In a searing critique of the current state of filmmaking, legendary Tamil writer and screenwriter B. Jeyamohan stated that literature has been effectively purged from modern cinema. Delivering the Vijay Tendulkar Memorial Lecture at the 24th Pune International Film Festival, Jeyamohan argued that the lack of literary depth has led to a cycle of repetitive, uninspired content.
Jeyamohan observed that filmmakers have stopped looking at life or literature for inspiration, choosing instead to replicate existing cinematic tropes.
Current films are based on other films. Literature is lost from them. That is why we see the same type of films everywhere. Five to six thematic threads appear common across the board
B. Jeyamohan
For those looking to bridge the gap between the page and the screen, Jeyamohan offered several "non-negotiable" rules:
Visuals over verbiage: Cinema is a visual medium. Visuals must remain paramount, and philosophical discussions detailed in a novel should be avoided.
Write fresh dialogues: Never lift dialogues directly from a book; screen dialogues must be new, concise, and punchy.
Capture the essence: Don’t take the content literally; find your own "narrative thread" and build it around the inherent drama of the main character.
He said that screenplays should be written with a clear focus on impactful visuals, stressing that a screenplay must capture the essence of the entire novel while building the narrative around the main character and the inherent drama.
Speaking about novels, he explained that there are two broad types: artistic and commercial. Artistic novels, he said, fall into three categories: classical, modernist, and anti-novels i.e. formless.
Classical novels contain philosophical discourse and present a realistic depiction of culture, which he described as a very high-quality form. Modernist novels are individualistic, with narratives that revolve around a single person and include conflict, making them suitable for cinema.
Anti-novels, he noted, are marked by fragmented sentences and the depiction of personalities and mindsets.
Large artistic novels are not suitable for film adaptation, nor are the anti novels, however, modernist and commercial novels are suitable for cinema.
B. Jeyamohan
I wandered across the country as a beggar for two years. I witnessed a murder, and from that, the novel Yezhaam Ulagam and the film Naan Kadavul were created.
B. Jeyamohan
Sharing his personal experiences, he added that his novel Yezhaam Ulagam is now being released in English under the title The Abyss.
Reflecting on the unpredictability of the industry, where he wrote a novel for Mani Ratnam's film Kadal, he added.
I wrote a 700-page novel for the movie Kadal, but it did not succeed. However, now after 15 years, that novel is being published
B. Jeyamohan
He also emphasize on the role and command of a filmmaker, besides the story or the script. Noting, that while purely commercial novels may be literary incomplete, an excellent director can still craft a good film from them.
