The Guide By R.K. Narayan: An Adaptation From Novel To Film

Abstract

Adaptation in the film industry is not a new concept. History abounds with examples that almost three-fourths of all films ever made are the adaptions from novels, plays or short stories borrowed from the classic literature in every language. Our Indian film industry is of no exception. Right from the beginning till date, it has been coming up with a good number of super hit films, which are an adaption of a famous novel or play or a short story of either regional, Indian or a foreign author. It is often said that the printed text is superior to the filmed version in one way or the other. But at the same time, it is equally true that a film director is not bound to copy the original text form as it is. He has every right to eliminate or add some characters and incidents which may or may not be a part of original text form. The filmmaker not only adds or eliminates some incidents from the original text, but also makes some major changes. This he does so that he can cater to the taste of all sorts of public. He has to compress even the lengthiest novel or story into maximum of three hours. Vijay Anand’s ‘Guide’ takes one hundred and seventy minutes to present Narayan’s story of two hundred and forty seven pages. The objective of this paper is to focus on such adaptation – the adaptation of R.K.Narayan’s ‘Sahitya Akademi Award’ winning novel The Guide to Vijay Anand’s film ‘Guide’. This paper is also an humble attempt to trace the changes made by the director of the film, Vijay Anand and to show how these changes made the film a grand success and received several awards and recognition. A film, which is remembered for its creative direction by Vijay Anand and for the outstanding performance by actors Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman.