Shakespeare in Indian Cinema

With the arrival of the British Colonisers, many things came to India and Shakespeare was one of them. And since then he has been the source of inspiration for countless writers, scholars, artists and film producers in India. Naseeruddin Shah once said in an interview: “Every big story in Hindi films is inspired by Shakespeare in some way”.

It is believed that teachers liked Richardson were the first who created a literary taste for Shakespearean drama in the minds of the Indian audience and the students of Bangal at the beginning of the 19^th century. Richardson used to teach his students how to recite and act the scenes of Shakespearean plays. In 1837, the first time some students from Bangal performed The Merchant of Venice in the house of Governor. In 1853 students of Oriental Academy staged Othello.  The same group of students performed The Merchant of Venice in 1854 and Henry IV in 1855.

In 1868, Oriental Theatrical Company came into existence in Mumbai. After that, some Parsi companies took over the task to play Shakespeare’s dramas in various parts of India. Actually, these companies or theatrical groups paved the way for Shakespeare in Indian art and cinema.   These groups did a lot to popularise the bard in Indian society in the local language. King Lear as Haar jeet in 1902, Twelfth Night as Bhool Bhuliayan (1905) and Anthony and Cleopatra as Kali Nagin are some of the translations by Parsi companies. But later translations like Raja Lear in 1915 and Measure for Measure as Bagula Bhagat in 1923 are perhaps better translations than the earlier ones. Translation of Shakespearean plays were first published in a magazine named ‘Shakespeare’ brought out by Narayan Parsad ‘Betab’ (1872–1945)

In the early twentieth century, Sohrab Modi enacted the role of Hamlet in his movie called, Khoon Ka Khoon (1935). Naseem Bano played Ophelia, and Shamshad Bai played the role of Gertrude. The Indian adaptation was written by Mehdi Ahsan. In 1941, J. J. Madan followed Sohrab Modi and adapted The Merchant of Venice for his Hindi film titled, Zalim Saudagar. The Indian adaptation was written by Pandit Bhushan. Similarly in the latter half of the twentieth century, the trend of adaptation flourished with the release of the film

Angoor (1982), which was directed by Gulzar. Angoor based on one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays The Comedy of Errors a farcical comedy. It is the story of two pairs of identical twins and mistaken identities; the two pairs of identical twins are separated at birth and their lives go haywire when their paths cross in adulthood. The film stars Sanjeev Kumar, Maushumi Chatterjee, Deven Verma and Deepti Naval among others. Like the original play, the film is supremely hilarious.

Romeo and Juliet unarguably Shakespeare’s most popular play has been adapted million times by filmmakers all over and Bollywood too isn’t far behind, the play has been adapted into several movies like – Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Ek Duje Ke Liye Ishaqzaade, and the recent Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram Leela.  A recent movie Dil Bole Hadippa is a pure Shakespearean comedy. It actually simplifies the original Shakespearean plot, and really just takes from it the basic elements: girl pretends to be a boy, meets another boy, and they eventually fall in love as in The Twelfth Night.

 The art of cinematic adaptation in Indian cinema has been redefined by the Shakespearean trilogy of Vishal Bhardwaj. He won big accolades in filmmaking specifically for his Shakespearean trilogy that consisted of three movies, Maqbool (2003) based on Macbath, Omkara (2006) based on Othello, and Haider (2014) on Hamlet. Bhardwaj does not indulge in rampant plagiarism, but on the contrary, in many of his interviews, he acknowledged his admiration of Shakespearean drama. He says: 'Shakespeare is the greatest storyteller ever. His stories have layers of spectacular human drama. I think they can be adapted anywhere and in any language. I can live my whole life on Shakespeare.'

In the words of T. S. Eliot, “No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists” 'Classics are adapted because they have an evergreen quality. Through adaptation, we are just casting them into another mould and keeping them alive,' writer Saurabh Shukla is quoted as saying. Shakespeare captured human emotions like no other and that is why he has captured the imaginations of people worldwide through generations. Shakespearean Literature has definitely crossed the limits of time and space and has been reigning in the literary world and cinema of different countries and different languages for centuries. 

Panchlight

                                                                          Analysis

Panchlight is one of the most popular short stories of Phanishwar Nath Renu. The narrative of the story revolves around the arrival of Panchlight (Petromax) in Mahto Toli (caste-based the group in the village) of an undisclosed village in rural Bihar. Panchlight is the central character around which Renu weaves his narrative.

