sady
Hit playback singer
Posts: 1,876
Favorite actor: SRK, Prabhas, Naga Chaitanya, Nivin Pauly
Favorite actress: Kajol, Sonam, A. Shetty, Tamannaah, Kangana
Upcoming release you're most excited about: Simran, Rani of Jhansi, Veere Di Wedding, Padman, Saaho
|
Post by sady on Jul 30, 2015 21:02:47 GMT
There is a thread about movies that could be adapted into Bollywood, so I thought that I would do one with books.
The book I would love to see adapted into Bollywood is Emile Zola's novel, Thérèse Raquin.
Indeed, I think the misery that brought the characters do these villainous acts is still present in India and that would make for a good movie.
I think Vishal Bardwaj will be able to bring it on screen while keeping the essence of this piece.
Thérèse Raquin tells the story of a young woman, unhappily married to her first cousin by an overbearing aunt who may seem to be well-intentioned but in many ways is deeply selfish. Thérèse's husband, Camille, is sickly and egocentric, and when the opportunity arises, Thérèse enters into a turbulent and sordidly passionate affair with one of Camille's friends, Laurent.
I think Sonam would be good in the role (of course) of Thérèse. Kangna would be good too.
Imran wouldn't be bad as Laurent especially if he bulks up like he did for MKBKM. Arunoday Singh and Randeep Hood could be a good fit too.
For the mother Supriya Pathak would be a good choice and Sharman Joshi as Camille (he'd have to loose weigh and do a makeover to look pathetic).
|
|
|
Post by emily on Jul 31, 2015 0:28:05 GMT
The Great Gatsby. Directed by either Bhansali or Zoya Akhtar. Bhansali would do the setting perfectly (colorful, over-the-top opulence) but Akhtar would flesh out the characters better.
The thing about Gatsby (one of my favorite novels ever) is that the subplot is so intertwined with the Roaring '20s and the American Dream; I can't think of a time in India to mirror that. Shirking off the subplot, though, you get a man still in love with a woman he lost to another man, which sounds like the perfect Bolly plot to me.
Have no idea about casting, though had a fleeting thought the other day that Deepika would be good for Jordan the pro golfer (slim, athletic build, witty, sharp-tongued). I can really see someone like Hrithik Roshan or Saif Ali Khan as Gatsby, though snatching one of the three big Khans would surely make it a smash hit. Ajay Devgn seems like a Tom Buchanan. You could go a lot of ways with the Daisy character - I personally find her completely insufferable and am loath to saddle any of my favorite actresses with the role. If Zoya's directing, Farhan would be involved somehow...maybe as Nick Carraway, as he does most of the narration throughout the story.
It's intriguing to think about. I really liked the 2013 version...while reading it much earlier, I always pictured Leo as Gatsby, and was delighted when they cast him as such.
|
|
|
Post by dancelover on Jul 31, 2015 17:22:07 GMT
PALADIN OF SOULS, by Lois McMaster Bujold
It is one of 3-so-far set on a fantasy Earth that has five Gods, so Bollywood might do them better than others. The other two are THE CURSE OF CHALION and THE HALLOWED HUNT.
PoS might be particularly good for BW, because the protagonist is a 40-year-old noblewoman, Ista, who's 80-year-old mother, whom she has attended for three years, has just died and been buried, so she needs to decide what to do with the second half of her life. The role could be played by Kajol (who might have read the book), or another actress of that generation.
The Five Gods are the Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, and the Bastard (who'd best be played by Govinda).
Dancelover
|
|
aspiringfilmmaker
Junior artiste
Posts: 87
Favorite actor: Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, SRK, Akshay Kumar, Sidharth Malhotra
Favorite actress: Juhi Chawla, Madhuri Dixit, Shraddha Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Kriti Sanon
Upcoming release you're most excited about: Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, Brothers, Dilwale, All is Well
|
Post by aspiringfilmmaker on Aug 1, 2015 18:05:48 GMT
Any Jane Austen novel could be adapted for a classic Yash Chopra-esqe romance: Emma was already adapted as Aisha starring Sonam Kapoor...but as for the others: Sense and Sensibility: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_and_SensibilityThis can take place in modern day Mumbai/Delhi/Calcutta etc, and the migration could involve having to move to America to start a new life. The ages of the sisters could be updated from 19 and 16 to 29 and 26, respectively, to adapt to modern times. We could have Deepika as Elinor, the older and responsible sister, and Shraddha Kapoor as Marianne, the younger and innocent sister. Maybe SRK/Salman as the silent, brooding Colonel (the age difference between Marianne and the Colonel in the novel would justify this), and maybe Ranbir Kapoor or Ranveer Singh as Edward (their chemistry with Deepika is already well-loved). As for the supporting characters, maybe Kirron Kher as Shraddha and Deepika's mother? Northanger Abbey: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northanger_AbbeyThis plot would most likely involve newcomers. What do you guys think?
