India’s rich and diverse culture means there is a diversity of people, their customs, their beliefs and their folklores too. Mahabharata and Ramayana are the epitome of Indian storytellers’ prowess to conceive stories that are relevant, inspiring and most importantly, timeless. In our times too, there are a few storytellers, who have created not just unforgettable stories, but even characters that have left a mark with the readers, so much so that they have even made it the celluloid. In the modern times when the screen has evolved as a preferred medium for telling stories visually, we take a look back and also at present on some fictional characters that find their origin in stories, and later appeared on the silver screen, and now OTTs too, swooning the hearts of the viewers.
Devdas
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay in his novel Devdas wrote about an alcoholic lover who destroys his life when he is not allowed to marry his childhood sweetheart. This tragic lover loved with all his heart. In 1955, director Bimal Roy made the film with the same title with Dileep Kumar, Suchitra Sen and Vyjayanthimala in lead roles. With this film, the lead actor set the benchmark for acting as very high. In 2002, Sanjay Leela Bhansali made the same film with Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit Nene as lead. This musical depiction of the period-romantic-drama was a blockbuster and the film and characters became popular amongst the young generation. Devdas has undoubtedly always been one of the most popular fictional characters in India.
Detective Boomrah
Storyteller-actor Sudhanshu Rai brought this character to the listeners initially through his podcast/radio show where the sci-fi, supernatural and paranormal adventures of the Indian detective were loved by all. After an overwhelming response from the listeners, the iconic detective character was brought to life on-screen as a web series, with its creator Sudhanshu himself playing the titular role. Just as his impactful appearance in audio format, the character struck a chord with the audience, with recurrent demands for a second season. Well, till the second season is awaited, the good part is that the character meanwhile continues to come to life often in the voice of Kahanikaar Sudhanshu Rai on his official channel.
Feluda
Feluda was a popular character from Satyajit Ray’s novel GangtokeyGondogol, that was published in 1971. Led by director Arindam Sil, in Shabash Feluda, the title role is being reprised by Parambrata Chattopadhyay, which is a modern adaptation of the same story set in 2017. Though the essence of the story will remain the same, Parambrata is seen playing the detective. Feluda and Topshe are seen in the series visiting Gangtok with their families. When they encounter Sasadhar Bose, he implores Feluda to look into his business colleague Selvankar’s horrifyingly unexpected demise. Will Detective Feluda track down the murderer and vindicate the victim?
Mowgli
Part of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book stories, many generations have now known about this child who grew up in a jungle with a pack of wolves, who wanted to save him from the terrifying Sher Khan. The 90s kids will remember the cartoon series on Mowgli. In 2016, John Favreau reprised Mowgle in the film The Jungle Book that became an international hit. While the story remained the same, but the latest visual effects added to the visual beauty of the film, where the characters were as real as it could get. The film was also available in 3D where the entire film felt like it was happening right in front of the eyes.
Parineeta
Parineeta is another novel written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, a Bengali novelist who was a master storyteller. He told stories of ordinary women in extraordinary situations. Parineeta first came to the big screen in 1953 where Ashok Kumar and Meena Kumari played the lead actors. In 2005, Vidya Balan and Saif Ali Khan reprised the role in this musical film, the songs of which are still popular. Parineeta, that means The Married Woman was the story of childhood sweethearts- Lalita and Shekhar who wanted to get married but the patriarch of the family did not let that happen with his conniving ways. Watch it on OTT to relive the days of romance meets reality.