The Panchayat of Mahto Toli decides to purchase a Panchlight from the fines collected over a period of several months. Panchlight has become some sort of prestige issue of possession for the Mahto Toli, more, since the rival Toli has already purchased it. The author carries the readers from the fair to the village and finally establishes the climax where the villagers are caught in a catch-22 situation in front of their Panchlight, since no one knows how to light it in the Toli. Quite vividly, Renu depicts the anxiety and impending dishonour and humiliation the Toli is bound to face if a member of rival Toli lights their Panchlight.

In such a scenario, the Toli will lose all honour and will become a butt of laughter among the other Tolis of the village. However, in an anti-climax, a young man named Godhan, who faces social expulsion from the Panchayat, for an alleged eve-teasing and singing lewd cinema song to his lady love Munari, restores the honour of the Toli by lighting the Panchlight. 

The theme of honour is one of the vital themes in Panchlight. This theme operates at two levels in the narrative – one, at the individual level and the other, at the level of the community collective. Renu, quite cleverly juxtaposes the two. In order to analyze this juxtaposition, it is imperative for us to see its individual and collective operation. Godhan, the young man of the Toli, who is socially expelled, is guilty of defying the individual honour of Munari, Gulri Kaki’s daughter and the ‘collective daughter’ of the Toli. The Panchayat unanimously pronounces the verdict when Godhan threatens this individual honour of the “daughter of the village”: Munari’s mother had filed a complaint against Godhan in the Panchayat that he sings lewd songs by looking at her daughter. The Panchayat already had a grudge against Godhan. He has settled here from another village and so far did not extend any offerings to the Panchayat. The Panchayat got the chance. It slapped a fine of ten rupees on Godhan, failing which he will be expelled from the Toli… till today Godhan is facing expulsion.

However, this individual honour is abandoned or rather pushed aside when the collective honour of the Toli is at stake. Godhan is the only one in the Toli who has the expertise to light the Panchlight. The situation is full of anxiety for the Panchayat and the Toli, though eventually, the collective honour of Toli prevails over the individual honour: …Till today Godhan is facing expulsion. How does one ask him to come and lit the Panchlight! On the other hand, the entire caste was losing face. Quite cleverly, Munari puts the suggestion (that Godhan knows to light the Panchlight) in Kaneli’s ear. “Godhan knows how to light the Panchlight.” Kaneli declared. “Who? Godhana? He knows! But....” The Chief looked at the secretary and the secretary looked at the members of the Panchayat. After all, the decision to expel Godhan was unanimous. The entire village was angry with Godhan singing vulgar cinema songs and making sheep’s eye towards village girls. The chief said, “What is the logic of expelling him from the caste when the honour of the caste is itself at stake!” What is your take, Mr. Secretary? True, true- replied the secretary. The members of the Panchayats pronounced unanimously, “All right. Let the expulsion be lifted away from Godhan.”

After the ban is lifted, Godhan is called upon to light the Panchlight and save the day for the Toli. Once the Panchlight is lit, the villagers and the Panchayat experience a change of heart towards Godhan. The Toli makes him a hero though he was a zero a few moments ago. Munari’s mother, who complained against him a few days ago for eve-teasing, invites Godhan for the supper. This shows the fluid nature of honour and its obedience in the rural set-up.

 The innocence and the simple-mindedness of the villagers could be observed through the superstitions which surround the lamp and through the depiction of their struggles and actions when they are subjected to modern technology.

The Refugee

Summary

K.A. Abbas is a well known Indian journalist, film director and writer. ‘The Refugee’ is one of his famous short stories. Through the life of Maanji, the author narrates the suffering of people uprooted from home and family during the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.

Maanji’s life before the Partition at Rawalpindi:

Maanji is the mother of the author’s Sikh friend. Maanji and her husband were Sikhs. They lived in a two-storied house in Rawalpindi which is now in Pakistan. She and her husband led a happy life. Their only son lived in Bombay. But the old couple never wished to leave Rawalpindi. They had a small piece of land and also got rent by letting out the shops in the building. Most of her tenants were Muslims. They had many Muslim friends too. Maanji was a kind; old lady. She owned a buffalo which gave more than ten seers of milk every day. She used the milk to make curd every day. After stirring out the butter she would distribute fresh buttermilk to all her neighbours.

The Life of Maanji during Partition

Maanji knew about the partition of India and Pakistan from the newspapers. But it did not trouble her. She thought politics was not for ordinary people like her. There were violent communal clashes. Many Hindu and Sikh families left Rawalpindi. Maanji thought it would all settle down soon. She did not want to leave Rawalpindi. Refugees came to Rawalpindi from East Punjab. She never thought of her Muslim neighbours as her enemy. Instead, she donated food, clothes and blankets to the Muslim refugees who came from India.