|
|
sady
Hit playback singer
Posts: 1,876
Favorite actor: SRK, Prabhas, Naga Chaitanya, Nivin Pauly
Favorite actress: Kajol, Sonam, A. Shetty, Tamannaah, Kangana
Upcoming release you're most excited about: Simran, Rani of Jhansi, Veere Di Wedding, Padman, Saaho
|
Post by sady on Aug 1, 2015 20:53:59 GMT
Any Jane Austen novel could be adapted for a classic Yash Chopra-esqe romance: Emma was already adapted as Aisha starring Sonam Kapoor...but as for the others: Sense and Sensibility: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_and_SensibilityThis can take place in modern day Mumbai/Delhi/Calcutta etc, and the migration could involve having to move to America to start a new life. The ages of the sisters could be updated from 19 and 16 to 29 and 26 respectively to adapt to modern times. We could have Deepika as Elinor, the older and responsible sister, and Shraddha Kapoor as Marianne, the younger and innocent sister. Maybe SRK/Salman as the silent, brooding Colonel (the age difference between Marianne and the Colonel in the novel would justify this), and maybe Ranbir Kapoor or Ranveer Singh as Edward (their chemistry with Deepika is already well-loved). As for the supporting characters, maybe Kirron Kher as Shraddha and Deepika's mother? Northanger Abbey: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northanger_AbbeyThis plot would most likely involve newcomers. What do you guys think? Nice And instead of Salman or SRK I would picture either Ajay or Irrfan in the role of the Colonel.
|
|
|
Post by emily on Aug 1, 2015 20:59:55 GMT
Any Jane Austen novel could be adapted for a classic Yash Chopra-esqe romance: Emma was already adapted as Aisha starring Sonam Kapoor...but as for the others: Sense and Sensibility: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_and_SensibilityThis can take place in modern day Mumbai/Delhi/Calcutta etc, and the migration could involve having to move to America to start a new life. The ages of the sisters could be updated from 19 and 16 to 29 and 26 respectively to adapt to modern times. We could have Deepika as Elinor, the older and responsible sister, and Shraddha Kapoor as Marianne, the younger and innocent sister. Maybe SRK/Salman as the silent, brooding Colonel (the age difference between Marianne and the Colonel in the novel would justify this), and maybe Ranbir Kapoor or Ranveer Singh as Edward (their chemistry with Deepika is already well-loved). As for the supporting characters, maybe Kirron Kher as Shraddha and Deepika's mother? Northanger Abbey: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northanger_AbbeyThis plot would most likely involve newcomers. What do you guys think? Nice And instead of Salman or SRK I would picture either Ajay or Irrfan in the role of the Colonel. I was thinking the same thing!! Irrfan would be a GREAT Colonel. Otherwise, aspiringfilmmaker, that cast looks tremendous and makes me wish this adaptation existed
|
|
odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
|
Post by odadune on Aug 1, 2015 23:04:48 GMT
Just for the record there is already a Tamil version of Sense and Sensibility, starring some actresses you may have heard of: bollywhat.boards.net/thread/172/kandukondain-ing-aishwarya-tabu-mammoottyI really can't see Salman, with his perennially boyish face (ditto Saif), or the snarky and superior Irrfan, as the Colonel (what a great Mr. Darcy though, if someone wanted to do a Hindi-language Pride and Prejudice; almost as good as Abhishek would be), but almost anyone else in that age bracket would swing it just fine. As for the heroines, Deepika has done a lot of "judgmental bossyboots" roles, from Housefull onwards, and although I'm sure she'd do well, I feel like her Elinor would just be a retread of those. I'd almost like to see someone a little bit...odd try her hand at that role, like Sonam, Sonakshi or (with less botox) Katrina. Ranveer is way too robust for Edward, who's a good fellow but a dork and a bit of a pushover in some ways. Ranbir would be good as either Edward or Willoughby (a hard role to cast today; Bollywood hasn't had a resident dashing cad villain type since Shakti Kapoor aged out of those roles), and Shraddha would capture the wannabe tragedy queen aspects of Marianne very well. Northanger Abbey: I really dislike Henry Tilney as a character, but I think Sushant or Ranbir would capture what I don't like about him and Sushant wouldn't look too awful opposite my preferred Catherine Morland, Alia Bhatt. General Tilney really calls out for an older character actor with a villainous image, and although I could see Rishi Kapoor or Sanjay Dutt in the role, I think I would prefer Gulshan Grover, the last of the old school villainous character actor. Persuasion: I go back and forth about whether I want Aishwarya, Kajol, or Chitrangda Singh in the role of Anne Elliot, who allowed herself to be persuaded out of a marriage to her true love, and meets him again years later when he is a highly admired naval captain and a hot catch on the marriage market. Hrithik is probably the best bet in terms of capturing Captain Wentworth's glamour, virility and unfortunate passive-aggressive tendencies, but most of the 40-50-yr-olds would do ok in the role. The only other role particularly worth having is Anne's snobbish and vain father, who is definitely an Anil Kapoor character. On the subject of Regency-themed novels, Georgette Heyer did a whole bunch of novels where one man of wealth and taste or another has to babysit a kooky young woman on a road trip all over creation. The ones where he falls in love with her look a bit like Jab We Met with more cross-dressing, but there's another type (best exemplified by Sprig Muslin) that I think has potential: where he's a sensible, somewhat older guy with an equally sensible girlfriend, trying to keep a beautiful young compulsive liar from getting herself into trouble, and everyone (except his girlfriend) assumes he's romantically involved with the pretty young compulsive liar. It strikes me as a way the more mature guys could co-star with someone of the Alia/Shraddha generation without having to actually romance her. You would have to expand the role of the sensible girlfriend (either have her tag along too or give her a major subplot where she's creatively lying/scheming etc to keep her family out of the hero's hair) in order to get an age-appropriate heroine onboard in that role.
