Stage to screen adaptations don't always work: Elkunchwar

Eminent Marathi playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar says film adaptations of plays are not always successful but there is nothing wrong in someone attempting to translate a work from one medium into another "if the basic fact is retained".
Elkunchwar, whose acclaimed plays 'Holi', 'Party' and 'Sonata' had been adapted into films by ace arthouse directors, told PTI here, "Adaptations don't always work. Sometimes they do."
"However, there is nothing wrong in someone trying to translate a work from one medium into another as long as he/she remembers that every narrative has a grammar of its own," he said yesterday on the sidelines of 'Monologues 2018' - a play reading session.

If this basic fact is not remembered, the experiment may fall flat on its face, Elkunchwar, a recipient of the 'Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Theatre', said.
In his career, spanning five decades, the writer has experimented with many forms of dramatic expressions with themes ranging from creativity to life and sterility to death.
He has 20 plays to his name, in addition to critical works and theoretical writings.

Marathi and Bengali plays are pioneers of the theatre scene in India, he said.
"But in the last 30 years, several new groups have changed the face of Indian theatre (overall). Their idiom is distinct, different from each other and they have enriched our theatre scene in an unprecedented way," Elkunchwar said.

Asked to describe Vijay Tendulkar, a theatre icon, Elkunchwar said, "He was a Giant."
To a question about how the Marathi theatre scene was coping with challenges of new ideas emerging from the digital medium, the veteran playwright said, "The younger lot are incorporating technological changes into their theatre with superb confidence."
The number of audiences has remained constant despite the technological advances, he asserted.