Turning pages or Tuning channels?

A giant mug of hot chocolate and a seat by your window with a big fat book in your hand or A bowl of popcorn and a comfy cushion in front of the same book turned in to a movie? Well, an eternal debate I had to face since I knew sky is blue and birds flew. I wouldn’t be lying if I say I have my own movie playing in my head while reading a classic piece of literature or a contemporary young adult romance. All the years I’ve done that, now I regret why I haven’t tried to be a movie director with the awesome screen play I’ve been writing in my mind. I mean, I literally am bringing every character to life. Pun intended. In the recent years, I’ve started giving a try on the people who are actually doing it.

Among the hundreds of book-based movies now piling up in the nook and corners of Hollywood and a few in Bollywood too, My first was 3 Idiots, an inspired story of Chetan Bhagat’s best-seller,Five Point Someone. Raj Kumar Hirani did truly draw my exact play of the book on to the silver screen or should I say a better version. Okay,if such things are happening,why give my little brain more trouble to imagine things? With this vicious thought,one Sunday morning I did plan things out.

Two annoyingly freakish best friends. Check. A huge bowl of salted popcorn. Check. A comfy red couch. Check. Last and final. A few CD’S of adoptions of my favorite books. Check. CD after CD,we weren’t even taking a break except for the popcorn refill.That too because of my giant mouthed dear best friend. The reactions at the beginning felt like We are gonna love it… This is going to be more realistic than the book…You even have the back ground music playing for that really awesome scene,now,how lovely is that??… It was the same in the start. However, the Sunday didn’t turn out as expected. It was actually fascinating at first at the thought  of having whole of my favorite book play in front of me in real characters on the screen.

Minutes passed. Hours as well.Then it went like Wait,This is not how I imagined it to be… Really?Where on earth was my favorite part?… That girl wasn’t a freakin’ blonde in the book… and the list went on. Trust me when I said whole,I literally meant whole and most of the movies failed in that area for me. Directors in the thought of bringing their touch to the film always tend to change some major plot twists leaving the dry parts unchanged. But there are some movies which really lived up to the expectations of its book version too.

For instance The Notebook,screened by Nick Cassavetes,did give the best overall view of Nicholas Spark’s 224 paged epitome of longing love. But when I didn’t find Peeves in any of the eight Harry Potter movies and Holly Kennedy wasn’t the same independent young woman who didn’t change her surname even after her marriage in the movie version of P.S.I Love You? Somebody please pass me my mug of hot brewed chocolate. I am done with the popcorn and my big fat ole’ page friend is waiting for me!