With the beginning of the modern age and the ascendency of innovative technology, the world of cinema replaced theatre in the mid-twentieth century and became the most influential and foremost medium of dramatic and visual representation of intellectual and aesthetic narratives. American film industry produced mega-budget films and cultural icons associated with Hollywood attained global recognition. In contrast, the Italian film industry went through a progressive movement of filmmaking known as Italian neorealism. The classic motion pictures including Bicycle Thieves (1948), Roman Holiday (1953), Casablanca (1942), The Sound of Music (1965), and many other timeless classics represent the golden era of the Western cinematic universe and these global trends also influenced emerging world of Indian cinema. Indian cinema recovering from its colonial past and under the shock of partition represented a society trapped in a complex crisis of identity and an untiring struggle against issues related to the economy. Following the ground-breaking commercial and critical success of film adaptations of literary narratives including Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind (1939), John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1940), and Shaw’s Pygmalion as My Fair Lady (1964), Indian filmmakers also tried their hands at creating moving pictures of stories only imagined by the readers. These creative and literary filmmakers chose various genres of literature and adapted novels, plays, short stories, and even poetry to enrich the landscape of Indian cinema and it includes some of the greatest craftsmen of our times. These literary adaptations ranging from popular cinema to purely parallel movies, engulfed a wide range of literary subjects and employed the literary masterpieces produced by classical and modern South Asian writers and Western literature. Here is a list of some of the most influential, critically acclaimed, and popular film adaptations of famous literary works that have attracted a wider audience by adopting the medium of cinema.
Anarkali by Imtiaz Ali Taj (1922)
Mughal-e-Azam, the greatest film ever made in the history of Indian cinema was based and inspired by popular Urdu playwright Imtiaz Ali Taj’s drama Anarkali (1922). The historical play was originally written by Imtiaz Ali Taj and it became immensely popular among the literary audience of those times and it continues to be performed on stage since then. The play was later adapted for film, television, and music videos multiple times though none of those adaptations could even touch the popularity of Mughal-e-Azam. Mughal-e-Azam, a historical drama and an epic tale of the doomed love affair between a prince and a courtesan during the glorious period of the Mughal era was visualized and directed by a genius figure who was much more ahead of his times, K. Asif. The production of this film has attained legendary status and its popularity and global appeal have made it a cultural reference for the people of the Indian subcontinent.
Mughal-e-Azam (1960), adorned with an ensemble cast including Dilip Kumar, Prithviraj Kapoor and Madhubala, dialogues crafted by a masterful group of writers including Kamal Amrohi, Amaan, Wajahat Mirza and Ehsan, lyrics produced by the great poet and lyricist, Shakeel Badayuni and music produced by the greatest musician of last century, Naushad, and songs sung by legendary singers including Ghulam Ali Khan, Lata Mangeshkar, Shamshad Begum, and Muhammad Rafi made it a masterpiece whose supremacy remains unchallenged in the cinematic world of the Indian subcontinent. The film became one of the most successful ventures in the history of subcontinent film and the popularity of Taj’s Anarkali transcended the literary realm and became a household epic tale.
The Chess Players by Premchand (1924)
Premchand is considered one of the pioneers in popularizing the genre of short stories in the Indian subcontinent. His stories often depicted the plight of village farmers and his focus on financial and moral questions of lower classes made him extremely popular both among public and critical circles. Premchand, who was elected as the first president of the Progressive Writer’s Association in 1936, depicted the declining political power and loss of the social status of the Muslim elite amidst the ascendency of Raj in India. The chess player explores the dilemma of declining Muslim royalty and feudalism and their inability to cope with the existentialist crisis as a consequence of losing political and social prestige. The ace Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray adapted this short story into a motion picture in 1977 and with his mastery and craftsmanship turned it into a masterpiece. Satyajit Ray, a globally recognized filmmaker and director, planned and executed an exquisite visual representation of Premchand’s story set in 19th century Awadh.
