New Delhi: Many of the most successful Hollywood films are based on literary works. Novels, plays, short stories or biographies are great source of inspiration for films.
Sometimes we do not even know the name of the novel before watching the film. ‘The Lord of the Rings' series, ‘Harry Potter' series or ‘The Hunger Games' series are few of the most successful films based on novels.
Bollywood has given us very good films for last few years. The 100 crore mark is now a new criteria to declare the film a hit. 3 films, ‘Kick', ‘Bang Bang' and ‘Happy New Year' crossed Rs 300 crore (gross) milestone of worldwide collection this year so far.
Out of these three, two films were remake. If we lack fresh stories and have to rely on remakes or borrowed stories why can't we borrow it from our literature?
Indian literature is one of the richest in world. The 22 regional languages have their own form of literature and it is impossible to track all the languages. But if we concentrate only on English, Hindi and Urdu literature we have so much to adapt from. There are so many classic Indian novels, which can be portrayed on big screen.
Even the stories set in those times can be adapted to modern Indian background as Vishal Bhardwaj did with ‘Haider'.
Here are few Indian classic literary works, which the audience would love to see on silver screen.
'Karmabhoomi' by Munshi Premchand
Premchand was one of the best novelists not only of Hindi but all major languages. His novels are set in pre-independence era. His stories represent the ordeals and troubles of the common man applicable to all periods and time.
Karmabhoomi has drama, an inter-caste love, and a love triangle that makes it a unique Bollywood substance. The novel is a story of a rich businessman's son, married to an intelligent girl but falls in love with the watchman's daughter. Fighting for the justice of under-privileged farmers he competes with his ex-wife's political movement.
The story does not require a big budget, lavish sets and can be easily adapted to the modern circumstances. Bringing the story to the big screen will be a great tribute to Munshi Premchand.