|
|
|
Post by emily on Aug 1, 2015 23:48:50 GMT
While we're on the Austen thing, I'd like to see an adaptation of Mansfield Park, but it's difficult in the modern era, in any language. Characters like Fanny Price - quiet, withdrawn, yet with silent strength - don't really exist today. I can see Bollywood making Fanny much too brash and outspoken, like in that disastrous '90s Hollywood version.
The only one I can think of right now is Kangana, just because the quieter parts of her character in Queen reminds me sort of Fanny Price. If she did that character again, I think it might work. I can see Imran Khan or Rajkummar Rao as her kind cousin Edmund, whom she eventually marries, Ranbir would make a good Henry Crawford, and that's pretty much all I got, lol.
|
|
aspiringfilmmaker
Junior artiste
Posts: 87
Favorite actor: Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, SRK, Akshay Kumar, Sidharth Malhotra
Favorite actress: Juhi Chawla, Madhuri Dixit, Shraddha Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Kriti Sanon
Upcoming release you're most excited about: Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, Brothers, Dilwale, All is Well
|
Post by aspiringfilmmaker on Aug 2, 2015 4:43:00 GMT
While we're on the Austen thing, I'd like to see an adaptation of Mansfield Park, but it's difficult in the modern era, in any language. Characters like Fanny Price - quiet, withdrawn, yet with silent strength - don't really exist today. I can see Bollywood making Fanny much too brash and outspoken, like in that disastrous '90s Hollywood version. The only one I can think of right now is Kangana, just because the quieter parts of her character in Queen reminds me sort of Fanny Price. If she did that character again, I think it might work. I can see Imran Khan or Rajkummar Rao as her kind cousin Edmund, whom she eventually marries, Ranbir would make a good Henry Crawford, and that's pretty much all I got, lol. As a hobby, I've started brainstorming for a Bollywood screenplay - thought I'd put my love for Indian cinema to some productive use I was looking at an adaptation particularly from Victorian Literature (it has all the elements for a successful Bollywood venture), and was thinking of either a Dickens-esqe family drama (bringing back the family drama genre in Bollywood but with a bit more realism), or a Jane Austen romance. Currently I'm leaning towards Austen since Dickens is a bit complicated to break down for an amateur writer like myself. My personal favorites of Austen are Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey. I was a bit hesitant about Sense and Sensibility since I've already seen the Tamil version, Kandukondain Kandukondain, that odadune mentioned earlier, but this post has inspired me again. For Northanger as odadune mentioned, Sushant would be great for the male lead, and I'd personally choose Shraddha for Catherine Morland's role - my personal favorite and new celebrity crush . I'm really excited for both Shraddha and Parineeti - they seem to have this warm family/kid-friendly vibe (e.g Aashiqui 2 (for the most part), Hasee Toh Phasee, Daawat E Ishq, ABCD 2) that we've lost with the Kareena Kapoor/Deepika Padukone diva generation.
