Adaptations

With more and more books getting adapted into films, we were wondering where the author’s work ends and the filmmaker’s begins. Auteurs like Stanley Kubrick have been known to highly change the original novels/ books their script was based on, take The Shining as an example. While plenty of shows and films are getting adapted from books, we wondered if there’s a dearth in quality scriptwriters or is adapting from a book just an easy way out? Who would you rather work with as a filmmaker, an author or a screenplay writer? Sure, you read a book from time to time, and imagine how perfect it would be if it were made into a film, but does this also work the other way around?. Stanley Kubrick made 2001: A Space Odyssey at the same time that Arthur C Clarke was writing the novel, and the result is nothing but awe inspiring in both cases. Can such a dialogue and exchange between a filmmaker and an author result in a much bigger and epic piece of art? Also film adaptations run a risk of misinterpreting the novel or leaving out crucial elements which de-value the story as a whole. In such a case does the author’s claim over his piece of work end soon as he sells the rights to a filmmaker? Does the filmmaker become the sole bearer of the story? How does it feel for an author/scriptwriter to work on a piece for months or years, only to see it butchered at the hands of a lousy film director? Also, what do you do first, read the book or see the film?These questions gave rise to an interesting debated at the Cine darbaar office.