The curious case of missing Hindi literature in Indian cinema

Is there a lack of pride in projecting Indian authors or have we accepted defeat, wonder writers and directors on the shrinking space for Hindi literature in Hindi cinema and shows.

With streaming platforms bringing a content boom in the industry, there is a considerable buzz surrounding the adaptation of English language titles such as "Sacred Games", "Midnight's Children" and "The Zoya Factor" but Hindi and other languages are missing out.

This may have to do with a bias towards the language literature and in most cases simple ignorance on the part of content creators and producers, the writers and directors feel.

Noted filmmaker Chandraprakash Dwivedi, who adapted "Chanakya" for Doordarshan during its golden age, and has brought to screen classic novels such as "Pinjar" and "Mohalla Assi", says Indian authors simply do not enjoy the popularity that their western counterparts do.

"Our literature is so vast but there is no sense of pride in projecting Indian authors. When people celebrate Hindi divas (September 14), I feel we have accepted defeat, it means Hindi is dying," he told PTI.

Dwivedi, who is all set to direct a film for YashRaj on Prithviraj Chauhan with Akshay Kumar in the lead, also blames the media for the hype surrounding English titles, which is often missing for other language adaptations.

"Whenever there is a film, which is based on the literature of William Shakespeare, everyone writes about it, media writes more about it. But they are not aware of the Hindi or other Indian authors while reviewing a film based on their work," Dwivedi says.

"There is a visible bias. We have never tried to take our Indian authors to the masses. How many people know M T Vasudev or Kashinath Singh? Shakespeare is known to everyone. Indian literature has been ignored," he adds.

In the past, literature and cinema had a close connection with several stories like "Teesri Kasam", "Saara Aakash", "Neem Ka Pedh" and "Shatranj Ke Khiladi" adapted from Hindi literature.

Noted Hindi author and poet Uday Prakash says directors like Satyajit Ray and Bimal Roy often turned to literature for their films, which are now considered classics.

"Cinema, in those days, lifted literature from oblivion... But uprooted commercialisation has reached a maddening status and people are just looking at the box office numbers. The moment films like 'Baahubali' and 'Guardians of the Galaxy' come people in Bollywood start rushing towards making films that can bring them money," the writer told PTI.

It is not that literature is completely ignored in cinema but such films are not commercial potboilers, he adds.

"Anup Singh made 'Qissa', based on a folktale and then 'The Song of Scorpions'. One of the Marathi films last year was based on my short story 'The Walls of Delhi'. It is getting attention. It depends a lot on directors whether they can create a bridge between literature and cinema. But a time will come soon when there will be a buffer zone, where filmmakers will come back to literature," he says.

Gaurav Solanki, co-writer of the critically-acclaimed "Article 15", believes Indian filmmakers are not exposed to Indian literature and that's why there are more English adaptations.

"There is more focus on English literature than Hindi because a lot of filmmakers do not read Indian language books. The fascination to adapt from English literature is quite new, there was a parallel cinema that adapted Indian literature.

"Parallel cinema no longer exists today. We have mainstream or realistic or films that are rooted in socio-politics of India. We need content and we don't have scriptwriters and so with book adaptations, you have a story to pitch."
As we make more films and stories based on our literature, it will also encourage writers."
"Without understanding it, you can't do justice to the story. If you know the idiom, then it becomes easy. But if you do not know the basic 'sur' of the culture, then you will end up just copying. Copies don't really work."