Hard to adapt books into movies: Rohan Sippy

Panaji, Nov 21 (IANS) Rohan Sippy is set to direct an adaptation of "Turbulence", a book penned by Samit Basu and the filmmaker, who also made "Nautanki Saala!" - a remake of French film "Apres Vous", says adapting books into films is harder than making remakes of movies.

Be it Hollywood or the southern film industry, Bollywood has often taken inspiration from movies like "Knight and Day", "We Are Family", "Kick" and "Ghajini". But books, barring a few like "Hamlet", "Othello" and "2 States: The Story of My Marriage", don't seem to inspire Indian filmmakers much.

After the session on 'Remakes - creative and financial viability' at the ongoing Film Bazaar here, IANS asked Sippy the reason and he said: "Books are relatively harder to be made into films. The form, creative calls to be taken from book to screen... it's a bigger challenge. It is also easier to connect with the audience if you make film remakes rather than book adaptations because it is not necessary that everyone has read the book."

Despite all the challenges, he is working on an adaptation of a book and he calls it "an ambitious project".

"I love the book. The rights have been bought. Basu will also write the screenplay. It is a superhero movie. We are not trying to be like a western film. We have made changes in the film. It is yet to be titled and the cast has to be finalised too," he said.

He also shared that along with the superhero, there will be four to five strong characters in the film.

Without revealing much about his choice of actors for the lead role, he praised the "young generation of actors".

"Varun (Dhawan), Sidharth (Malhotra) and Arjun Kapoor have made a great impact. Even Alia Bhatt," shared the filmmaker, who has worked with Abhishek Bachchan in movies like "Dum Maaro Dum", "Bluffmaster!" and "Kuch Naa Kaho".

Sippy, who last produced "Sonali Cable", is also working with "Aisha" actor Anand Tiwari.

"I am producing a young romantic comedy with Anand Tiwari. He has written the script and will also be directing it," he said.

The son of popular director Ramesh Sippy, Rohan is also open to the small screen.

"Television is an incredible medium. I hope there are more shows like '24'. If we get the budget to do in a certain way, I will produce or direct a TV show. I am more comfortable with fiction because I have been doing that," he said.

The Film Bazaar, held alongside the annual International Film Festival of India (IFFI), has in the eighth edition packed an array of events for writers, producers, directors and more talents from across the world.

It is organised by the National Film Development Corporation, which aims at fostering excellence in cinema and promoting the diversity of its culture by supporting and encouraging films made in various Indian languages.

Copyright  IANS

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