Lost in Screenplay

‘It would be a rare reader indeed who appreciated the celluloid adaptation of a well-liked book.’

I am quoting myself – I spoke about it once while arguing about Saawariya and White Nights.

Today I am inclined to dedicate a whole blog to this sentiment.

Take it from me – when you dislike the movie adaptation of a book you loved, go and thank the director.

Don’t understand what I mean? Read on.

As a fifteen year old I read a book titled ‘Five Little Pigs’ by Agatha Christie. There is something about all that Christie has written and there was something about this book that haunted me. There is some curious way by virtue of which Christie gave such enormous depth, such a three-dimensional quality to her characters. I generally re-read my Christies – indeed I have nearly memorized many of them. Not so with ‘Five Little Pigs’, for I happened to lose it and did not have the chance or even the inclination to buy it again and supplement my library (for there would always be some other Christie title that beckoned to me in the book shops, lol). Anyway, as I was saying, I could not re-read ‘Five Little Pigs’. The name of the characters, the intricacies of the plot passed out of mind. To be frank I even forgot the ending – not who the criminal was of course, Christie doesn’t allow you to let any of her books pass off into oblivion that much, but yes I did forget what happened to the other characters whose depth I have alluded to above.

But what I didn’t forget was the impression the book made on me. Since fifteen is an impressionable age you may say all the credit for impressing me cannot go to Christie, and so well it may be. But that is neither here nor there. Fact is I was thoroughly affected and stirred and moved by the book and the memory that I had been so affected stayed with me as I grew up.

Ten years later, I came across a movie adaptation of the book. In these ten years, I had matured enough not to hope too much, to know that disappointment in some measure was a surety and that I should not blame the movie-makers too much. With my mind already fortified enough to bear even the most atrocious digressions from the book, I was pleasantly surprised. It was not a bad adaptation at all. The book, I remember had haunted me and the movie was not lacking in depth either. With all concessions it was a very good adaptation and only the most fastidious reader would hate it. I shall hold my point that of all the movies made on Christie’s novels this one maintained the spirit of the book. Even the one glaring digression it did make was something understandable – as I re-read the book I realized that Christie, the mistress of innuendoes had indeed dropped enough hints and double entendres to justify the conclusion that the director made.

So far so good.

Trouble arose when I got my hands on the free e-book of ‘Five Little Pigs’. I could not deny myself the temptation to read it again, especially after having enjoyed its movie adaptation recently.

Ah! How I regret doing so now!

Deepti Singh, the reader has been vanquished by Paul Unwin, the Director if you allow me to be a bit melodramatic.

The book is now permanently spoilt for me. All the lingering allure it possessed for me has gone. My imagination has been restricted. My thoughts have been curtailed. My feelings are ambivalent. And all because of a decent movie adaptation! As a fifteen year old the Amyas Crale or Caroline Crale or Elsa Greer or Angela Warren had been picturised by me or the way their house had looked in my imagination or the way the painting had looked in my mind – all gone! Phut! Just like that! Now that I re-read it, the Amyas Crale I thought of was not mine anymore but the face of the actor the director had chosen. The Elsa Greer was not the same at all. Neither was Caroline. My mind kept flitting back to the motion picture. The book was not mine anymore!

I cannot express in words my disappointment. I wish I could format that drive of my brain that houses the memories of the movie. So that I can read this book again, imagine again, be impressed again, be stirred again. I blame myself for not giving this book as many perusals as it deserved, so that I could impinge it in my mind and protect it from the ramifications of the movie - like I managed with a another Christie title 'Sad Cypress'. But what's the good of that now! I have already let a good motion picture spoil a great book!

What a pity! It is not a bad movie adaptation of a good book that kills the book. For then at least the reader has his own impressions untampered with. Beware of the good adaptations!

I provide below the link of the free e-book. I envy those of you who shall read it the first time!

http://www.truly-free.org/