Words and Pictures

  Words and Pictures

Man has always tried to record his experiences and impressions through writings and drawings. Classics were authored by poets of antiquity and writings were preserved through different mediums and substratum.  Books have been with us a long long time, chronicling the story of man on earth through varied periods. Pictorial drawings, paintings and theatre blazed their own trail of evolution but it was only with the turn of the 20^th century that moving pictures or films began to be produced. The avatar changed from silent motion pictures to talkies in black and white, which later metamorphed into color films. The digital technology revolutionized the whole concept of making films and all along it was felt that books and authors with their wispy characters of ink and imagination would be routed out sooner or later. Books and films have now existed together for more than a century and in the contemporary world have entered into a symbiotic relationship of ideas and forms. Creativity stems from books and filmwallahs are inspired to make frames of the storyline of a book and project it visually in motion pictures. It is like affirming and coalescing the imagination when reading the book and saying,” hi, this is how it would appear in real life”. But proponents of books swear by the writings of the authors and want to be left to their flights of imagination, rather than concretizing them to black and white details as shown in films. Others sit glued to visual screens, as it saves them time and effort of reading print. The sparring factions will continue on both sides, but we are here today to celebrate books and their film adaptations, each enriched by the other.

A very fine example of the two coexisting genres was showcased at IFFI Goa a fortnight back. The opening film of the festival ‘Life of Pi’ drew a large crowd and the auditorium at Kala Academy was filled to capacity. What drew the audience is a matter of contention. The book written by Yann Martel on which the movie is based or the film itself, directed by Ang Lee of the fame of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Lion and Brokeback Mountain. The central themes of the book are religion, the existence of God and animal lore. Yann Martel describes the writing of the book a spiritual quest. Pi the protagonist of the book is portrayed as a child who is inquisitive to discover God and just love him. His introduction to various faiths and bliss seeking endeavor is poignantly painted with his family’s secular outlook and dinner table discussions on the meaning of life. The role of religion and science and the cohabitation of man and animals in confined spaces on earth build insight into our behavioral patterns and a strife to outdo and then understand each other. The strongest message would be that God is always watching over us even when we think he has abandoned us and faith in Him can help us swim across the world’s ocean to an existence of peace and contentment.

Chitrangada directed by Rituparno Ghosh was featured in the festival twice with packed houses. A film which marked the 150^th anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore is based on a musical written by the latter himself in 1892. The story of Chitrangada is derived from the epic of Mahabharata and is the name of Arjun’s wife.  He married her on one of his travels to Manipura.  He discovered that though she dressed like a brave warrior, she was actually a beautiful woman and the daughter of the king of Manipura.  An heir to her father’s throne, she had been brought up like a prince and an able protector of the people of her kingdom.  Arjun promises to marry her, but not take her away from the kingdom and their children would be heirs to the throne of Manipura. 

Tagore’s Chitrangada, brought up like a man and content with her identity, wants to become a beautiful woman when she sees Arjun.  She is filled with a deep longing to be a woman, such that the Pandva prince cannot help but fall in love with her. With the blessing of Kamadeva, she becomes a beautiful feminine woman and she feels that she is fulfilled, but with time she craves to be loved for her true self.  Rituparno Ghosh, Rudra Chatterjee in the film, himself personified Chitrangada.  Born to Bengali parents who are never sure about his sexual identity, nonetheless treat him like a boy and make him study engineering. But Rudra has always thought of himself a woman and he becomes a successful choreographer whom playwrights and actors respect and look up to. He is directing the play Chitrangada  and off stage his own life plays out in an identity crisis. It is an emotional, psychological story of search for a sexual identity which personifies our individuality in society.  An actor and director par excellence, the movie is an all- out treat. 

Lessons in Forgetting was a film featured under the plaque of the Indian Cinema, directed by Unni Vijayan and the screenplay was written by none other than the writer of the book herself, Anita Nair. The title is a film and a book, intense and complex. Readers of the book on reading the book feel they have some unfinished business still left, and the film crew felt that their entire lives changed with the making of the film. A book with a lingering effect is about relationships, marriage, parenthood, destiny and salvation and still some unanswered questions.  A cyclonic storm, a metaphor in the book enters the lives of people and leaves silence, destruction and irrevocable change behind. Then begins the story of redemption and past reflections which can make sense of the present and life can somehow go on. A story of second chances and forgiveness or acceptance when one knows that from the edge, one can only retrace steps to a new beginning. Midlife crisis, escapism, sexuality, experimentation, parties, dependency, truth, hypocrisy, female infanticide… the book is multifaceted and throbs with human emotion of alacrity, strength and surrender.

The closing film of the festival ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ directed by Mira Nair is an adaptation of the book written by Mohsin Hamid. A structured and intense narrative, it is a monologue of a Pakistani American Changez when he meets a visiting American in Pakistan and tells him his story of days before and after the felling of the Twin Towers in New York. Changez begins with a self-deprecatory note of an American way of life and the American dream, which he aspired to and could have easily achieved, but his involuntary smile at the TV reportage of bombing of the towers has him questioning himself and leads to his  discovery of his own patriotism. The monologue gives stark indications that Changez could presently be a fundamentalist planning a terrorist attack, and equally the American on the other side of the table could be an American agent sent to liquidate Changez.  Hamid’s title of the novel too is ironical and leaves one in a quandary. The reader is left wondering whether it applies to every critic of America in a Muslim country or it points to the capitalist global cop – America and Americans themselves. Fundamentally either of the two – Changez or the American could be a reluctant fundamentalist! Who is to know?
Other films like Slumdog Millionaire, Namesake, and many more which I may have missed,   based on books were screened. Dear reader, go on a memory trip and recollect film adaptations of books you have savoured or deprecated in equal emotion. Books lovers the world over swear by their book copies, and though they may watch films based on their favorite books and verbosely critique and compare the visual with print , wild horses cannot make them abandon their books in favor of the visuals….. and I stand with you all the way.

“Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit, but taste completely different.”

― Stephen King