Berlinale selects Adiga’s Tiger among 12 most filmable
Those who thought Danny Boyle resorted to poverty porn peddling in his Slumdog Millionaire, might soon have something more to chew on – Aravind Adiga’s Man Booker winner, The White Tiger, criticised by many for more or less the same reasons, is among the 12 most-filmable works of fiction. At least that is what Berlinale 2009 has decided.
The 59th edition of the Berlin Film Festival, starting February five, will have Adiga’s book on the table at its “Books at Berlinale” event, in which selected books are pitched before international producers
Described as the story of an “India that is two countries in one: an India of Light, and an India of Darkness”, The White Tiger and the 11 other selected books have “high screen adaptation potential”, according to Berlinale.
“There is something for every producer interested in literary adaptations, and for every budget range: from a love-struck superhero in Bologna to an inconceivable crime in New York in the 1960s, from the adventures of an 18th century female pirate to the slums of Bangalore, or from Bulgaria to Hawaii,” a festival announcement says. Books at Berlinale event, being held for the fourth year in a row, is the result of a cooperation between the Berlin Film Festival and the Frankfurt Book Fair and will be part of the Berlinale Co-Production Market.
“The 12 new books will be presented, all selected for their high screen adaptation potential…This allows producers to talk directly with film rights holders about the material they are interested in,” says the festival.
Michael Portillo, chairman of the five-member judging panel for the Man Booker Prize, had been criticised by many for saying after declaring Adiga as the winner that “what set this one (The White Tiger) apart was its originality. For many of us this was entirely new territory — the dark side of India”.
“The books to be presented are all bestsellers, award-winners, or brand-new publications, meaning that the producers also have the exclusive opportunity to secure film rights early, before the book hits the market,” the announcement says. “The books selected combine literary quality, popular success and a high screen adaptability.”
Among the other books selected are He Who Walks on Lava by Reinhard St'¶ckel, Drowned by Margriet de Moor, Sorry by Zoran Drvenkar, Is this the Way Women die? by Didier Decoin, '‰ditions Grasset & Fasquelle, Queen of the Seas by Katja Doubek, Four Days in March by Jens Christian Grondahl, Whom the Gods Destroy by Gianluca Morozzi, and The Angel’s Exile by Gilles Legardinier.
Tags: Aravind Adiga, Berlin Film Festival, berlinale, The White Tiger
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Now that Slumdog has become such a monster hit, I wonder who will get to make Adiga’s film?
My vote goes for our very own Anurag or Navdeep.
Yes, White Tiger is very good film material, I wish they wouldn’t spoil it like the adaptation of “Q&A” by Vikas Swarup (Slumdog Millionaire)…but I like to see Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis trilogy made into movies ..the first book was strong contender for the Booker this year, awesome book……..the protagonist role of Balram Halwai in White Tiger will be apt for Abhay Deol which got full of grey shades…
Though I dont consider The white tiger to be a graet literatory work, it will need a really good director to bring dark humour, which is the essence of the book, into celluloid.
Just reading this book now. I think it’s brilliant. I’d thought of posting something here about how it might be a great movie, but it’s already here, even better. Right now I think of Rahul Bose for it.
Quite a screenwriting challenge maybe, to capture the essence of this guy and make him relatable to, or even tolerable, onscreen, because the difference between what is going on inside him and how he looks/is perceived – is a lot of the story.
I’m reminded of Slumdog too, also Split Wide Open.
Irrfan Khan s the choice for Balram Halwai.
I agree, White Tiger is very good material although I thoroughly enjoyed Danny boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire.
havn’t read…
but i would have liked to see something different…
I won’t really get into the poverty porn stuff…but if it deals with the same stuff I’m really tired seeing such things…
I would love to see Hari Kuzuru’s the Impressionist
or Amitabh Ghosh’s Calcutta Chromosome or Glass Palace on celluloid…