 Maanji’s Faith

Then an incident happened that shattered Maanji’s faith. She was shocked to see a Hindu tonga-wallah stabbed to death in front of her house by a Muslim mob. Muslims killed even the horse that had neither religion nor caste. Maanji knew that the madness had gone too far. She and her husband left Rawalpindi and came to Bombay as refugees.

Maanji’s Life as a Refugee

In Bombay, Maanji and her husband lived in a small rented house with their son. The house was very small with a single room. That room served them main hall, kitchen room,   bathroom and also a storeroom. At Rawalpindi, she had few servants to do her household works. But now she does all sorts of her work in the house at Bombay. She kept her house very neatly. Occasionally, she sent letters to her Muslim neighbours at Rawalpindi. They also sent letters to Maanji. On reading them, she was moved to tears. She never hated any of her Muslim neighbours even there was communal hostility between Hindus and Muslims. The Old memories were very sweet to her and she wept on the past happy incidents with them.

Conclusion

‘The Refugee’ is a moving and thought-provoking story. It tells us how communal hatred and violence can affect the lives of innocent people.  Maan ji’s Muslim neighbours are also good in nature. But the dirty politics and inefficient governments have made an irreparable gap between the lives of them.

Bellows for the Bullocks

                                                                         Summary

This is a popular folk tale of Haryana. It is a story of a simple peasant who has been created by the thugs and he teaches them a lesson. 

Once there was a peasant. He had a small piece of land and he was hardworking and wise. After a lot of hard work and saving, he was able to save fifty rupees. He decided to buy a bullock with a prospect to make a pair of bullocks with any other poor peasant’s bullock so that both the peasants might be able to do farming in a proper way.   

The peasant visited annual cattle fair. As he had only fifty rupees so it was difficult to buy a good bullock. He looked an old bullock. It was of a good breed. So, he decided to buy that.

After buying the bullock the peasant stated towards his village. The evening fell. He decided to spend a night in the house of a farmer. But that was the house of a thug. The thug had four sons. All were perfect in the act of cheating. They sensed that a simple peasant had come into their trap and could be cheated easily.

They allowed the peasant to stay in their house. They also offered to buy the bullock. Peasant thought to make a profit. He became ready to sell the bullock. He demanded one hundred and twenty-five rupees for his bullock. But the sons of the thug said that it was too much. One of the sons suggested that they should have a Panch for a judicious purchase. The peasant looked at the old thug who was sitting in a corner. He was pretending aloof of this bargain. The peasant approached the old thug to be a Panch. It was an actual plan of the thugs and a simple peasant could not see that.

After testing the peasant the old thug announced that the bullock of the peasant was two and half a rupee. The peasant had no option but to accept the money and he left for his village. He was very sad. He was a man of self-respect. He could not tolerate that he was befooled by the thugs. He decided to take revenge. He made a plan.

Next morning he disguised himself. He put on the clothes of his wife. He was looking like a beautiful woman and went into the house of the thugs. All the sons wanted to marry that woman. They entered in a quarrel to win her. The peasant who was in the guise of a woman demanded different things. The sons rushed to bring that.

When the sons were gone, the peasant took off his guise and gave the old thug a sound beating. He wanted to teach him a lesson. He took five hundred rupees and went away. The sons of thug came back. They were very angry and sad to see the plight of their father but were helpless.      

            The peasant felt that his thirst for revenge had not quenched. He put the guise of a Hakeem and went near the Thug’s house. The thug sent his sons to call Hakeem for his treatment. Hakeem checked the patient and sent the sons in four directions to bring some herbs. As the sons went away the peasant took off his guise and gave the thug another round of pounding. The thug offered two hundred rupees to save his life. The peasant took the money and went.

             The peasant wanted to teach a lesson to the thugs that they would never think to cheat a simple man in the future. He made a plan. He engaged a cowherd to say in front of the thug’s house if the bullock was worth two and a half rupee. The cowherd boy was robust and became ready at once. He did exactly the same. The old thug heard and felt that the peasant was back.  He made his sons chase him. As the sons went to catch him the peasant was again in the house of thugs.

            The old thug begged for his life. He promised that he and his sons would not cheat anyone in the future. The peasant went away. Since that day they gave up the bad habit. And the peasant did not keep all the money for himself. He spent that to renovate the community well and ghats of ponds in his village.  

Punctuation

Punctuation is the system of signs or symbols given to a reader to show how a sentence is constructed and how it should be read.

 Every sentence should include at least a capital letter at the start and a full stop or exclamation mark or question mark at the end. This basic system indicates that the sentence is complete.

The Basic Signs of Punctuation

Ø  the full stop.

