India, being a vast and ancient country, boasts a repository of folktales, with a diverse and complex range of stories, emerging from all walks of life. Folktales are those poetic texts that carry some of their cultural contexts within them. They are a traveling metaphor that finds a new meaning with each new telling.
The fascinating tales vary from the enthralling ‘Panchatantra’ to ‘Hitopadesha’, from ‘Jataka’ to ‘Akbar-Birbal’. Adding to this, famous Indian epics such as ‘Ramayana’, ‘Mahabharata’ and ‘Bhagavad Gita’ are full of didactic stories based on great souls’ lives. Indian folklore, filled with moralistic principles and right values are perfect stories for children. The stories have been passed from generation to generation, creating bondage between traditional values with present-day generations.
Over the years, several popular myths, tales, and legends have been adapted in cinema, some so deftly that most wouldn’t even recognize the origin of the story.
Everyone must have watched Hum Saath Saath Hai(1999) once, a sugary-sweet family drama by Rajshri Films. It was certainly a music-laden happily-ever-after fairy tale. But upon closely following the plot, it won’t be wrong to say that it was loosely based on the story of Ramayana, where the elder brother stoically chooses the self-imposed exile.
Yes, indeed- Ramayana has been the subject of a slew of legendary films, as well as one of the most successful television series of all time. There are many direct adaptations of the Ramayana, but not many less obvious thematic approaches or modernization of the stories.
Raavan (2010), is an action thriller film, in which Abhishek Bachchan’s character is based on the evil king of Lanka, Ravana.
Even Tamil cinema has adapted lesser-known Ramayana stories, such as the 1999 film Vaali. Though not a true adaptation, the title of the film refers to the brotherly conflict between the monkey warriors Sugreeva and Vali in the Ramayana.
Several Hindi films have also taken inspiration from the epic Mahabharata. Though many mythological tales have taken excerpts from the Mahabharat, there are some conceptual changes or modernizations too.
To put it in modern words, Prakash Jha’s film Rajneeti(2010) is a recreation of the Mahabharata set in Kalyug, the sordid world of politics, with policymakers and politicians replacing the kings. On similar grounds, the movie Kalyug(1981) depicts two brothers who are pitted against each other in terms of power and wealth.
Mahabharata has not only given birth to numerous folktales but also the characters have been engraved in our minds, for times to come. They have been strangely woven with our cinema culture, keeping their literal and figurative significance intact. The movies maneuvering the legendary characters can be seen in Arjun: The warrior prince or Eklavya: The Royal Guard(2007).
It can’t be denied that Indian films are a form of fantasy on their own (especially Karan Johar films!), but it’s fun when Indian Cinema dips its toes in this genre.
The direct adaptations of folklore can be seen in movies like Rani Aur Lalpari(1975) or Ali Baba Aur Chalis Chor(1980), which took excerpts from our all-time favorite 1,001 Arabian Nights. The movie Hisss was also inspired by the Far Eastern legend of the snake woman who can transform into a human.
The list of movies having the essence of Indian folklore is just never-ending!
One reason for this is that folktales have always triggered the imagination. They are a perfect gateway to the exciting worlds of culture and literature. Maybe, that’s why cinema has from time to time fallen back on literature in search of stories to present. Literature, and especially, folktales have always found a way to the silver screen. Though adopting a narrative for the film is a difficult task, more compounded if the story happens to be a classic!
(Originally published on ScriveTribe)
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