Somebody observed that of all films ever made in Hollywood, one third were adapted from novels and if one includes other literary formats like the plays or short stories also then it might well be 65 percent or more. Hollywood is always hungry for new ideas and so creators there are constantly looking for new sources that would lend themselves to the visual medium of cinema. Almost all the classic works we study or studied here as a part our English language syllabuses have been adapted for film. Surprising isn’t it?
But In Tamil cinema today movies adapted from short stories and novels are a rarity or very limited. Even Malayalam cinema is better off in this regard. In Kollywood commercial clichés dominate film making leaving little for stories out side familiar realms.
But in olden days several movies including that of biggies were inspired by novels and short stories or plays.
in 1938 Director K. Subramanyam successfully adapted a Premchand`s Urdu novel to a film called Seva Sadan. It marked the debut of MS Subbulakshmi in films. The theme of the film was women’s liberation, ground-breaking one then on. K. Subramaniam could have got a story of the kind only out sid
e cinema as cinema was at its infancy then.
As most of the film makers in the early years were from the elite class of society that was one reason for adapting from literature. Kalki was a favourite writer with them. Sensational Thyagabhoomi was adapted from the novel of Kalki in 1939. Kalvanin Kaadhali and Parthiban Kanavu are some other novels of Kalki which became successful films. Ponvayal released in 1954 was based on Kalki’s Poiman Karadu
Pudumaipithan's
stories are about human relationships, their aspirations and life in general looked at closely. Many wanted to make movies out of his stories like ‘Ponnagaram' ‘Kodukkapuli Maram' and ‘Naasakkaara Gumbal' but backed out thinking the messages would be beyond the grasp of common viewers. It was only in the seventies people tried Pudumaipithan's stories on films. The most popular being ‘Uthiripookal’ by Mahendran which was adapted from Pudumaipithan’s short story ‘Chitrannai’ (Step Mother).
Similarly, Thi. Janakiraman was one writer whose simple language and powerful messages talking delicate feminine feelings kept film makers away even if they wanted to touch. His well known novels Mohamull, Sembaruthi and Amma Vandal were hot with film makers, but only in 1998 ‘Mohamull’ was tried as a film.
Adapting the works of the likes of Thi. Jaa or Pudhumaipithan is a tough ask. In their stories the characters come through not with dialogues but their thoughts and author’s narration. So visualizing their ideas needs not only hard work and great intelligence but also adept skills in execution.
But adapting Kalki’s novels must be treat. Kalki elaborates every scene and happening with utmost possible visual description. So reading a Kalki novel itself is like watching a visually rich film.
During this period many films were tried out of novels. Thigampara Samiyar by Vaduvoor Duraisamy Aiyangar, Ponmudy from Kadaisi Mutham by Bharathidasan, Kanchana from Kanchanaiyin Kanavu by Lakshmi, Thrumbi Paar from Poomalai by Karunanidhi. Malaikallan bt Namakkal Kanignar, Gomathiyin KAdhalan by Devan. Maragatham from Karunkuyil Kuntrathu Kolai by Vaduvoor Duraisamy Aiyangar and many others. These were till the end of the 50s. Of this box office friendly adaptations were a few. Even they were not mostlr of social genre. One of the most successful screen adaptation of a novel happened in this period. Malaikallan the local Robin Hood action script was a monster hit catapulting all the people to the next level of cinema. The dialogue writer Karunanidhi and the actor MGR became a sensation from this film.
From the 60s many social novels were tried. They were critically acclaimed as well.
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