Ø  the comma,

Ø  the exclamation mark!

Ø  the question mark?

Ø  the semi-colon ;

Ø  the colon :

Ø  the apostrophe '

Ø  quotation marks “   ”

Ø  the hyphen -  

A)    Use of Capital Letter     

Capital Letter is used:

1)      To begin  a sentence

2)      To begin each first line of poetry.

3)      To begin all proper nouns and a proper adjective like Delhi, Ram, Sita, (Proper Nouns) French, Indian (Proper Adjectives)

4)      To write the pronoun ‘I’.

5)      To begin the first word of direct speech within inverted commas

Ram said, “She is not obeying the rules.”

 But when the quotation is continued, the first word does not begin with a capital letter in later part as:  “She is not obeying the rules”, said Ram, “and she will be punished.”

6)      To begin with, all the nouns and pronouns referring to God: The Almighty, His will etc.

7)      To begin people’s title: Mr Gupta, Dr Ram, the Chairman, Prof.

8)      To begin with the names of months: January, March, December etc.

9)       To begin with names of days Monday, Tuesday, Sunday etc.

10)   To begin with names public holidays: Dewali, Republic Day, Christmas, Id etc.

11)   To begin with the title of books: The Gita, The Ramayana, Godan, Hamlet etc.

12)   To begin with the historical events: Quit India, the Reformation etc.

13)  To begin with names of political parties: The Congress, the Bhartiya Janta Party etc.

14)  To begin with names of communities /religions Hindu, Muslim, Sikh etc.

15)   To begin with the names of stars/planet: Mars, Jupiter etc.  

B)    Use of Full Stop

The full stop, also known as a period, is used:

1)      To mark the end of a statement sentence:   This is the most important function. Every statement sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop. The full stop marks off a finished, independent statement.

2)      To mark an abbreviation:  Full stop is used to mark an abbreviation i.e. Dec. for December, B.A. for Bachelor of Arts, M.L.A. M.P. etc. A full stop is not generally used for contraction. (Contraction example Dr for doctor means the first and last letter of word.) The full stop is also not used in acronyms like AIDS, NASA, ISSRO, ATM, SIM, USA etc.

3)      Less frequently, a series of three full stops (an ellipsis) can be used to indicate where a section of a quotation has been omitted when it is not relevant to the text, for example:

“The boy was happy… at the start of his summer holiday.”

C)    Use of the Comma (,)

The comma is used in a sentence:

Ø  To mark pause before proceeding

Ø  To add a phrase that does not contain any new subject

Ø  To separate items on a list

Ø  To use more than one adjective (a describing word, like beautiful)

For example, in the following sentence the phrase or clause between the commas gives us more information behind the actions of the boy, the subject of the sentence:

           The boy, who knew that his mother had arrived, ran quickly towards the opening door.

Ø  Commas are also used to separate items in a list.

For example:

The shopping trolley was loaded high with bottles of beer, fruit, vegetables, toilet rolls, cereals and cartons of milk.

Note that in a list, the final two items are linked by the word ‘and’ rather than by a comma.

Ø  Commas are used to separate adjectives.

For example:

The boy was happy, eager and full of anticipation at the start of his summer holiday.

Ø  Comma is used to mark off the beginning of direct speech or quotation.

For Example:

Ram said, “I am playing football.”

It is pertinent to note that the presence or absence of a comma can change –or even destroy the meaning of a sentence. For example:

1 The textual questions, which are compulsory, must be answered. (Means all the textual questions are compulsory)

2 The textual questions which are compulsory must be answered. (Means some questions are compulsory)

It is also to be noted that comma separates while the conjunction joins.  

D)     The Exclamation mark (!)

 An exclamation mark indicates strong feeling within a sentence, such as fear, anger, happiness, command, wonder, sadness, contempt or love. It can also be used to indicate a sharp instruction.

 For Example: Alas!

                        Stop!

                       Oh no! etc.

E)    The  Question Mark  (?)

     The question mark is used to mark the end of a question sentence.
For Example: Have you understood this?
Question Mark is not used at the end of indirect speech.
For Example, I asked if you had understood that.

F)    The Semicolon (;)

The semicolon is stronger than a comma but weaker than a full stop (period). A full stop separates two independent clauses with complete finality; a semicolon, on the other hand, signals a less final ending and indicates that the following clause will convey an additional idea that is closely related to the current one. Thus, the semicolon tells the reader to expect more information on the same idea, whereas a period, signals a clear end to the idea just expressed. Generally, a semicolon is used as:

Ø  To separate clauses

Ø  To create variety

Ø  To emphasize relatedness

Ø  To separate items in a complex list

Semicolons Separate Clauses:

Semicolons separate things. Most commonly, they separate two main clauses that are closely related to each other but could stand on their own as sentences if you wanted them to.

