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Movies that are adapted from books

Last updated on - Apr 27, 2023, 10:30 IST
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1/7

​Movies that were based on books​

In the West it is quite common to adapt books into movies as they provide established story, structure and character growth. Taking a leaf out of the same book, Indian cinema has also used literary sources for inspiration, though our filmmakers have not been as prolific as the one's in the West. Lets have a look at the few Indian films that were are adapted from popular books.
2/7

Ponniyin Selvan

Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki Krishnamurthy is one of greatest novels from Tamil literature, it has enthralled the audience for over 70 years. Such is the craze for the book that there are separate fan clubs for each character. It was serialised in a magazine for 4 years before it was launched as a 5 volume series of books. The two part movie franchise directed by Mani Ratnam has now given a face to all the characters of the novel. The film stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Trisha and other stars.​

3/7

Guide

Guide was adapted from former President RK Narayan’s novel by the same name. The film tells a story of Raj - a guide and Rosie- the suppressed wife of a wealthy archeologist. Dev Anand had planned an English version along with a Hindi version for the film. The Hindi film was widely accepted as a commercial success despite the original author not being happy with the way the film had taken shape with regards to his original story. The English version didn't create any significant impact in India. The film started Waheeda Rahman in the lead along with Dev Anand.​

4/7

Devdas

A romantic Bengali novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, it has been one of the most adapted books in Indian Cinema. It tells the story of Devdas, Paro and Chandramukhi. The last movie adaptation was done by Sanjay Leela Bhansali with Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit. While Anurag Kashyap did give the story a modern spin with Abhay Deol in the lead. ​

5/7

Parineeta

Another love story by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay has been the backbone of many movie adaptations. The books tells the story of childhood sweethearts who get separated because of the conniving nature of a parent. Late Pradeep Sarkar recreated this story with Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan and Sanjay Dutt in the lead.
6/7

The Namesake

The Namesake by Mira Nair was initially published in The New Yorker magazine which was later expanded to a novel. The book explored the story of being caught between two conflicting cultures with distinct religious, social, and ideological differences. The movie starred Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Kal Penn in the lead roles and was a successful commercial venture.
7/7

7 Khoon Maaf

7 Khoon Maaf is a black comedy thriller based on Ruskin Bond’s short story Susanna’s Seven Husbands. Vishal Bhardwaj who directed the film had actually requested Bond to expand the short story for the screen adaptation. It was turned into an 80 page novella. The film featured Priyanka Chopra John Abraham, Irrfan Khan, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Annu Kapoor.

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Copyright © Jun 7, 2026, 10.02AM IST Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service