TALES INSPIRED - monthly column on films adapted from literary works
Fuelled by Shakespeare
RANDOR GUYA
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Source Of all writers, poets and dramatists, the Bard of Avon has triggered maximum movies.
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Celluloid versions: Romeo and Juliet and (right) A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Literature has provided the raw material for spinning tales on celluloid right from the time cinema began to narrate stories at the turn of the 20th century. One of the earliest works of English Literature, ‘Enoch Arden’ (a story-poem by Lord Tennyson), was made into a movie by D. W. Griffith and became the first film to be inspired by literature.
So many tales by William Shakespeare have fuelled films that there is a sub-genre which critics call ‘Shakespearean Cinema.’ In fact as many as 287 movies have been made based on Shakespearean plays in various global languages including Tamil and Hindi. Of the many plays, some have become film classics such as ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ ‘Hamlet’ (English and Russian), ‘Othello,’ ‘Macbeth’ (English, and Japanese), ‘Merchant of Venice’ and ‘Twelfth Night’ among others.
Tamil version
Pammal Sambandam Mudaliar also drew inspiration from many Shakespearean works. He even wrote the Tamil version of the ‘Merchant of Venice’ (‘Vaanipurathu Vanigan’). There was even a Tamil film called ‘Shylock’ (1940) made by the talented Serukalathur Sama who wrote, directed and played the title role in it. Interestingly, he not only retained the Shakespearean names for all the characters, but even designed costume similar to those used in Elizabethan theatre. Sadly, being far ahead of its time, it proved to be too high brow for the Tamil audience and sank without a trace. What is more incredible is that the screenplay of the film was sold at one anna!
Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Throne of Blood,’ considered a classic, is a free adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth.’ The iconic filmmaker took quite a few liberties with the Shakespearean text, giving it a touch of ancient Japan. Yet audiences and critics applauded the film. Some Indian professors who saw ‘Throne of Blood’ at a private screening felt it was an improvement on Shakespeare!
Shakespeare has influenced Indian Cinema too and one recalls two films that followed the text faithfully. One was ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ in which Nargis played Juliet to Sapru’s Romeo. Though very well made it did not do well at the box office. The other was ‘Hamlet’ directed by Kishore Sahu, who also played the lead role. This film fared better than ‘Romeo and Juliet.’
A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
An earlier version was made in 1935 by veteran Sohrab Modi.
Noted filmmaker K. V. Reddi adapted the Shakespearean tragedy, ‘King Lear,’ in Telugu and gave it a folklore format in ‘Gunasundari Katha’ It was a roaring success, and was later made in Tamil.
K. Ramnoth adapted ‘Twelfth Night’ as ‘Kanniyin Kaadhali’ for Jupiter Pictures with Anjali and Madhuri Devi (who played both female and male roles). Brilliantly photographed and narrated on screen, it was technically superb but did not meet with much success at the box office. When Sivaji Ganesan sailed merrily into Tamil Cinema, many producers took advantage of his acting prowess and ability to reel out long passages of jaw-breaking, high flown Tamil.
In some of his films, a play within the movie was the trend and he played Othello in one of his movies. There are many versions of ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in U.K. and Hollywood too. Unfortunately for Shakespeare, belonging to the era he did, he could not make any money out the films based on his plays.
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