Fiction and film-making:

Intricacies of turning a fiction into a movie

Interviewed by Ranga CHANDRARATHNE

In a wide ranging interview filmmaker Chandran Rutnam explains the intricacies involved in turning fiction into film. Citing his latest film 'Alimankada' (The Road from Elephant Pass) which was based on the Gratiaen Award winning novel by Nihal de Silva, the filmmaker spells out constraints encountered in such an exercise and how he had been faithful to the Nihal de Silva's original work. However, the ending of the film has been altered to render it a healing effect in the aftermath of the bitterly-fought civil war.

Filmmaker Chandran Rutnam

Excerpts of the interview:

Q: We want to discuss with you today a few issues focusing on making films out of literary products, mainly fictions covering both your recent film Alimankada (The Road from Elephant Pass) based on Nihal De Silva's Gratiaen Award winning novel. It is a classic example depicting the challenges faced by many and reputed film directors who had produced films based on literary artifacts by converting both complex and simple texts into visual media. First, I want to ask you about the challenges of film directors in understanding textual interpretations into another medium. Would you please comment?

A: When adapting a literary work into a motion picture, one cannot have any set rules. It depends on the particular work in question. When it was written, whether it was considered a classic and also its popularity. All these or, some of these elements must be considered.

A film-maker could take a classic and devise a story based on the classic. There would be a 'certain obligation' or a 'loyalty' to the narrative. For instance, I do not think you should distract a classic to a high degree and then announce that it was based on the classic.

One might take a gem of an idea from a well read story and not give any credit to the original.

I personally feel that one should stay with the substance as much as one possibly could but, could make some deviation to fulfill cinematic expression which creates cinematic continuity, pace and flow.

In the case of 'The Road from Elephant Pass', I remained as loyal to the novel as possible, appreciating the author's balanced narrative. However, the author spent relatively long chapters on the natural beauty of nature and several sequences of bird and animal life. I obviously had to cut it short but also wanted to leave the symbolic ideals and appreciation of both characters’ attitudes towards nature intact. I must say that I had to change the ending and have received criticisms and kudos for the scene.

However, as a cinematic work I feel I did the right thing although you may disagree.

Q: How much freedom, a film director has when he produces a film using a piece of fiction?

A: How popular is the fiction? Is it current? Do we dare make changes? To what extent? Most of the time film-maker's will endeavour to make some changes to enhance the flow of the visuals. The decision and the freedom to make alterations and/or changes is within the director's vision and his integrity in relation to the work of fiction he is dealing with.

Q: One of the controversial novels that were ever filmed, was making an epic film out of Boris Pasternak's classic; Doctor Zhivago. David Lean changed the focus of the novel by narrating his film through the eyes of Yuri Zhivago's brother. The film's narrative tale involves Cheka General Yevgraf Zhivago (Alec Guinness) searching for the child of his half brother, poet and doctor, Yuri Zhivago from his other woman; mistress Larissa (Lara) Antipova (Julie Christie).

Is this a good technique because director, David Lynn had used his artistic independence in telling the same tale of the novel through a different protagonist?

What is your comment on the film directors' artistic independence in order to make a textual tale into a visual medium?

A: David Lean takes a minimum of two years to create a script. He actually works with a screen writer almost daily extracting ideas. In the case of "Doctor Zhivago", his screen writer was none other than Robert Bolt, whom he had collaborated with on the classic film 'Lawrence of Arabia'. Together, they decided to narrate the story through Doctor Zhivago's brother. Sometimes when reading a novel, one could follow the sequence of events with detailed descriptives and hold the attention of the reader.

However, when it comes to a visual presentation, the screen play and film-maker may have to create other devices to hold the attention of the audience.

Therefore, it is not unusual for the director to proceed on a different path to accomplish the visual narrative in cinema. Of course, "Doctor Zhivago" was a classic example of a very successful accomplishment.

Q: Unlike David Lean, I find you have been very faithful to Nihal De Silva's novel when you made a film out of it. Was there any special reason to be very faithful to the original text in your case?

A: In the case of my screenplay which was adapted from Nihal de Silva's 'The Road from Elephant Pass', it was the narrative that appealed to me and while reading I visualized it as a motion picture and tried very hard to be 'as close to the novel as possible'. I had to consolidate many scenes and omit repetitious sequences that may have bogged the flow of the movie.

Q: In the novel, 'The Road from Elephant Pass', the author considers human relationships that transcend synthetic barriers of ethnicity, class, and creed and you have use the same values as the core of the film. Is this because you want to recreate the novel instead of reinterpreting it?

A scene from the film Alimankada (Road from Elephant Pass)

A: I had no intention of re-interpreting the novel. The story stands up well and conveyed the authors view of the different sides to the issues and also the perplexity of those issues in a fair and even manner, at the same time demonstrating the important human element of respect for each other. It is evident in the novel and in the movie.

Q: Going back to another Sri Lankan film connection in the international arena, when Anthony Minghella made the Hollywood movie, English Patient out of Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize winning novel, he changed the novel and removed a quite a few characters. The film, directed by Anthony Minghella, and won nine Academy Awards including Best picture. It is well-known that Ondaatje worked closely with the film-maker. As in your case, did you find it difficult not to have the author of the book to discuss when you produced Alimankada?

A: When writing for the screen, the writer is forced to remove certain characters or incidents that are not important to the flow of the narrative. At the same time a writer may create a single character who represent several elements that are vital to the story, or, in some cases to do away with an entire segment and follow the main story line with some selected sub texts.

I had the good fortune of having the counsel of the author at the start if my writing and was able to agree on the general outline of the screen play, which gave me great satisfaction. A month into my writing we lost the author and dear friend, Nihal to an improvised explosive device in Wilpattu.

Q: I found your film script to be one of the most imposing and confrontational scripts which stands out as a true rendering of subtle human relationships. How did you manage and later incorporate most of the details of the novel into the script?

A: I decided that I will not dilute the potent and important dialogue created by the author, which I felt fitted well into the story of the two protagonists. The sharp exchanges and the subtle development of the relationship is the core of the movie.

Q: To what extent, a film script should be innovative or original, when it is based on a piece of fiction?

A: As I mentioned before, it depends on many issues. It is entirely the choice of the creator's of the film. And it is their decision as to which way they wish to go.

In my opinion, the right innovation, could enhance the story.

Innovate, delete, change, but don't bore the audience!

Q: Although the narrative tale of your film is interspersed with bizarre scenes that provide spice to the story, the crust of the narrative was infused with humanity as an offering for a war weary nation and to provide a refreshing postwar vision for a healing nation. Do you think that you have achieved your objective?

A: My objective was not to create a postwar story of healing. It is the humanity, tolerance and respect within the novel that attracted me. It is our good fortune that the film was released at this particular time, at the end of the war and that the audience views it in the light of healing and reconciliation.

Q: Some of the gifted young film-makers such as, Asoka Handagama, Prasanna Vithanage and Vimukthi Jayasundara have also focused on our past thirty years of the civil war in their films. Do you think that there would be more films of our civil war to come both for humanitarian and commercial reasons?

A: I am sorry to say that I have not seen any of the films that focused on our civil war. But I am sure many films will be made about it in the future.

Q: What is your next project going to be?

A: I am working on a couple of screen plays which I hope to film this year. One of which will be a collaboration with my Indian partners which I will direct.