Phoenix Reflections

Reading provides news dimensions to ones imagination. It opens up ones senses making everything subjective to the reader. Many a times, popular novels and biographies are adapted onscreen. But do they translate and connect with an audience who has already created their own visual movie through their minds eye? The problem is that while some books make successful movies, many crash at the box office due to lack of substance.

A book venture by first time writer Khaled Hosseini, "The Kite Runner" was an instant bestseller when it hit book stands. In the present scenario where war ravages in almost all parts of the world, the writer has packed the life of a boy seeking acceptability and superiority with the backdrop of a turbulent country environment. Connecting readers with forgotten emotions the book is a nail bitter till the very end.

This heart wrenching winner will raise every hair of your body making you question human traits of honesty loyalty and devotion. Set in the backdrop of the atrocities that contaminated the Afghan Society during the Taliban rule and the Soviet invasion this book tells a story about Amir whose innocence is tainted by ulterior selfish motives and grows up to repent all the pain he inflicted.

Rewiew of The Kite Runner by The New York Times

Did the same tension the book promised from its first page which it successfully delivered till the very end translate onscreen?

Apparently Marc Forster, the director didn’t do much to keep the kite flying high! Known for intense drama and award winners such as Monsters Ball and Finding Neverland, The Kite Runner is a disappointment, both for movie buffs and book worms. While adapting the gist of the story aptly, the director could not capture the internal turmoil of the individuals that made the book such a sensation.

The film follows the story of two boys living a contended life in Afghanistan around the 1970's. While one is the son of the respected businessman, the other a son of a servant. This status difference doesn’t stop Amir (Zekiria Ebrahimi) and Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzadaand) from bonding and spending their entire childhood exuding innocence and flying kites. Life goes on, with Hassan sacrificing all for the other and Amir, in his yearn to gain the respect of his father, baring his inner demons. Testing times approach with Hassan being raped by a gang of boys (all in the tender age of adolescence) and Amir fails his companion by turning away. With the invasion of the Soviet in 1979, Amir and father are dispelled from their roots and follow a path that takes them to a land of dreams, America where their endeavor to build their life again. Expecting to leave behind all the guilt baggage, Hassan's loyalty and Amir's cowardice comes back to haunt him.
Those watching the book unravel on the big screen; first have to familiarize themselves with raw actors, seen rarely on film. Once that is out of the way, readers try to find the intricacy that keeps them hooked to the book. Many gripping moments may not gel with the visualization of the reader. Another drawback moviegoer's face is the constant attention division between the subtitles and the onscreen motion, missing out on unique moments. Breathtaking locales are a saving grace to the entire bookish adaptation debacle. However, giving credit to the captain of the ship, the direction is worthy of praise. Marc Forster brought out the best of the child protagonists and adult Amir (Khalid Abdalla) was topnotch as a spineless man.

Read the movie review at: MovieFreak

Risky Waters- Should Directors Adapt?

Adaptation genre is a tricky territory. It is near impossible to build the aura of a bestselling book. Imagination being individual specific, readers probably approach adaptations with a preconceived vision, which once not created leads to immense discontent. The filmmaker has to bind a 326 page book into a 2 hour film and therefore has to forgo instances that a reader may look forward to. Comparison apart, someone who is oblivious of the raging book, approaching the film as another of Mark's masterpiece will leave the theater with renewed understanding of world that is ravaged by violence and mayhem.