Hello All! I got such a nice response to this weeks Sunday post on Jane Eyre, partly because it was a topic that a lot of you felt deeply about and had a lot of background for. So, I am going to take advantage of this momentum and let you vote! This is probably a one time thing, I won’t be doing it every week, so make sure you take advantage!
You don’t have to pick just one, but out of the following, rank them in order from most to least interested topic for a fanfic:
- Pride and Prejudice
- Persuasion
- Anne of Green Gables
- Laura (book or movie)
- Daddy-Long-Legs
- North and South (haven’t read the book or seen the miniseries, but I’ve watched the last 5 minutes of the miniseries 20 times, so that counts for something, right?)
- Singin’ in the Rain
- The Rocky series
- Sleepless in Seattle
- Casablanca
- Other (fill in here)
(There’s also Sense and Sensibility and Emma and The Major and the Minor and It Happened One Night, but those have already been remade, so it seems like cheating)
dontcallitbollywood 
Pride and Prejudice
Persuasion
North and South (I assume you mean the Gaskell one, so you’ve only seen the train station scene…and you haven’t broken down and watched the whole amazing thing?!)
The Rocky series
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I have been told by reliable sources that the train station scene is the most romantic part, and the rest of it is discussion of the ethics of the industrialization of society interspersed with longing gazing. I love me some longing gazing, but industrialization of society is just kind of depressing.
On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 10:39 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes, there’ an “issues” subplot but it’s the dude from Downton and he’s adorable. It’s in my top three period romance adaptations of all time, it’s that good. The romance has a very similar structure to P&P and the cinematography and music are really good. And Richard Armitage does Mr. Darcy better than anybody.
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Blasphemy! Colin Firth is the one true Darcy!
On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 1:42 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I know it’s blasphemy but wait until you see it and then get back to me:) I love Colin Firth as much as the next girl, but I have to say Matthew MacFadyen’s interpretation is much more interesting to me.
Where do you stand on the Ciarin Hinds vs. Rupert Penry-Jones as Captain Wentworth battle? Due to my love of MI-5 (are you seeing a pattern here…hint, hint…I do love me some hot spys!), I prefer Penry-Jones.
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Ciarin Hinds! Rupert Penry-Jones is too handsome. I want a kind of craggy and tired Captain Wentworth. Maybe Sanjay Dutt for our remake? At the very least, a Saif Ali Khan type, not a Siddharth Malhotra type.
Although I kind of agree with you on the Matthew Macfayden side of things. I frankly and unashamedly love the Joe Wright P & P. I just love Joe Wright anything, I think he is an phenomenal director. And I kind of understand what he was going for with his P&P, turning it into the teen romance it always was, with our 19 year old Lizzie and twenty-something kind of shy Darcy. Only it was so witty and period and all, we always saw the characters as older than they were. I liked how MacFayden played him, like he wasn’t just uncomfortable with strangers, but it kind of actively pained him to reveal emotions and interact, a real social anxiety, not just stiffness.
Also, went through my own Spooks/MI5 period and strongly feel that it all went downhill after Matthew Macfayden left.
On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 2:10 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Casablanca and either of the Jane Austens would be great. I was also thinking of other moody romantic suspense like Wuthering Heights or Rebecca. Or one of the Bogey/Bacall flicks, or Carey Grant Hitchcock like Notorious or Suspicion. (I know you didn’t ask for additional suggestions, but I couldn’t help myself!)
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I totally asked for other suggestions for just this reason! I am ashamed to admit that I have never read Wuthering Heights or Rebecca, although I know the broad outlines of the plots, so I couldn’t do the really specific stuff like I did here (Jane Eyre I have read sooooooooooooo many times, especially the swoony romantic scenes).
I know Cary Grant movies though, absolutely Notorious or Suspicion. Have you seen My Favorite Wife and/or The Awful Truth? I was also thinking of those, but worried that they would be too obscure.
And The Big Sleep is one of my all time most romantic movies. Bogart is just so kind to her.
On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 11:12 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I love the Big Sleep too! And To Have and Have Not. Need to re-watch both. Re: Wuthering Heights and Rebecca I was thinking of the Lawrence Olivier movies, really. His Heathcliff blew me away as a kid. Trying to post a link to a gif, hope that’s allowed: http://doodlingbreaktime.tumblr.com/post/19847746563/laurence-olivier-wuthering-heights-1939
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Oh Lawrence Olivier! So hot! Such a bad husband!
I do like the idea of Rebecca, the shy unassuming woman who thinks she is a rival for the big gorgeous perfect woman, but it turns out the husband wanted her all along. Oh! You know what would be fun? To do the actual rivalry from the 90s, Madhuri as Rebecca versus Juhi as Nameless Heroine.
On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 2:12 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oooh! Yes, I like that idea. Who from that time period would work well in the evil(ish) George Sanders role? Anil Kapoor, maybe? And who would be Mrs. Danvers (you know so many more actors than I do!)
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I’d love to see Shabana Azmi as Mrs. Danvers. And for the George Sanders role (scandalous affair with Rebecca, right?) it would have to be Sanjay Dutt, to match their real life scandalous affair.