The story explores the final and decadent days of Wajid Ali Shah’s rule and Ray’s film version carries the profound historical sense of the story. Ray employed the versatile actors of both parallel and popular cinemas including Amjad Khan, Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey and Shabana Azmi to portray the decadent royalty and declining social elite of Lucknow and colonial justifications of occupying more territories in India. The storyline revolves around two ineffectual aristocrats who play chess amid the gradual fall of their household and spend an escapist life while in the parallel narrative, Wajid Ali Shah helplessly witnesses the fall of his dynasty and rule in Awadh and relishes his time in court festivities. Amjad Khan, popular for his portrayal of negative characters in Bollywood, reached new heights in his acting skills while performing the role of a deposed ruler in this landmark film. The Chess Player is one of the few Urdu or Hindi films directed by Satyajit Ray and is widely considered an all-time classic adaptation of a literary narrative.
Umrao-Jaan-E-Ada by Mirza Hadi Ruswa (1899)
Mirza Hadi Ruswa’s classical novel Umrao Jaan E Ada has been one of the most lucrative stories for filmmakers and it has been adapted both in India and Pakistan and these adaptations have attained cult status in both film industries. Umrao-Jan-Ada, widely considered the first Urdu novel, revolves around a gripping tale of a young girl who was abducted by his father’s enemy and ends up as a courtesan in the thriving courtesan culture of Lucknow. Umrao, possessing an angelic beauty and well versed in Urdu poetry becomes a heartthrob among the social elite and her suitors try to rescue her from her courtesan life. However, all these efforts remain fruitless and she continues to perform in Wajid Ali Shah’s court till the siege of Lucknow by East India Company. Renowned filmmaker Muzaffar Ali adapted this classic tale as a motion picture in 1981 and chose Rekha to play the titular character.
The eponymous role brought new heights to Rekha’s popularity and prestige as a versatile actress and the feature film also became a reference point for her illustrious contemporaries Naseerudin Shah and Farooq Sheikh. Muzaffar Ali, with an acute sense of history and profound cultural sensibility, represented the courtesan culture of Lucknow and the Muslim social milieu of northern India in the 19th century. Ghazals composed in classical Urdu tradition by Shaharyar, adorned with musical tunes by Khayam and Lata Mangeshkar’s divine voice made it a masterpiece and its popularity in popular culture vertebrates even after four decades of its first release.
Dui Bigha Jomi (Two Bighas of Land) by Rabindranath Tagore (1900)
Rabindranath Tagore remains one of the most illustrious poets and intellectuals of 20th century who eventually became the first-ever Nobel laureate from Asia winning the most prestigious prize in 1913. Tagore’s poetry is filled with philosophical and thematic concerns that try to respond to the questions about physical and metaphysical existence. Tagore’s poem Dui Bigha Jomi though speaks about the vows of the working class and impoverished and working-class Indians in the postcolonial scenario. The poem was adapted as a motion picture by renowned filmmaker and master of depicting realism on screen, Bimal Roy in 1953. Roy, inspired by the Italian neorealist classic Bicycle Thieves (1948), directed Balraj Sahni, a staunch communist and versatile actor in Do Bigha Zameen (Two Bighas of Land) to perform the role of a peasant Shambhu Maheto who tries to save his piece of land amidst the capitalist onslaught in the early years of independence from British Raj.
Balraj Sahni’s realistic and emphatic portrayal of the protagonist effectively portrays the downtrodden and lower classes both in rural and urban spaces. The narrative concludes with Shambhu helplessly watching his piece of land confiscated by the industrialists and expressing his disapproval of bourgeois morality. The motion picture became an all-time classic and went on to win international prestigious prizes including the International Prize at the 7th Cannes Film Festival and is ranked among the best motion pictures of all time.
Devdas by Saratchandra Chatterjee (1917)
Devdas (1917) is one of the most popular and appreciated novels emerging from colonial Bengal and narrates the eponymous character’s tragic tale of unfettered love, loss, and grief. Devdas was published in the early decades of the 20th century amid the heyday of the Bengali Renaissance and became a cult classic among Bengali audiences. Devdas (1917) has been adapted as a motion picture on more than 20 occasions in almost every important language spoken in the Indian subcontinent and actors like K.L. Sehgal, Dilip Kumar, and Shahrukh Khan have played the titular character. Chatterjee’s classic novel’s most acclaimed and prototype adaptation remains Bimal Roy’s classic production of 1955 which set new standards of visual representation of a literary genre.
