Many a book, over many a decade, has been adapted into films. The pendulum’s swing the other way now with more and more films being turned into books. A novel based on Akshay Kumar-starrer Special 26 was released last month. And now Prakash Jha has decided to convert the script of his film Satyagraha, which is still under production, into a book. Although this is not a new phenomenon as other films have been made into books earlier, it seems to have picked up some pace recently. Dipa Chaudhuri, chief editor of Om Books International that published the original screenplays of Lage Raho Munnabhai, 3 Idiots, and Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam among others, says, “It is not just an attempt to recall the film by publishing only the transcription of the original screenplay but there is cinematic history involved, an analysis of the film and the socio-political background in which it is inscribed. Interviews highlighting the experience and perception of various people involved in the making of the film add value to it. These books give a 360 degree view of the distillation of the screenplay and the making of the film.” Regarding the “novelisation” of the screenplay of films, Dipa adds, “Primarily, novels, novellas or even short stories have been made into films. With the recent trend of movies not screening in theatres for more than a few weeks, a competent ‘novelisation’ of movies could be an interesting dimension to explore.” Abhinay Deo, director of Delhi Belly, thinks of it as an experiment and not a trend per se. He says, “At a time when people are running out of ideas, various experiments are coming up. I’m not so sure if it could turn into a trend for most of the movies if converted would make some really thin books. But if you talk about Satyagraha or Special 26, they have a backdrop that is really large. Turning such works into books makes sense but it doesn’t work for every other film.” Anuj Bahri, a literary agent and publisher, believes it is difficult for the Indian market to accept this reversal and adds, “Even if such a trend grows, it would be good for the book market, but I don’t know if those books would be that successful. I believe if an action-packed Bollywood film is turned into a graphic novel then it might work. In India the clientele stills looks for the literary context, so it might be difficult.” However, for Amish Tripathi, the star author of the Shiva Trilogy, the medium doesn’t make much difference. “For me a story is a story no matter how it is expressed, in the form of a book, a movie, a graphic novel or a comic. The success depends on the quality of its adaptation,” he sums up.
