Devdas to Raazi: 11 Bollywood gems that were book adaptations
R.K.Narayan’s novel Guide inspired this 1965 classic by Vijay Anand who broke many rules of mainstream storytelling in Hindi films, while extracting career-best acts from Dev Anand and Waheeda Rahman.
Source: IMDB
Devdas, Saratchandra’s novella about a self-destructive alcoholic inspired many films in India, but Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s version remains the most divergent and outlandishly opulent of them all.
Source: IMDB
Abhishek Kapoor adapted the Chetan Bhagat’s novel 3 mistakes of my life into Kai Po Che, a visually striking and heartwarming tale of friendship and coming-of-age through love and grief.
Source: IMDB
Vishal Bhardwaj is known as the Bard of Bollywood, and in Haider, he found the perfectly allegorical home for Hamlet, Shakespeare’s dark tale about power, oppression and existentialism.
Source: IMDB
Widely considered as the first Urdu novel, Umrao Jaan inspired this beautiful Mujaffar Ali film that was equal parts a love letter to Lucknow and an evocative memoir of courtesans living there.
Source: IMDB
In Saawariya, Bhansali referenced the text of White Nights, the novella by Dosteovsky about lost love, and converted it into a fantastical narrative that marked debut of Ranbir and Sonam.
Source: IMDB
Raazi was based on Calling Sehmat, a biographical account of an Indian spy who risked her everything to serve her nation and lost a lot in the process.
Source: IMDB
The Zoya Factor was a flighty rom-com starring Dulquer Salmaan and Sonam Kapoor, based on a bestselling novel by Anuja Chauhan.
Source: Twitter
Aisha carried a wonderful adaptation of a 19th century novel set in Britain, adapting itself to a 21st century Delhi elite setting, without missing a beat.
Source: IMDB
The Blue Umbrella remains one of Vishal Bhardwaj’s lesser-known works, where the filmmaker adapted a magic-realistic fable by Ruskin Bond.
Source: IMDB
1947 Earth, based on the novel Ice-Candy Man by Bapsi Sidhwa, remains one of the most honest and chilling portrayal of the times of partition.