Roy directed the ultimate method actor in the words of Satyajit Ray, Dilip Kumar, as Devdas Mukherjee and his performance as a grieved and drunk lover remains one of the most iconic performances in the history of Indian cinema. The woeful dialogues and tragic expressions of Dilip Kumar as a doomed lover Devdas, the natural beauty of Sachitra Sen and her sorrows as a dejected lover Parwati, the evergreen persona of Vajantimala, carrying a fantastic charm though a rejected devotee and courtesan Chandarmukhi, and Motilaal with all his heroic charm and liveliness as Chuni Lal, the naturalist representation of early 20th century rural and urban Bengal during the British Raj, the aesthetically rich depiction of courtesan culture of Calcutta, and the emphatic musical tunes of the film contribute to endow Chatterjee’s tale and Roy’s artistic representation a unique status in the golden age of Indian cinema.
The Guide by R.K. Narayan (1958)
R.K. Narayan is considered a pioneer in postcolonial Anglophone literature whose works garnered critical appraisal and commercial success in the early phases of the postcolonial movement in literature. Narayan’s stories often revolve around the fictional town of Malgudi located somewhere in southern India and this fictional place has become synonymous with his name. The Guide (1958), like his other successful works including Waiting for Mahatma and Malgudi Days, is set in the fictional town of Malgudi and narrates the tale of the transformation of a corrupt individual Raju Guide and explores his metamorphosis and subsequent spiritual enlightenment. The Sahitya Academy Award winner novel was adapted into a motion picture by Vijay Anand in 1965 and the evergreen couple of Indian cinema, Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman, starred in major roles.
Dev, who played the titular character in the movie gave a lifetime performance and his character as Raju Guide proved to be one of the most celebrated characters in the history of Indian cinema. Waheeda Rehman played the role of Rosy, the unhappy wife of an archaeologist Mr Marco, who suppressed her individual and artistic freedom. Raju, on the other hand, recognizes the true aspirations and talent of Rosy and encourages her to break the oppressive chains of the traditional wife’s role and follow her dreams. The novel ends with Raju’s transformation into a saint after purgation and he is recognized as a great sage of Indian soil. Guide’s commercial and critical success and its cult following became instrumental in bringing new heights to the artistic careers of both Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman and it was an official entry into the Academy Awards from India as Best Foreign Language Film.
Garam Hawa (Scorching Winds) by Ismat Chughtai (Unpublished)
Ismat Chughtai is known as one of the foremost figures of feminist literature in the Indian subcontinent and ranked among some of the greatest proponents of the short story in Urdu including the likes of Saadat Hassan Manto, Rajendar Singh Bedi, Krishan Chander, and Premchand. Chughtai’s Garam Hawa (Scorching Winds) describes the post-partition dilemma of a Muslim family and its patriarch who is unwilling to migrate to Pakistan and strives to survive amid the turmoil followed by partition. Chughtai’s emphatic portrayal explores the conflicts between a person tied to his roots and the objective reality which keeps shaking his unflinching faith and strong conviction.
M.S. Sathyu tried his hands at Chughtai’s narrative to turn into a motion picture and his artistic craftsmanship created one of the most celebrated pictures of art cinema in 1973. The great Balraj Sahni, who died before the release of the film, proved his versatility by playing Salim Mirza, the protagonist and patriarch of the troubled Muslim family associated with the business of shoemaking in Agra. Sahni’s portrayal of Salim Mirza amply features the dilemma and existentialist crisis faced by Muslim nobility in post-partition India and the film garnered widespread commercial and critical acclaim after a much politicized and delayed Pan-India release. The film was India’s official entry to Academy Award’s Best Foreign Language category, was nominated for the Palme d’ Or at the Cannes Film Festival, won a National Film Award, and three Filmfare awards.
