On the 400th death anniversary of William Shakespeare, author Jonathan Gil Harris will deliver a speech on Shakespeare and Bollywood. He explained to Arjita Mishra that Bollywood takes to the Bard's plays because they have the right mix of all genres comedy, tragedy and romance
Films, theatre productions, texts think of anything remotely related to literature and arts and there is one name that beats the rest, even after 400 years of his birth. William Shakespeare, till date is unmatched. And when we talk about Bollywood, there;s no denying that time and again, makers have turned to the bard for stories. From Angoor to Maqbool and fromHaider to Omkara the numbers are aplenty.
Jonathan Gil Harris, professor of English at Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana also agrees that Shakespeare’s plays have been a constant inspiration for the filmmakers of Hindi cinema. “In India, there are several interpretations of Romeo and Juliet and they are known by different names. Be it Heer-Ranjha or laila-Majnu, their love story is similar to the Shakespeare’s play. Even Hindi movies have had their interpretation of the storyline in Ishaqzaade and Ram-leela,” he explained.
Harris is the author of six books on Shakespeare and his contemporaries, including Shakespeare and literary Theory and Untimely Matter in the Time of Shakespeare. Before joining Ashoka University, he was a professor of English at George Washington University and an associate editor of Shakespeare Quarterly, the world’s leading journal of Shakespeare studies. His most recent book is The First Firangis: How To Be Authentically Indian.
On the 400th death anniversary of the Bard, the British Council has dedicated the whole day to the Shakespeare. Today, they have organised a day long celebration titled Shakespeare lives with a range of exciting activities for all ages with various exciting programmes like quiz, discussion, a film screening of Hamlet, et al.
Harris will conduct a talk on Shakespeare and Bollywood. When we asked him about his discourse he mentioned that there is a connection between the Bard and the Indian entertainment industry. On a lighter note he added that if Shakespeare were alive today, he would be writing for Bollywood films. “If he were alive, Bollywood would have probably asked him to write and he would have obliged because several of his films have been adopted,” he laughed.
He explained why Bollywood resorts to Shakespeare every time it needs to fall back on a successful story. “It’s simple. It is because, like a typical Bollywood masala film, Shakespeare’s plays have all the ingredients of a Bollywood blockbuster — comedy, romance, conspiracy, family feuds and tragedy. Also, like a movie, the plays have highs and lows,” Harris pointed out.
The historian, most of his works are on the Bard and his works, is of the opinion that the reason why his plays are so often picked up by filmmakers is because they are written so well. “Therefore, it becomes easier for a filmmaker to interpret it in a 100 different ways,” he said.
Shakespeare is more than just his plays. He has more sonnets and poems to his name than we give him credit for. But for some reason his plays are more talked about than his other literary pieces. Harris explained, “In some parts of the world, people really love his sonnets but in India, I have noticed that it is not so popular. I think it is because people associate him only with his plays.”