For example, I have a big test tomorrow; I can't go out tonight.

Semicolons Create Variety: 

 One reason you might choose to use a semicolon instead of a period is if you wanted to add variety to your sentence structure. 

Semicolons Emphasize Relatedness:

Another reason to use a semicolon is to draw attention to how related your two clauses are. The semicolon in our example sentence highlights the reason you can't go out tonight is that you have a big test tomorrow. 

Semicolons Can Separate Items in a Complex List

It can be used with coordinating conjunction also occurs when we have an excess of commas: it's when we need to separate list elements that contained commas themselves.

For example:

This week's winners are Ram, Mohan and Joy from Delhi; Sohan, Shyam and Ravi from Karnal;  Shiv, Hari and Parkash from Jind.

G)    The Colon (:)

The colon is used in following ways:

Ø  To introduce a list

For Example, We will discuss: voice, narration, punctuation and phrasal verbs.  

Ø  To introduce quotation

Keats said: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

Ø  To mark a dramatic break between two main clauses.

They cannot win: we will not lose.  

Ø  To separate hours from minutes

At 10:30 a.m.

H)    The Apostrophe (')

The apostrophe is used in two ways:

a)      To mark the genitive case (the case expressing ownership) of a noun.

Boy’s table

Ram’s chair

But when the word ends with s we do not put (‘) without (s) in the end

Keats’ poetry

Fairies’ tale

When two or more proper nouns share the ownership we mark (‘s) nearest to the possessed noun.

Salim and Javed’s story.

b)      To mark the omission of a letter or letters

They can’t play. (Can’t= cannot)

He’ll write a letter. (He’ll= He will)

I)    Quotation Marks “   ” or Inverted Commas

Quotation marks are used to indicate the words actually spoken indirect speech

Ravi said, “I can do this exercise.” 

But when there is a quotation within quotation we use this in the following manner

The policeman asked, ‘Did you say, “I have heard the cry?” ’

Single inverted commas are used to indicate film, play, poem, essay or story.

 For example, ‘The Blind Dog’  ‘Sholey’ ‘Choosing Our Universe’ etc.

J)    The Hyphen  (-)  

The hyphen is used to join up two or more words to make a compound word.

 For Example, mother-in-law, twenty-two etc.

There is a difference between Dash and Hyphen.

Dash is used as a pause or to show a range.

They sold all – furniture, books and pictures.

Monday – Friday 

Punctuate the following sentences

1. we had a great time in france  the kids really enjoyed it

2. Some people work best in the mornings others do better in the evenings

3. What are you doing next weekend

4. Mother had to go into hospital she had heart problems

5. Did you understand why I was upset

6. It is a fine idea let us hope that it is going to work

7. We will be arriving on Monday morning  at least I think so

8. A textbook can be a wall between teacher and class

9. The girls father sat in a corner

10. In the words of Murphys Law Anything that can go wrong will go wrong

11. He is not really nice looking and yet he has enormous charm

12. When I was a child I could watch TV whenever I wanted to

13. It is a fine idea let us hope that it is going to work

14. Mrs solomon who was sitting behind the desk gave me a big smile

15. we were believe it or not in love with each other

16. I don’t like this one bit said Julia

17. have you met our handsome new financial director

18. If you are ever in London come and see you

19. michael in the Ferrari was cornering superbly

20. Looking straight at her he said I cant help you

Answers 

1. We had a great time in France – the kids really enjoyed it.

2. Some people work best in the mornings; others do better in the evenings.

3. What are you doing next weekend?

4. Mother had to go into hospital: she had heart problems.

5. Did you understand why I was upset?

6. It is a fine idea; let us hope that it is going to work.

7. We will be arriving on Monday morning – at least, I think so.

8. A textbook can be a ‘wall’ between teacher and class.

9. The girl’s father sat in a corner.

10. In the words of Murphy’s Law: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

11. He is not really nice-looking, and yet he has enormous charm.

12. When I was a child, I could watch TV whenever I wanted to.

13. It is a fine idea; let us hope that it is going to work.

14. Mrs Solomon, who was sitting behind the desk, gave me a big smile.

15. We were, believe it or not, in love with each other.

16. "I don’t like this one bit," said Julia.

17. Have you met our handsome new financial director?

18. If you are ever in London, come and see you.

19. Michael, in the Ferrari, was cornering superbly.

110. Looking straight at her, he said, "I can’t help you."