On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 3:12 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The God of Small Things ?
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Haven’t read it. For a completely petty reason, Arundhati Roy didn’t cast Shahrukh as the lead in her art film back when he was a college student in Delhi. Okay, and also because I didn’t really want to read it, and the Shahrukh thing gives me an excuse.
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But then would you’ve liked Shahrukh in an art film?
Remember reading an earlier post about you being interested in knowing about the Kerala history or something?
This is the first Booker price winning book by an Indian author and just as the first Oscar winning Indian, a lady…
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Good point on Kerala history! That might get me to read the book.
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I tried to read it from the beginning, the middle and the end.Futile.Let me give you the classic warning that I’ve been giving every non Keralalite for the past ten years. We really aren’t anything like what she portrays in the book.If you want a slice of Kerala history I’d recommend the first two chapters of The Ivory Throne by Manu Sharma.It is available in Kindle.The first chapter is about the Portuguese invasion of Kerala.Yes, we get more background on Urumi.And the mutual shock when the formally clad Portuguese met the minimally clad Infantas of the Royal Family.The second chapter is about Raja Ravi Varma.Back when he was part of an influential circle led by the King’s mistress and before he went North.
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Unfortunately the author isn’t too keen on selling her book. Says Anjali Menon –
When asked which book she’d like to make into a movie, she replied, “The one book that the author will never sell: The God of Small Things“.
http://theladiesfinger.com/director-anjali-menon/
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Can we have a Scarlet Pimpernel adaptation? Our Pimpernel (Ranveer Singh?) can be a spy for India while Mahira can play the Pakistani heroine who is making movies in India. Though I love regency romances, I simply can’t stand Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer. I’ve discovered that I need my quota of adventure along with my romance which is why I rank Patricia Veryan above Heyer any day. And I absolutely loved the way Lois Bujold used the regency tropes in ‘A Civil Campaign.’
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I love the Scarlet Pimpernel book! That was one I read over and over again when I was a kid. Absolutely we can remake it. Although I don’t know if India-Pakistan is exactly the one to one comparison that it requires. Maybe a period drama with him breaking wrongfully imprisoned freedom fighters out of jail, and the heroine being a British collaborator? Like Veer, but good.
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I’m loving your take on Scarlet Pimpernel.Oh by all means let the British be the bad guys.They certainly must be used to it by now 🙂
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And that would let us have the ridiculous period costumes, which were my favorite part of the Jane Seymour adaptation!
On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 12:26 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Margaret, you MUST watch North and South!! I have to check if I have it on DVD and could loan it to you. Even when it’s making commentary on the industrialization of society it’s so beautiful — the fabric fluff floating in the air of the factory like snow:
And Richard Armitage is at his absolute most swoonworthy in North and South. You mentioned Georgette Heyer in your Sunday post, and Richard Armitage has narrated a few of her books for Audible. Oh. My. Sweet. Lord. I could listen to him read the phone book, but to have him read Sylvester or Venetia is sweet heaven.
http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Sylvester-Audiobook/B0036GTKMO/ref=a_search_c4_1_7_srTtl/134-5264269-8166310?qid=1493052971&sr=1-7
My list? Hmmm.
Pride and Prejudice
Persuasion
North and South (once you’ve seen it)
Daddy Long Legs
The Gay Divorcee — probably couldn’t be modernized, but I’d love to know who you’d put in the Edward Everett Horton part. 😉
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The best I can do is Edward Everrett Horton=Anil Kapoor. But even that is just a faint approximation of the original. Also, Eric Blore! The Astaire and Rogers films had such a stacked cast of character actors.
Obviously, Fred and Ginger are SRKajol.
On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 12:29 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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1. Persuasion
2. Sleepless in Seattle
2. North and South
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Boy, I really do need to watch North and South!
Also, very excited about Persuasion, since that means we could use real footage for their young romance! Like, present day Aamir and Juhi with footage from QSQT Aamir and Juhi, or present day SRKajol with footage from Baazigar.
On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 2:20 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Gone with the Wind!
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But it’s so racist! I would have to completely re-write it and make Scarlett secretly a brave rebel who is teaching the untouchable workers to read and write.
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Yes, it can be re written. It would be interesting to see the cast of the movie as well as the period when it is set.
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In that case, I think I can do it easily! Kangana as Scarlett, Shahrukh as Rhett (that tinge of danger in him), Hrithik as Ashley for an inside joke, I’m stumped on Miriam, but Belle Watling HAS to be Sushmita Sen!
We can change the plot to be during the colonial period. Kangana is a flirt who just likes parties, part of an old small royal family. But Hrithik, her crush, is dedicated to the Quit India movement. Shahrukh is a blackmarketer who runs supplies to the underground, if they pay him enough.
