Well amidst the hype and hoopla to the "Saawariya" V/s. "O-S-O" brigade... the reader in me, found an opportunity to read a short story, which i may have never otherwise chanced upon!
I am talking of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's short story - White Nights... published in 1848 and supposedly the book based on which Bhansali made the movie.
Let's leave the movie aside for a while here... let me tell you what the book is all about. It's a story of an unnamed young man (yes, the protagonist has no name) who, by nature of being a shy, introvert and self confessed dreamer, meets and falls in love and even encounters heart brake in the course of four nights! you can call it a simple love triangle or a sad tragic drama… which ever way you look at it, the basic plot is way too simple to be understood! However, what actually does set the book apart, and might have caught on SLB’s attention is the treatment or rather the way in which the story is narrated and how the protagonist’s angst and anguish, his shy demeanor and complex emotions are highlighted, making him more human and realistic, than many other “heroes” we come across in the literary world!
It’s a touching tale alright, but every good book, unfortunately cannot be a great movie! Or rather most books should not be made into a movie, for the simple reason that, unlike in books, where the words tend to take the shape of the story, depending on the reader’s imagination prowess, movies, usually, leave nothing for imagination, making everything too obvious, and may I add a tad bit frivolous!
(and going by the reviews I read in the morning papers, and all across the net, Bhansali has left no stone unturned to make this ‘personal, intrinsic and deep’ story into a commercial and “bollywood” movie…. HOPE I AM PROVED WRONG!)
Here are some links on White Nights –
I am talking of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's short story - White Nights... published in 1848 and supposedly the book based on which Bhansali made the movie.
Let's leave the movie aside for a while here... let me tell you what the book is all about. It's a story of an unnamed young man (yes, the protagonist has no name) who, by nature of being a shy, introvert and self confessed dreamer, meets and falls in love and even encounters heart brake in the course of four nights! you can call it a simple love triangle or a sad tragic drama… which ever way you look at it, the basic plot is way too simple to be understood! However, what actually does set the book apart, and might have caught on SLB’s attention is the treatment or rather the way in which the story is narrated and how the protagonist’s angst and anguish, his shy demeanor and complex emotions are highlighted, making him more human and realistic, than many other “heroes” we come across in the literary world!
It’s a touching tale alright, but every good book, unfortunately cannot be a great movie! Or rather most books should not be made into a movie, for the simple reason that, unlike in books, where the words tend to take the shape of the story, depending on the reader’s imagination prowess, movies, usually, leave nothing for imagination, making everything too obvious, and may I add a tad bit frivolous!
(and going by the reviews I read in the morning papers, and all across the net, Bhansali has left no stone unturned to make this ‘personal, intrinsic and deep’ story into a commercial and “bollywood” movie…. HOPE I AM PROVED WRONG!)
Here are some links on White Nights –
-The E-book (although bit summarized, and I prefer the paper version :P) http://www.geocities.com/diwakerr/whitenights.html
-A beautiful commentary on the book (BIT TOO LONG!) http://www.storybites.com/dostoevskynights.htm
6 comments:
I had a sneaky suspicion that saawariya was somehow looking russian-isque (is that a word? :P)
now it is confirmed (thou i havent seen the movie, never will probably)...Russian short stories, have always intruiged me, they make good reading. Havent heard of this one thou, must read it...
I had a sneaky suspicion that saawariya was somehow looking russian-isque (is that a word? :P)
now it is confirmed (thou i havent seen the movie, never will probably)...Russian short stories, have always intruiged me, they make good reading. Havent heard of this one thou, must read it...
I had a sneaky suspicion that saawariya was somehow looking russian-isque (is that a word? :P)
now it is confirmed (thou i havent seen the movie, never will probably)...Russian short stories, have always intruiged me, they make good reading. Havent heard of this one thou, must read it...
Im glad they both have released and are now out of my face everytime i switch on the televison. I was BORED of seeing them at all random places, dance shows, cricket matches (SRK), CNN-IBN. first Shahid, then SRK, DP and now ive heard John Bips have started the rouds for some upcoming movie.
OSO is apparently so mindless, that a friend of mine sms'd me not to go for it (cos she knows my threshold for SRK and mindless movies), and told me that id pull my hair out and slap the person sitting next to me cos id get so frustrated with it!
Im glad they both have released and are now out of my face everytime i switch on the televison. I was BORED of seeing them at all random places, dance shows, cricket matches (SRK), CNN-IBN. first Shahid, then SRK, DP and now ive heard John Bips have started the rouds for some upcoming movie.
OSO is apparently so mindless, that a friend of mine sms'd me not to go for it (cos she knows my threshold for SRK and mindless movies), and told me that id pull my hair out and slap the person sitting next to me cos id get so frustrated with it!
Im glad they both have released and are now out of my face everytime i switch on the televison. I was BORED of seeing them at all random places, dance shows, cricket matches (SRK), CNN-IBN. first Shahid, then SRK, DP and now ive heard John Bips have started the rouds for some upcoming movie.
OSO is apparently so mindless, that a friend of mine sms'd me not to go for it (cos she knows my threshold for SRK and mindless movies), and told me that id pull my hair out and slap the person sitting next to me cos id get so frustrated with it!
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