a form of entertainment that enacts a story by a
sound and a sequence of images giving the illusion of
continuous movement.

What is Literature?
 According to Oxford Advance Learners Dictionary, Literature
is the pieces of writing that are valued as much as works of
art, especially novels, plays and poems.
What is “film adaptation”?

 “Film Adaptation” is the transfer of a written work to a

feature film. Literature provides the raw materials for
film adaptation to create new visual forms and thematic
contents.
 In order to understand the relationship between
literature and film, it is needful to take a look on
adaptation studies that helps to understand both the
forms in their light.
 Literary Adaptation into Films

 Cinema and Literature are two distinct but equally extraordinary

works of art. Where literature was popular form of expression
during 18th century and 19th century, Cinema has taken its place
in 20th century. Both these arts have certain connections and
differences and both have similarity of taking its
readers/audience to a different world.
 Literature has been a way of artistic expression for centuries now.
Writers have told tales about gods and goddesses, heroes and
their valiant victories, historical epics, romantic tragedies,
legendry episodes and much more. Where as cinema by far is
doing the same thing for quite a few years now.
 Onemajor point in cinema , which is absent in literature is advantage
of visually showing the whole picture on the screen that helps
audience to connect with the moment closely.
 Literature
takes its reader on a journey of imagination that is away
from the real world. While Cinema shows such imaginative world
before the audience and they do not have to put much pressure on
their minds to delve into their imagination.
 Toput it in other words, we can say that literature is an art which is
developed through writing, while cinema brings those writings to life
through sounds, music, visuals and actors. Literature has hidden all
meanings in itself that are used to develop into a film. Though both
are somehow interdependent, both need to be studied in order to
completely understand a movie based on literature.
 Moreover, literature has always been a great inspiration for Cinema
all over the world. In India, especially Mahabharata and Ramayana
have been created and recreated on Silver-screen several times.
Films as complementary to
literature

 Although it can easily be said that the first step of cinema is

Literature. Because once a film is in the process of making, it is
the script, dialogues, and screenplay that are produced in order
to develop it. The production and technical aspects are also
required in the process of filmmaking. Hence, it will not be wrong
to say that literature initiated people to move on to cinema.
 The purpose of the film should not be a mere copy of literature,
rather it must have its own characteristics and techniques that
are relevant enough for the audience to enjoy.
 Though in its literary form many can say that it is in the form of a
screenplay of the film but it may not be right to look at a literary
piece in such a way. It has an impression of reality even in the
written form and once it comes on the silver screen it enhances
its qualities to a greater extent than it does in the written form.
How Literature & Cinema Are
Related

 It is said that if you’re going to see a movie based on a book

you think is worth reading, read the book first, you can never
read the book with the same imaginative responsiveness to
the author once you have seen the movie.
 Cinema is also used in a response to poetry. The tapes and
films were chosen out of the American experimental tradition
to exemplify various techniques of marrying the two arts.
Poetry as the art of utterance and cinema the art of showing,
both whole on their own, don’t easily make a good couple. But
these film and video makers have taken up the challenge
anyway by responding to the spirit and the letter of the poet,
creating an original cinematic writing.
Levels of
Adaptation There are many ways to adapt the text. In
making movies, Louis Giannetti states three
kinds of adaptation :
1. Literal Adaptation:
“Literal adaptation” remains faithful to the
original text by relying on it completely. The
plot, character, tone of voice are retained as
close to the original text as possible. In this
type of adaptation the purpose is to recreate
the tone of literary work in a cinematic form.
2. Faithful Adaptation:
“Faithful Adaptation” is a work that tries to
maintain closeness to the original text.
3. Loose Adaptation:
“The films that would have lightly relied on
the source texts fall under the category of
“Loose Adaptation”.
 Literature Resurrected
through Cinema
 Many literary works of renowned Bengali writers, Gujarati writers, Urdu
writers and English writers are made into films.
 Following are several examples of Play and Novel adaptions into
Movies:
 “Omkara” from Shakespeare’s “Othello”
 “Maqbool” from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”
 “Angoor” from Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors”
 “Guide” from R. K. Narayan’s “The Guide”
 “Bride and Prejudice” from Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”
 “Raam-Leela” from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”
 “3-Idiots” from Chetan Bhagat’s “Five Points Someone”
 “Kai Po Che” from Chetan Bhagat’s “3 Mistakes of My Life”

