A Novel Approach

As mira nair’s The Namesake, based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s sensitive tale exploring the issues of identity through three decades in the lives of a Bengali family that moves to New York in the 1970s, releases this week, here’s a look at forthcoming Indian celluloid adaptations of novels and stories in various stages of production or completion.

As mira nair’s The Namesake, based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s sensitive tale exploring the issues of identity through three decades in the lives of a Bengali family that moves to New York in the 1970s, releases this week, here’s a look at forthcoming Indian celluloid adaptations of novels and stories in various stages of production or completion.

Provoked: Maverick director Jagmohan Mundhra’s story of another battered woman’s fight for justice (after Bhanwari Devi’s story in Bawandar) takes him to the UK this time. Based on the Circle of Light: The Autobiography of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, by Kiranjit Ahluwalia and Rahila Gupta, the film depicts the true-life story of Ahluwalia (played by Aishwarya Rai in a deglamourised role), who set her brutal husband Deepak on fire in 1989 after a decade of marital torture. The film is up for an April release in India in five languages after many postponements since

December 2005.

The Blue Umbrella: Vishal Bharadwaj returns to familiar terrain with another children’s film — post Makdee — with a Ruskin Bond short story The Blue Umbrella (Chatri Chor). Unlike the expansive period canvas of Bond’s last work to be made into a film (A Flight of Pigeons, which was made into Junoon by Shyam Benegal in 1978) The Blue Umbrella is a simple story revolving around an 11-year-old girl in a remote Indian village. She acquires a beautiful umbrella from Japanese tourists but has to keep it safe from the prying eyes of an old, unmarried school teacher who also wants it. The film is scheduled for a late-May release.

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King Lear: Vishal Bharadwaj may have taken a break from Shakespeare, but the bard continues to inspire Indian directors with Rituparno Ghosh being the latest to adapt King Lear with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead. Ghosh’s The Last Lear, currently on the roll in Kolkata, is an indirect adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy as it is based on a play called Aajker Shahjahan (inspired by King Lear) by Bengali actor Utpal Dutt.

Chandrakanta: Those who saw Eklavya: The Royal Guard couldn’t have missed the sleek promos of Amitabh Bachchan leading a huge army in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s next production Talisman, dressed like Gandalf the Grey of The Lord Of The Rings fame. Talisman, directed by Ram Madhvani, is based on Devaki Nandan Khatri’s epic 19th century fantasy novel Chandrakanta. Considered the first work of prose in modern Hindi, it is said that the novel was so popular people learnt Hindi to read it.

One Night @ the Call Centre: The film rights to Chetan Bhagat’s novel — after generating an initial buzz of being adapted by Rohan Sippy — has now been passed on to actor-turned-director Atul Agnihotri, who has not only acquired the rights from Sippy, but has also got Bhagat to work on the adaptation with a shorter title for the film.