I am going to talk about things in this post which are very obvious to most people but nonetheless I am going to talk about it and you are going to read it (hopefully!) and at the end of the day, nothing will change. Despite knowing this, I write this post simply because I need to get it out of my mind. As many of you would have guessed, “apples and oranges” is a phrase that is frequently used to describe a situation where people compare two things that should actually not be compared too seriously. The origin of this phrase, I heard, but I can't be sure, stems from Physics books which tell you that you cannot add two quantities that are not of the same dimension i.e. you cannot add apples to oranges, weight to height and so on. There are many instances where people tend to add apples to oranges anyway, but I am going to cover something very specific in this post. This post will be regarding movies and novels.
Very often I have heard people after seeing a movie based on a novel, “The movie is not as good as the novel.” Time and now, I have heard this statement and learned to ignore it. But time and now, it has also bewildered me considerably. There was a time when I was very callous in the use of my words when criticising someone who is unable to play the guitar or some instrument the way it should be played. But when I took a shot at learning an instrument myself, I realized how painful and difficult it is! Since then, I choose to criticise something that does not appeal to me but I choose my words more carefully because somewhere I have learned to respect whatever hard work and dedication the man would have put to at least take a crack at it. This tendency of mine to think about the difficulties involved; I have generalized it to many walks of life.
Let me tell you something which is obvious. When an author writes a book, he does not have to think twice before adding another page. If a few lines can take the depth of some particular segment to a whole new level, well, he simply adds them! He weaves a plot with two central characters and maybe just in 2 pages, realizes that the plot could be modified to contain 3 more characters! What does he do? No problem! He will add the three characters. It should be obvious that if he meant to write a 500 page novel with 2 lead characters, maybe with 3 more characters, his novel is going to become an 800 page novel! What does he do? Well, no problem – he will add the three hundred pages with ease. The novelist is now writing the 600th page of his book and he feels that somewhere there is a loop hole in the plot. He suspends his writing and then thinks about a better way of presenting a particular part which allows him to take care of the discovered loophole. He probably goes and makes a change in the 413th page, then another play of words in the 499th page and done – the novel reads much better now!
Let us now suppose that we have a movie producer who thinks this novel can become a fantastic movie! Let us ask the primary question – can his script look like a novel? Ah! He would then not be making a movie but a television series! No, important things will have to be paid more attention and some things will have to but cut off! But who makes the decisions? A screenplay writer and maybe even the novelist is roped in to help out. Elements of plot, more central than the others are chosen. Some characters have to be discarded. Along with the characters, some story elements have to be discarded for consistency. When the final script is prepared, the producer and the director go through it and they might be saying exactly the same thing which you and I with our buttocks warm on our sofas, would say, “Hmmm. This does not have that depth!” The movie maker ask - “Hey, can we not bring that part in?” The screenplay writers say, “If you do that, you also have to get that part in and this character and so on. The screenplay would have to be expanded for 40 more minutes.” And needless to say, in a movie, the cost can be measured as some hundreds or thousands of dollars per second! Adding thirty minutes more is not going to be easy at all!
Finally, a script is approved. Actors have been casted. The crew has been assembled. The locations have been chosen. The schedule has been designed. The novel consists of a female lead who thinks and acts in a specific way. When I read the novel, I am going to paint a picture for myself as to how this character would look and behave if she were standing in front of me, in real life. This is the tough part! You and I cannot agree on the interpretation! No matter how great the director, somewhere the actress' perception and understanding of the character will creep in the movie! Then there is another problem – stereotyping. You may have seen this actress in another movie playing an opposite kind of role and somehow, your emotional part of the brain does not allow you to accept this actress playing this particular role whereas her audition indicated the opposite to the director and producer.
As the movie is filmed, more problems may occur. Some elements may not work out so well in the final cut and there is very little editing that you can do to change things for the best. I cannot vouch for this but I am sure that many a times the crew thinks - “Ah, we could have done this better...” Finally, the movie is released. Mixed reactions, good and bad! “Bad” say the people who read the novel. “Good / Not bad”, say the peeople who went with a clean slate, an unbiased mind into the movie hall! And then comes my worst moment, sitting in the corner of the sofa, sipping a drink casually and asking, “So, how is the movie, any reviews?” and getting the usual reply, “Pathetic! The novel was way better!” A nice one line summary for years of effort of trying to present the story of a novel using a new challenging medium.
Let me make a few things very clear before signing off! I do not support the extreme opinion that a movie based on a novel should not be criticised at all. But its criticism should be done in a way that fits the category and not just a one line summary comparing apples and oranges. Also, I clearly made the life of a novelist look very smooth and easy in one of my above paragraphs. But my point was not to say that a novelist has an easy job on his hands but has a clear advantage that he is the sole master of the work he is producing, free from restrictions and other problems – technical or non-technical, that plague the other medium of telling a story. The whole idea was to contrast and compare the conditions under which the two pieces of work are produced, thus making them, at least in my opinion, apples and oranges! I dedicate this post to all the film makers who have taken up the challenging task described above with whatever success. My salutations to you for your efforts!