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Anjali & MockingBird
iView Author:
DEEP BLUE LOTUS
(Chicago, US)
Email:
deepbluelotus [at] gmail [do] com
Anjali & “MockingBird”
I was memorizing a monologue from the academy award winning screenplay by Horton Foote for the film version of the modern American classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. And, it struck me.
“Anjali”, one of the finest films by Mani Ratnam, was essentially based on /inspired by/adapted from this book. I immediately searched the web for others who felt this way. To my surprise, I only found one blogger who merely said that a sub-plot was similar.
But, the parallels are striking –
Shekhar – played by Raghuvaran, the architect is based on Atticus Finch the upright lawyer who does not shy away from accepting the case of defending an innocent black man in a highly racist society in rural south in America of 1920s. Shekhar also, contrary to advice and prudence, decides to testify as an eye-witness in a murder.
Ex-Con – played by Prabhu as a mysterious, private and reticent neighbor, is based on Boo Radley, a reclusive mysterious neighbor to Atticus who is drawn to Atticus’ children. The Ex-con, just like Boo Radley, is drawn towards Anjali and in the end helps Shekhar.
Two Children – Their relationship with their father is similar to the one in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. For instance, in the book, the children often address their father by his first name. In the movie Anjali also, this is the case.
But, what about the track of the mentally challenged child – Anjali.
Well, adapting “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a challenge because when you take away the highly racial context of rural south with its historical slave culture, the story loses its soul. The genius of Mani Ratnam (who is credited with the writing of the film), is that he consciously put the heart back by adding Anjali’s track.
With this, Anjali, the film is able to hold a mirror to the family, siblings, and society and highlights their irrational prejudice against a mentally challenged child. The original book similarly uses the blatant injustice towards the black person to highlight the prejudice and reluctance of the good people to standup against it.
What adding Anjali’s track also does is that it provides, what writers call, a graph for all the characters – the husband wife relationship arrives at a higher plane of mutual respect, the siblings who are initially ashamed of their siblings, grow to love and defend her like their own and society slowly accepts the child.
Moreover, adding this track to the film also allows Mani Ratnam to disconnect the characters from the murder track which then becomes a personal story for the protagonist and his wife. Allowing Anjali to die provides the emotional climax and allows the writer to bring closure to the various character graphs. But without wallowing in pity over this death, the focus quickly and decisively shifts to the murder track which instantly lends the narrative thrust required to
drive the story to the thrilling climax.
Now, that is an adaptation. Anjali is a brilliant film that works independent of the original for those unaware of the source. The adaptation is so well done, the original is almost invisible. But to those who see the connection, it is even more fun and comes across as a testament to the writer’s skill and intellect.
On a side note: I recently heard about Dev.D – which is supposed to be a modern version of the classic Devdas. Assuming it will be a brilliant reworking that showcases different sensibilities and possibly has a different climax, why market it as being based on Devdas. Why even call it “Dev.D”?
A good adaptation like any film needs to stand on its own feet and so why unnecessarily straddle it with the burden of the original.
11 Responses to “Anjali & MockingBird”
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Okie, you totally lost me. To me, the movie was about Anjali not the the murder. So, I’d say (rather most people would) that the murder track was the addition.
So, I am not sure I’d be able to understand how you’d say that “To Kill A Mocking Bird” was the source for Anjali.
@ deep
man got to agree .. i read the novel i too felt the same !!! i agree with your blog !! it sure has inspired Mani Sir
even the way he directed the kids!!!
they hav the similar scene where the kids challenge to touch BOO RADLEY’s house door !!!
and as u said the adaptation is brilliant.
Mani Sir has been inspired by many such movies including ET godfather even star wars … he manages to seamlessly blend them into his own world.
I agree that Mani Sir is influenced by Godfather, about Anjali..it’s totally new to me. I consider Anjali to be his best work till date (Roja coming next), now I have to read To kill a mockingbird, before I say anything..
i totally agree with you..not only me when my friends watched to kill a mocking bird or when they read the book they drew various references to anjali….
the thing is mani ratnam has seen the movie and read the book… but the way he intertwined the tracks it only shows he did it to give a strong characterization…may be he fell in love those characters….
even the girl’s character resemble’s a lot with scout’s…her tomboyish nature and her wish to play with her brother…and the elder brother (tarun) character also resembles jem’s.
but talking about mani ratnam’s adaptations…he renders a more thoughtful and poetic touch to his interpretations…
for example take “nayagan”..though it shares similaritites with godfather… look at the ending…when kamal hassan is taken to the court thousands of people come for hiis support saying “you can’t try a good man”.. his grandson comes and asks him “are a good person or bad?” kamal replies saying he doesn’t know… after being proven not guilty he is shot by his very own bodyguard (who is mentally challeneged) to avenge his father’s death…so in the end leaves us to ponder about the whole concept of “good” and “bad” which i feel is not emphasised vociferously in western mafia - robin hood like - godfather movies..
in the same way in anjali, prabhu (or boo radely inspired) surrenders himself to the police which is not the case in “mocking bird” as scout decides it would be like kiling a mocking bird… but here it suits the story very well with the death of anjali..giving references to destiny and stuff…about nice people who we might not have liked previously getting away from us because of external forces which aren’t in our control.. like death in anjali’s case and law or police in prabhu’s case….if mocking bird teaches about “not killing mocking birds” if its under our will, anjali teaches about “accepting destiny and…. to an extent loving people when they are with us” but what both the movies say is - in atticus’ words - “get into the other person’s boots and walk around to get to know what they feel about before dropping into absurd conclusions”
and more about mani ratnam’s adaptations “roja” is the story of savithri .. “dalapati” is karna-arjuna’s story…or take the recent “guru”- i have read about ambani and the movie surely has strong refernces to him - but again mani ratnam brings about the question of good or bad…by introducing madhavan’s character in it…
the best thing about mani ratnam is he adapts the story but gives his own intrepretation and gives it more meaning…and adds poetry… than the dvd ripoffs we generally see
A very well drawn parallel between the two.
“But to those who see the connection, it is even more fun and comes across as a testament to the writer
Excellent post !!!
Regards,
Raj R
Awesome..it never entered my head..had seen both!
An interesting parallel, thanks for sharing! :)
I just finished watching ‘To kill a mocking bird’ and trust me I feel the same that Mani Ratnam seems inspired by certain scenes But to be very honest we can’t really compare as in Anjali the reason he showed it was to show how we treat anybody or anything different - well differently. The rest is about the interaction between the father and the kids and him standing for his rights…well what i can say is that you will find similar interactions in various films.
Your view and take on it is commendable but then again thats what inspiration is all abt.
I am not sure. But lot of ‘Anjali’ is from a film called ‘whistle down the wind’.
Not just anjali, some scenes from Geetanjali are carbon copies of scenes from ‘Whistle down the wind’
Thanks guys for reading and all your comments. Well, it is but an opinion and speculation. I articulated what I felt the best I could. Hope you did not feel it was a waste of your time.
Will be glad if this leads people to check out “To kill a Mockingbird” or for that matter “Anjali”.
Always wanted to see Geetanjali. Will add that and “whistle down the wind” to my neflix queue.
Thanks guys..
deepbluelotus