|
|
odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
|
Post by odadune on Aug 2, 2015 14:29:14 GMT
Shraddha I think has real potential if she chooses her roles well and works on her dialogue delivery, but she's almost too much the classical Gothic heroine in looks, with that angelic face and slim build, to be my idea of Catherine Morland, who is said to be a cute books-and-sports loving young woman who doesn't seem like "heroine material". Parineeti would be good though. I always thought that the perfect Mansfield Park would have been made around 1975, with Sanjeev Kumar as Sir Thomas, doing his character from the Sholay flashbacks (wealthy landowner who's away from his estate for long periods due to working as a policeman), perhaps with a subplot that actually follows him around during his "away from home period". And Rakhee as his wife, Lalita Pawar or Nirupa Roy as Aunt Norris, Jaya Badhuri as Fanny, Shashi Kapoor as Edmund, Vinod Khanna as Tom Bertram, and Rekha and Vinod Mehra/Rakesh Roshan as the Crawfords. More recently, I think Patiala House (although not remotely an intentional riff on Mansfield Park as far as I can see) kind of captures the tone and to some extent the family dynamics of that story, with a bunch of selfish, immature young people quietly at odds with a well-meaning but rigid and in some ways toxic patriarch, and a gently depressed, passive protagonist (male this time) caught in the middle along with a sassy, allegedly disreputable love interest. It also suffers from Mansfield Park's lack of narrative drive and tendency to dissolve into a series of tableaux about the protagonist being unhappy (or occasionally, briefly happy) without things moving forward very quickly. If I had to cast a present day version, I would go with someone like Jackie Shroff, who's not done as many "mean patriarchs" as Amitabh Bachchan or Rishi Kapoor, for Sir Thomas Bertram, with Madhuri as his wife (maybe here revamped as a dancer obsessed with her art rather than just plain lazy). For Fanny, to me, Shraddha seems like the best at capturing that suffering good-girl vibe. I agree that Imran or Rajkumar would do well as Edmund; another, weirder but also good candidate might be Tiger Shroff. For Tom Bertram the younger, maybe someone like Vivek Oberoi? And for the Crawfords, I'm visualizing someone like Lisa Haydon (although she's very tall compared to Mary Crawford in the book) and maybe Prateik Babbar or Ranbir Kapoor? PS: memo to Bollywood: Jane Austen is public domain, you don't have to pay for the rights in order to make a legitimate adaptation, and Georgette Heyer's film rights are with an obscure company called Choosy Productions.
|
|
|
Post by emily on Aug 2, 2015 14:37:37 GMT
I always thought that the perfect Mansfield Park would have been made around 1975, with Sanjeev Kumar as Sir Thomas, doing his character from the Sholay flashbacks (wealthy landowner who's away from his estate for long periods due to working as a policeman), perhaps with a subplot that actually follows him around during his "away from home period". And Rakhee as his wife, Lalita Pawar or Nirupa Roy as Aunt Norris, Jaya Badhuri as Fanny, Shashi Kapoor as Edmund, Vinod Khanna as Tom Bertram, and Rekha and Vinod Mehra/Rakesh Roshan as the Crawfords. Oh God, if only! Now I'm never going to get Shashi as Edmund out of my head when I re-read this book. Not a bad thing, though! Edmund is my biggest Austen crush ever.
|
|
|
Post by dancelover on Aug 3, 2015 17:59:09 GMT
I like this, Odadune; Sprig Muslin type stories would do very well. BTWay, you seem to have accidently "liked" your own post, leaving no room for me to "like" it. Dancelover On the subject of Regency-themed novels, Georgette Heyer did a whole bunch of novels where one man of wealth and taste or another has to babysit a kooky young woman on a road trip all over creation. The ones where he falls in love with her look a bit like Jab We Met with more cross-dressing, but there's another type (best exemplified by Sprig Muslin) that I think has potential: where he's a sensible, somewhat older guy with an equally sensible girlfriend, trying to keep a beautiful young compulsive liar from getting herself into trouble, and everyone (except his girlfriend) assumes he's romantically involved with the pretty young compulsive liar. It strikes me as a way the more mature guys could co-star with someone of the Alia/Shraddha generation without having to actually romance her. You would have to expand the role of the sensible girlfriend (either have her tag along too or give her a major subplot where she's creatively lying/scheming etc to keep her family out of the hero's hair) in order to get an age-appropriate heroine onboard in that role.
|
|
|
Post by emily on Aug 30, 2015 18:21:22 GMT
I would love to see a Vishal Bhardwaj version of "Julius Caesar"...my favorite Shakespeare play. Set somewhere modern, maybe about underground crime; a mob boss is killed by his associates and there's a sudden battle for power?
Kay Kay Menon would make a great Cassius-type character. After seeing Shahid do so well in Haider I'd love to see him as either Brutus or Mark Anthony (preferably the former). Mark Anthony needs to be someone energetic and with presence...Prabhas would be pretty neat in this role.
Caesar would have to be someone who can pull off smug yet seemingly humble...Irrfan Khan, perhaps? Or maybe someone older, with more presence - Amitabh would be a killer grab for the movie, but he's a little too overbearing. Either way, that character would only be in about the first hour or so.
Add some lower-profile actresses for Calpurnia and Portia (Caesar and Brutus' wives) and I think I like this a lot.
|
|