Shahrukh and Hrithik both avoid WWII, but then get caught up in the confusion of the British leaving. Kangana and Hrithik’s ancestral families both lose everything when they have to sign their property over to the new Indian government. Shahrukh just gets richer and richer, scavenging on the confusion of the period. Kangana and pregnant Miriam end up trapped on the wrong side of the border in Lahore. They just barely manage to get out, with the assistance of Shahrukh. Kangana returns to the family palace and grounds, the one piece of property they were able to keep, and decides to farm it instead of leaving it as a pleasure palace. Shahrukh tracks her down and proposes. Kangana gets richer and richer with Shahrukh and enjoys their wealth, and spoils their only child, living in the new South Bombay society. Oh, and Sush is in and out of their lives, and Shahrukh’s “old friend” who is now an Item dancer in the new film industry, which Shahrukh is supporting. After the child dies, the marriage falls apart, and Kangana goes back to the family palace, and meets Hrithik again after Miriam has died. Hrithik finally admits to her that he never loved, he was just being a gentlemen. Kangana now questions everything about herself, and when Shahrukh comes back to her, she admits she loves him and begs him to stay. But Shahrukh has had enough, he walks away from her. It is implied, to return to Sush, the other woman in his life, who is more of a “lady” than Kangana will ever be. Which, I know, isn’t in the original, but I always kind of liked Belle. And I really like the idea of gentlemen blackmarketeer Shahrukh walking out on spoiled princess Kangana for tough made it on her own item girl Sush.
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I generally don’t like to touch the classics — I disliked practically every Austen adaptation made by Hollywood/the Brits, except one– the one you used to headline this post. Very cunning of you. 🙂
I know you wanted more of a lighthearted novel, but the one out of your list that I think could be adapted to Indian situations is Casablanca. Similarly, many years ago I developed an adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities to take place during the Bangladesh war, with the two cities in question being Dhaka and Calcutta. You may want to consider that, too. One thought about Casablanca, though — for the western audience it’s supposed to be this grand romance. But for the Indian audience it will be pretty much run of the mill in that department, so nothing special, don’t you think?
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True for Casablanca! Although, on my re-watches, it is less about the grand romance and more about the socio-political forces. That would work really well for somewhere like Kashmir or East Bengal when it was about to become Bengladesh, a place with a lot of different forces involved.
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Daddy Long-legs has already been made in Malayalam Kanamarayathu (1984) with Mammotty and Shobana.Wiki tells me that it has been remade in Hindi as Anokha Rishta (1986) with Rajesh Khanna and Smita Patil. How about one of Scott’s romances The Bride of Lammermoor or Ivanhoe? Sanjay Leela Bhansali would love to wallow in all the tragedy ,drama and thwarted passion.
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I haven’t read Scott. Well, I got about a 100 pages into Ivanhoe, and then gave up. So many names!
I may have to watch that Mammooty and Shobana version! That casting sounds pretty good. The Hindi casting sounds terrible, I will avoid that one.
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Mammooty & Taboo acted together in Pride & Prejudice (kandu kondaen kandu kondaen in Tamil) it was not a great movie and the most memorable scene in the movie was mammooty eating a vada and immediately guessing who made solely by the taste. I love my vadas but this is surely meme-worthy material.
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Aw, I love Kandukonden Kandukonden! Rahman music, Farah Khan choreography, Tabu’s acting, and Aishwarya is dubbed so we can just look at her and don’t have to listen to her.
And, best of all, it’s based on Sense & Sensibility, which is my favorite Austen! And that also means P & P is still up for grabs for my imaginary remake (yay!).
On Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 6:38 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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How about Stagecoach (the original John Wayne version)? Plenty of honor, hero, family, backstory. Could do it in kind-of a Sholay style?
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Oh oh! Can Madhuri play Claire Trevor?
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Johnny Lever (of course) in the Andy Devine role . . .
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1) North and South! It’s my favorite period drama ever!
2) Casablanca
3) Sleepless in Seattle
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Thanks to everyone’s fervent recommendations, I am now watching North and South! It is good. I think I still like the Colin Firth P & P better, but it is good!
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How about Dracula?
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That is one of my all time favorite books! And I have never felt like any of the film adaptations really captured it. Definitely a possibility.
On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 6:16 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I can also say that. Movies always cut a lot of part. Bela Lugosi was able to capture personality of Dracula but story was changed to the great extent.
Gary Oldman almost succeeded in faithful adaptation but they tried to make it a love story instead of horror. Gary Oldman was awesome as Dracula. But making him sympathetic character wasn’t great. Luke Evans was good but he wasn’t Dracula. Keep it simple and make a horror film. We dont need sympathetic villains. Sometimes, evil is evil.
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Ironically, about 200 movies have been made on Dracula all around the world. Apart from Sherlock Holmes, no other literary character is as famous as Dracula. He has also been part of comics. he has fought Batman, Vampirella
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1.Pride and Prejudice
2. Daddy long legs
3. Persuasion
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1. Pride and Prejudice: https://dontcallitbollywood.com/2017/04/30/silly-sunday-speculative-post-pride-and-prejudice-2000s-and-today-versions/
3. Persuasion: https://dontcallitbollywood.com/2017/07/16/silly-sunday-speculative-post-persuasion-the-perfect-mature-love-story-for-shahrukh-aamir-hrithik-rani-anyone-over-40/
I wrote them after this post was published, the P&P one is okay, but the Persuasion one I am very proud of.
And thank you! Finally a vote for Daddy Long Legs! I love it, but I was afraid no one else had heard of it.
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