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#BrunchBookChallenge: 5 movies that would make great books
Can a movie be turned into a book? Five young writers pick a film and point to a character they’d love to flesh out in words.
The cool crazy
The Departed
Bilal Siddiqi
“I’d really love to read Martin Scorsese’s The Departed as a book. Each character has the scope to be fleshed out and given their space to breathe if it were to be a novel, because in a film the runtime limits you.”
One character I’d like to write out in more detail: “I’d like to read a whole backstory of Jack Nicholson’s character – Frank Costello. This would give us more insight and time to live with the crazy, ruthless character and what made him that way.”
Watch out!
The Truman Show
Durjoy Datta
“I’d like to see The Truman Show, which is one of my absolute favourite movies. The character lives a life that’s being watched by millions and though the movie came out years ago, it is so contemporary. It would be quite something to go into the psyche of people watching Truman en masse.”
One character I’d like to write out in more detail: “I’d like auxiliary characters to be given more space in the novel to truly understand why voyeurism is a big draw.”
Age of innocence
Masaan
Gurmehar Kaur
“One movie that I would like to read as a book would be Masaan. I’m always curious as to how films that visually show with two intertwined yet completely different stories would be written on paper. Also there is a certain innocence about the unscathed young romance between Deepak and Shaalu.”
One character I’d like to write out in more detail: “I would love to see Devi be turned into a fictional character because there is this fearlessness and vulnerability about her that I’d like to see put into words.”
Serial winner
Once Upon a Time in the West
Vivaan Shah
“I’d love to see Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West as a novel. As a matter of fact, I’d love to see a series of novels with The Man with No Name played by Clint Eastwood in Leone’s Dollars Trilogy. ”
One character I’d like to write out in more detail: “The Man with No Name. To see a novel employ the same anti-economy of storytelling by employing words to stretch out its stylistic legs and create a new form of narrative communication the way Leone did non-verbally with this character would be amazing.”
Fun n frolic
Khubsoorat
Andaleeb Wajid
“Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Khubsoorat would make a fantastic book. It would be challenging to see all that chaos play out on the pages and to read from the points of view of the many characters in the movie.”
One character I’d like to write out in more detail: “Rekha’s character Manju could be more contemporary. She could be an entrepreneur.”
From HT Brunch, June 21, 2020
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