Tamil Full Length Feature Films Based on Novels from Sri Lanka: A Case Study
Abstract
The significance of the screenplay in the context of a movie is paramount. The stories of films and film screenplays often draw inspiration from social platforms. On par with it, novels play a vital role as a source for screenplays, as they can captivate and stimulate vivid imagery in readers' minds, thus making them conducive to adaptation into screenplays. A similar pattern is observed in the Sri Lankan Tamil film industry, where novels are frequently adapted into films. It is crucial to examine how the distinct characteristics and nature of these two different media platforms influence the visual and character design from the inception to the story's conclusion in the Sri Lankan Tamil film industry. Furthermore, this study aims to ascertain whether the films adapted from novels in Sri Lanka align with the original novels' creative intent or if they deviate from them. The study focuses on the analysis of the adaptation of the following novels into full-length Sri Lanka Tamil films: 'Thaniyatha Thagam' (1971), which was adapted into 'Kuththu Vilakku' (1972), 'Ponmani Enge Ponal?' (1970) adapted into 'Ponmani' (1977), 'Vaadai Kaatru' (1973) adapted into 'Vaadai Kaatru' (1978), and 'Shamilavin Idhayaragam' (1987) adapted into 'Shamilavin Idhayaragam' (1993). Due to the unavailability of the original copies, 'Kuththuvilakku' and 'Shamilavin Idhayargam' were not examined as part of this study. The study employs a quantitative and qualitative comparative analysis approach to examine full-length Tamil films from Sri Lanka adapted from novels. The results indicate that most films rendered the novels without altering their essence. However, specific changes were observed.
