The Bard in the Bollywood: A Study of Cinematic Adaptation and Appropriation

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Anuradha Tiwari

Abstract

The journey of Shakespeare’s play from text to screen via theatre has rendered him increasingly global and fluid across various cultures, breaking down England’s monopoly over Shakespeare. Shakespeare has been ceaselessly alluring the movie makers with his varied plots and layered characterization. His plays with amusing stuff - love triangles, comedy, melodrama, twins and mistaken identities and without legal and copyright hassles have lent themselves very easily for screen adaptations. Besides Akira Kurosawa’s  The Throne of Blood (Adaptation of Macbeth 1957) and Ran (adaptation of King Lear in 1985) in Japanese feel and flavour, up team of bollywood films also echo, resemble and adapt Shakespeare, Do Dooni Char (1968, Gulzar re-adapting from Bengali film Bhrantibilas which is an adaptation of Comedy of Errors), Angoor (1972, Gulzar’s adaptation of Comedy of Errors), Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988, Mansoor Khan adapting Romeo and Juliet), 10ml Love (2010, Sharat Katariya adapting A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Ram Leela: Goliyon Ki Rasleela (2013, Sanjay Leela Bhansali adapting Romeo and Juliet), to name only a few. However it is only Vishal bharadwaj’s trilogy of Shakespearean adaptation which gained enough national and international praise. As Shakespeare travels across the globe of different geo political and cultural space and in varied filmic, he acquires many meanings contributing to other ‘Shakespeares, improved Shakepeare’. With focus on Bharadwaj’s trilogy– Maqbool (adaptation of Macbeth in 2003) Omkara (adaptation of Othello in 2006) and Haider (adaptation of Hamlet in 2014) the paper makes foray into adaptation and appropriation, the two fundamental aspects of film making. It also attempts answers to questions like –how Bharadwaj adapts and appropriates shakepearean plays to fit them into the particularised sociological and political issues of /in India? Can such cinematic adaptation of Shakespearean plays be still Shakespeare? What forms functions meaning and significations Shakespeare acquires when transported to different space and time?

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How to Cite
Anuradha Tiwari. “The Bard in the Bollywood: A Study of Cinematic Adaptation and Appropriation”. The Creative Launcher, vol. 1, no. 4, Oct. 2016, pp. 41-50, https://www.thecreativelauncher.com/index.php/tcl/article/view/400.
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