Lihaf (The Quilt) by Ismat Chughtai (1943)
Ismat Chughtai is considered a rebellious, trendsetter and anti-traditional writer in the history of Urdu literature and she consistently challenged the social and moral taboos not only in her academic career but also in her personal in familial decisions. Chughtai’s The Quilt (1943) challenged the conventional idea of sexuality in India and unearthed and suppressed homosexuality in Indian women almost a century earlier. Chughtai depicted a lesbian relationship between two women in her story and this controversial subject brought a storm in the literary world of India and she was consequently charged with obscenity. Chughtai’s controversial and equally challenging story became the inspiration of renowned filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s first part of the Elemental trilogy, Fire (1996).
Mehta ‘s Fire (1996), loosely based upon Chughtai’s story, depicted lesbian relationships in mainstream cinema and it attracted widespread criticism and garnered applause simultaneously. Mehta directed veteran actress of parallel cinema, Shabana Azmi, and talented newcomer Nandita Das to play the controversial roles on screen and their chemistry proved their excellent artistic prowess. The film subsequently garnered widespread critical acclaim and once a controversial subject, gained acceptability with global recognition of homosexuality and its uncensored depiction in popular culture.
Ice-Candy Man by Bapsi Sidhwa (1988)
Bapsi Sidhwa is a pioneering writer in Pakistani Anglophone literature who has published various critically acclaimed novels including Ice-Candy Man (1988), The Bride (1983), and Water (2006). Sidhwa’s critically acclaimed historical novel, Ice Candy Man is a child narrative, set in Lahore, that tells an emotional and tragic tale revolving around the changes taking place in relationships and loyalties among a circle of friends amid the ethnic violence followed by the partition of India. Deepa Mehta adapted the novel as the second part of her elemental trilogy titled as Earth 1947 in 1999 and it went on to become a major critical success of the year. Mehta, armoured with an ensemble cast including Amir Khan, Nandita Das, Rahul Khanna, Kalbhushan Kharbanda, and Gulshan Grover represented the urban landscape of Lahore and its essential features with acute historical and cultural awareness.
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The execution of characters and incidents emphatically represent the ethnic violence, maddening brutality, and its psychological effects upon the consciousness of the inhabitants of Lahore. Mehta’s visual representation of Sidhwa’s novel captured the true essence of the story and despite recreating it in a different historical period, her onscreen representation did justice to the autobiographical narrative of Sidhwa. The film garnered unanimous acclaim at the Asian Film Festival and Filmfare Awards and was an official entry from India for the 77th Academy Awards in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.
Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh (1956)
Khushwant Singh, a veteran journalist and prolific novelist remains an important figure in the Indian political and literary scenario who published one of his most promising novels Train to Pakistan in 1956. A highly successful and critically acclaimed historical novel envelops the postcolonial exodus and subsequent post-partition chaos and violence in Punjab. Set in a fictional bordering village Mano Majra, narrates a gripping tale of love, sacrifice, violence, human depravity, and psychological destruction in the wake of the division of Punjab. Khushwant Singh’s historical and realistic narrative was adapted as a critically acclaimed motion picture by Indian screenwriter and director Pamela Rooks in 1998.
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The feature film starred an ensemble cast associated with parallel cinema including Mohan Agashe, Nirmal Panday, Rajit Kapoor, and Divya Dutta and the film went on to win approval in major film festivals around the globe. The story creates a web of different characters and their aspirations including a romantic liaison between an illiterate but practical Sikh dacoit Jagga and a Muslim weaver’s daughter Nooran, played by Nirmal Pandey and Smriti Mishra respectively. Rooks effectively employed Rajit Kapoor as an idealist Iqbal with his ineffectual and impractical intellectualism and Mohan Agashe as Hukam Chand, a local magistrate facing psychological turmoil and an ambivalent position both in his subjective and objective world. The train loaded with Muslim migrants heading towards Pakistan becomes the central point of conflict as local Sikhs plan to attack and kill the passengers to avenge the slaughter of their brethren in West Punjab. The film version by Rooks genuinely embodies the spirit of Singh’s emphatic narrative, and its realistic depiction and strong performances by the ensemble cast especially Nirmal Panday as Jagga, made it a masterful expression of cinematic narrative.
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