Bookworm or movie buff?

Shaz, RUWI and SACHI

It’s nearly 6 pm and V3 contemplate on signing off and heading to one of our favourite hotspots. Ruwi puts the finishing touches on an article for Artscope when Sachi sneaks up behind and makes a grab at the book lying next to her.

“Shaa, look at the size of this book. It will take me ages to go thorough this,” he exclaims holding up J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy.

Shaz joins in: “Yeah, but I enjoyed the film first before reading the book.”

Ruwi pauses a bit to listen to her mates before giving her opinion.

“Strangely it was actually the film that lured me to take up the novel. How many films based on books have that effect on you? The animation of the whole work is brilliant. I actually enjoyed the film more than the book.”

Shaz agrees: “True, but my personal preference is books over movies. A book gives you more flexibility and opportunity to recreate your own sense of imagination, with more depth and freedom. Harry Potter is a good example. I imagined the game Quiddich to be more magical and it was quite different to what the filmmaker had sketched out.”

“Same here. There was something unrealistic when they portrayed the dragons in ‘The Goblet of Fire’. The animation was a glaring contrast to the real human figure of Daniel Radcliff and other actors in the scene. A top director once related to me that digital technology in the film does well only when the audience couldn’t guess where the graphics are used.” Ruwi added.

Anxious to make an early retreat before someone spots V3 together and piles them with more work, Sachi suggests continuing the conversation in a more relaxed environment. So after a couple of ‘hold on a sec’s, ‘Shaz is on the phone again’s, ‘Is Sachi still in the loo?’s and bidding a hasty good bye to Mr G, V3 finally make it to the road.

“The books give an opportunity to imagine more than the film. If you go ahead and watch the film without reading the book, you have many things to lose. I would personally encourage people to read the book before the film,” Shaz picks up the conversation.

“Film is what the director imagines. The reel limits your imagination of what you have read. That’s why many films made out of books become flops with novelists complaining that justice is not done to their work,” Sachi adds.

Ruwi expresses her opinion: “I watched this American flick some time ago and it was supposed to be based on a novel. My cousin read the book and told me that though the characters are the same, the movie’s plot is completely different. They have highlighted the romance while the book emphasises treachery and betrayal.”

“Ron Howard did an exceptional job with ‘A Beautiful Mind’ but in ‘The Da Vinci Code’, the scene manipulation is not that appealing. Ditto for ‘The English Patient’ as the frames are monotonous.

The book is a bit tedious too, but you could still enjoy the sentence structures and skip a few monotonous pages. Both the novel and the film of ‘Remains of the Day’ are equally superb. Books are very handy.

You can refer to it and clarify facts at times, but you can’t do the same with a movie. You might end up clueless at some occasions unless you watch a VHS or a DVD,” Sachi goes on while increasing his pace.

However he doesn’t hesitate to add: “There are a few Sinhala films better than the novel. Tissa Abeysekara’s Viragaya came out well. Some people have failed to achieve this aspect.”

“Directors should give a lot of thought before choosing the book. Some filmmakers see award winning novels as easy-cash spinners. But there is more to it than that, and ultimately the book will also be tarnished if the film is not up to the standards,” Ruwi notes.

“And you should look at a book with a literary perception while a film should be judged in the angle of a movie critic. This is the downside with Sri Lankan critics because they don’t grade these two categories with different perceptions. There is another issue. For instance America doesn’t have well-grounded reading culture like the British.

They will rather watch a movie for two or three hours. This was the case with Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire too. The Booker prize-winning book was turned into a movie because people hardly had any time for the book,” Shaz muses.

Sachi rams his hand into his bag and comes out with a huge volume and a wide grin.

“Now this is one book I would like to see made into a film,” he smirks as he traces his finger along the letters on the cover.

Shaz takes one look at Ken Follett’s ‘Pillars of the Earth’ and giggles: “Ha, ha... I knew he would somehow bring that up at one point. He is obsessed with that book. He is almost married to it!”

“Well, we have almost made it and looks like we have nothing to discuss further,” Ruwi jokes, nudging Shaz indicating to the small cafe at the end of the street.

“Ah, so with work done we can enjoy the evening with some snacks and good books. Now that is my idea of heaven.” Sachi’s smile broadens as he clutches his precious book to his chest.

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