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I got a chance to watch “The kite runner” last night on HBO. I was excited because the book by the same name is one of my favorites. I liked the movie (despite some friends suggesting that it’s not that good). PF messaged me after the movie saying-“none of the characters “looked” the way I “saw” them…” Exactly that’s what has been bugging me for a long time, ever since I started watching movies based on books/novels. 90% of the times I am left high and dry because a certain character didn’t come across in the way I had imagined or that was way too different from the written word. One reason could be that there are different ways in which different people may perceive a plot. Let’s say, if a building is described in a particular way, there might be hundred different ways to build a mental image of that building, which varies from person to person. And the one that is shown in the movie can be “one” of those hundred ways or something else, in short the way the director has perceived it.

Let’s take an example: When I watched “harry potter” part 1, 2 and 3, I hadn’t read the books. I liked the movies immensely. But then I got a chance to read the books. I was rather disappointed in the movies and the books too. Because when I read the books, I found that a whole lot of things were missing from the movies. But because of the movies, now I had a reference point, for each character, like Harry potter was replaced by Daniel Radcliffe. It was, in a way, good too. But my imagination didn’t fly that high and I didn’t explore the plots much. Then, when I read the 5^th book, order of phoenix, I loved it, because the movie was not out at that time. I could imagine whole new things and imaginations soared again. And when the movie hit the theatres, I thought it was massacred. And my imagination was way better than the director’s..lol

Harry potter is just an example in this case. There are many others too. I have seen people who have religiously followed Tolkien’s LOTR and love the written word so much. I haven’t read LOTR but I like the movies. I absolutely loved “Da Vinci Code”, but the way it was depicted on screen made me cry (Haven’t seen Angels and Demons yet, because I want to maintain it as one of my favorites). Would it have been the same feeling if I had not known the story beforehand? I mean I knew the story inside out and so might not have enjoyed it that much. Back home, Devdas of the millennium has not gone down well those who loved the Devdas of 60s. And off late Dev D has broken all moulds and is totally Anurag kashyap’s interpretation of the literary classic.

So, that means when a director directs a movie on some novel or story, he would always face some or the other criticism. And also there are some aspects of written words which we can only perceive and it would be difficult to show them on celluloid.

On a different note, this is not restricted to just the movies. Let’s take the example of (whom else but) god. Nobody has seen “him”. Eg: Lord Shiva. Would we always “picture” him the way we have seen in calendars? Someone must have drawn that first calendar or picture based on either some written text or some description. So the calendar makers’ piece of imagination became something which is so sacrosanct to billions of people. Or more recently, take the example of mythological serials; I always wonder why there is a rotating “chakra” behind every god or so on?:) That is the way the aura of the gods has always been depicted in those serials. So, you see, the way, say Ramanand sagar perceived “Ramayana” became a matter of reverence for millions.

I don’t know if what I said makes much sense. But the thing is I am wondering, which is better- to read a book and not being judgmental about the movie or not to watch someone else’s perspective of your favorite book just to avoid disappointment.

Whatever..I won’t ever stop watching movies or reading…lolJ. In a way a novel is also a piece of imagination of the writer. We just develop our perception on the story when we read it.:)