“3 Idiots” from Chetan Bhagat’s
“Five Points Someone”
 “3 Idiots” from Chetan
Bhagat’s
“Five Points Someone”
 The plot of the film is same as the book. Both the stories are about
three students of engineering.
 Protagonists:
1. Ryan – Rancho (Hero)
2. Hari – Farhaan
3. Alok – Raju
4. Neha – Pia (Heroine)
 The narrators are same in both the cases.
 Some dialogues are directly taken from books such as “The
examiner looked at me as if I had asked for his kidneys” and
“Define Machine”
“3 Idiots” from Chetan Bhagat’s

“Five Points Someone”

 In book, Neha (Pia) tells her father Cherian(professor) why her brother
committed suicide due to the latter’s demanding and dominating
behavior are in books as well as film.
 Though the narrators are same, the narrator of book, Hari(Rancho)
romances the professor’s daughter. In movie the film-makers give the
romantic mileage to Rancho.
 The paper-stealing episode is the turning point of the book. It causes
Alok(Raju) to jump out of window to commit suicide. This scene is
however twisted in movie as Raju jumps out of the window because
Boman decides to rusticate him because of hooliganism.
 The biggest difference comes in the second half of the movie. While
the book finishes at graduation & the movie goes beyond it and builds
future characters. Ten years later, it takes about how their careers
have shaped and how their mediocrity in college played into future.
“Haider” from Shakespeare’s
“Hamlet”
Characters

 Hamlet-Haider
 Claudius-Kurram
 Gertrude-Gazala
 Ophelia-Arshia
 Polonius-Pervaze
 Similarities : Hamlet & Haider

 The play compares with other competing plays/ actors/ play

companies. The movie compares/ references other movies/
actors.
 There is a very powerful use of blank verse in the play. Movie
upto certain extent uses of blank verse very well.
 Both the play and the movie are more than just stories. Apart
from playing at psychological level, both have strong references
and commentary about the prevailing social conditions.
 Both the play and the movie, leave ends for audience’s
interpretation.
 Gravedigger scene is as chilling in the play as in the movie.
Difference : Hamlet & Haider

 The Movie set in a different era . Hence the movie brings

its own variations to how plot plays out and brings in
changes due to change the moral and value system.
 Hamlet sees a ghost, which leads the audience to
question the sanity of Hamlet.
 The backdrop , people of Kashmir, has a very strong role
in the movie.
 There are certain characters missing in the movie,
especially Horatio-a good friend of Hamlet.
 Difference : Hamlet & Haider

 In the play, Haider doesn’t kill the Salmans.Or atleast we are

lead to believe so.
 The revenge system in Shakesperean era was quite different
then what we see in the movie.Hence climax is quite different.
 The relationship between Haider and Ghazala are different than
what it is in the play.
 Few deaths do not have correspondence with the deaths in the
play.
 ‘HAMLET’ regards tragedy where major characters die unlike
movie.
 There are more soliloquy then shown in the movie.
“Maqbool” from Shakespeare’s
“Macbeth”
-
List of some Literary adapted
Movies

English Movies Hindi Movies

 Jane Eyre(1983)- Charlotte
Bronte
 Pride And Prejudice(1995)-
Jane Austen
 Invisible Man(1933)-H. G.
Wells
 A Christmas Carol(1999)-
Charles Dickens
 Pinjar (2003) - Amrita Pritam
 Saawariya(2007) from
“White Nights” by Fyodor
Dostevsky
 7 Khoon Maaf(2011) from
“Susanna’s Seven
Husbasnds” by Ruskin Bond
 Padmavaat from Epic Poem
by Malik Muhammad Jayasi
List Of Some Literary Adapted
Movies

English Movies Hindi Movies

 David Copperfield (1999)  Saraswatichandra based on
by Charles Dickens Gujarati novel by
Goverdhanram madhavram
 Oliver Twist(2005) by
Tripathi
Charles Dickens
 Qayamat se Qayamat tak
 Wuthering Heights (1992)
from Romeo and Juliet
by Emily Bronte
 Bajirao Mastani from
Marathi Novel Raau by
Nagnath. S. Inamdar
 Language

 Language is another component that differs in a book and a

film. Though there may be a similarity in the use of
language in both the platforms, there are certain distinct
disparities between the usage of language in literature and
that in cinema.
 The relationship between time and space is also quite
different from literature to cinema. While in literature an
event is described as it has happened, films show as it is
happening.
Conclusion

 A film must not only play the role of the literal visual
representation of the book on which it is based but also it
must be a proper production that has been transformed from
the words on the paper to the dialogues on the celluloid.
 The way both the mediums express their meanings is where
the similarity and the difference lies.
 Words are not only way to express but while a book has
written words on it, a film has audio which is some how more
powerful and life-like. In a film, a single scene is like a
complete sentence or a series of sentences in a book .
 The power of audio and visual experience has a long lasting
effect on the audience over the power of written words .
Thank You!!!