Black Widow Spider
A Quiz
Let me begin with a little quiz:
· Which famous author made a debut in a cameo role in a Bollywood film made on his book?
· Name of the book?
· Which famous playback singer produced a hit number for the film, and acted in it, too?
· What was the hit song?
· Who is Indian cinema’s Hitchcock?
· What connects all these questions?
If you know all the answers, you’re a Bollywood fan, and also read fiction.
Here are the answers:
· Ruskin Bond at 76 years of age
· Susanna’s Seven Husbands
· Usha Uthup as Maggie, the Maid.
· Darling, ankhon se ankhen char karne do; roko na roko na mujhko pyar karne do[i]
· Vishal Bhardwaj, as praised by Ruskin Bond
· 7 Khoon Maaf
Journey: Story to Screen
Why am I writing about a film that was released in 2011 based on the original short-story written in 1997, and expanded to a novella in 2011 upon request by the prospective film-maker? Because I watched it recently on Netflix, after which I read the short-story, the novella, and the screen-play, in that order, having bought a Kindle copy of Penguin India’s three-in-one book for 188.17.
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, but lukewarm response from the audience even though it was a modest commercial success with box office collection of 33 crores against the budget of 15 crores. Most critics acclaimed Priyanka Chopra’s stellar performance, but some found her wanting.
How does a story become a film? Ruskin Bond suggested that the original short-story, the novella based on the short-story, and the screenplay based on the novella may be put together in a book to give the readers insight into the process that transforms a story to a film. The screenplay writers – Matthew Robbins[ii] and Vishal Bhardwaj liked the idea; and so did Penguin which published the book – a first such compilation in India to my knowledge. Reading this three-in-one book after watching the film was interesting as well as intriguing.
Are these creative works organically related to one another, or is each one an independent work? A detailed discussion on this matter is beyond the scope of this blog, but the many significant differences are evident from a quick look at how each work begins and ends.
The Beginning
Short-story
“Locally the tomb was known as ‘the grave of the seven times married one’. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was Bluebeard’s grave; he was reputed to have killed several wives in turn because they showed undue curiosity about a locked room. But this was the tomb of Susanna Anna-Maria Yeates, and the inscription (most of it in Latin) stated that she was mourned by all who had benefited from her generosity, her beneficiaries having included various schools, orphanages and the church across the road.”
Novella
“I watched in fascination as a gigantic Black Widow Spider[iii], her body streaked with green and yellow, crept down the veranda wall in the direction of her sleeping husband. Her body was almost two inches in length, her slender black legs at least six inches long. She was the boss-lady, the terror of the veranda walls. Like all spiders, she lived by murder, and her victims often included her own kind. Her husband, a paltry thing about half her size, lived almost entirely on her earnings. He was circumspect and kept out of her way, because he knew she would eat him when she was in the mood to do so.”
Screenplay
“We see a lady place the barrel of a gun to her temple. We will come to know her as Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes, 53–54. She has a grim expression as tears flow down her face….
Suddenly BANG!!! We see blood splatter on a wall. It slowly begins to flow downward as music creeps in. Fade to: The title of the film—7 Khoon Maaf.”
The short-story beginning makes no mention of the murders; the enigmatic heroine Anna is ‘the seven times married one.’ The novella begins ominously by describing a gigantic Black Widow Spider, a metaphor for Anna, the femme fatale. The screenplay and the film begin with gore and blood- a skull smashed by a bullet.
The Ending
How does the story end? The short-story, novella, screenplay – each has a different ending. What happens to Anna after she gets rid of her six husbands[iv] – ‘all imperfect men,’ as she observed. In the short-story, Anna lived to a ripe old age and died peacefully in her sleep. In the novella, her mansion is consumed by fire, but she was unharmed being out in the garden at the Naag Temple to retrieve some hidden jewellery. Ruskin Bond proposed three ‘endings’ to the film-makers who chose a fourth one which is in the screenplay and the film.
The film begins with gore – a bullet smashes a skull (‘whose skull’ will be revealed much later), blood splatters on the wall opposite, and drips to the ground; and the core story unravels in flashback. The violence, macabre, and gore – grist to Bollywood crime-suspense-thriller mill, and Vishal Bhardwaj’s signature style - are most unlike the genial world-view, tone, tenor, and ambience of Ruskin Bond’s stories. The film-maker has evidently taken many liberties with Ruskin’s story; maybe because he had the box-office in mind. Alas, the box-office didn’t much like the film, it seems.
Shakespearean tragedy?
Does the film aspire to be a Shakespearean tragedy? Is Anna (Priyanka) portrayed as a tragic heroine? Notably, Vishal had adapted Shakespeare’s tragedies for three films – Maqbool (Macbeth), Omkara (Othello), and Haider (Hamlet) - with sterling performance by Irrfan Khan, Ajay Devgn, and Shahid Kapoor; and critically acclaimed. Ruskin Bond may have written a few stories with a tinge of pathos, but he wrote no tragic novel or story, and his original short-story and the novella are not tragic tales. In fact, the original story is quaint, evocative, and suggestive, with passing mention of the ‘murders’ (except for the molten lead poured into the ears of a stone-drunk husband) which are presented in the film with gory detail. Maybe, Ruskin stepped out of his world-view to write the novella to suit the film-maker’s need for a crime-suspense thriller.
The Blue Umbrella
If you haven’t already read Ruskin’s delectable novella The Blue Umbrella, or seen the eponymous film made by Vishal Bhardwaj in 2005; I recommend both. The film won the National Award for Best Children’s film, yet bombed at the box-office. What a pity!
Haunted Mansion
After we watched 7 Khoon Maaf, my spouse said, ‘Your Balasore story is fit to be a film.’ I was pleasantly surprised since I had written Haunted Mansion[v] a few years ago, and my spouse does not have a very high opinion about my stories, her preference being for WhatsApp stories which can be read in less than a minute.
But I don’t know Vishal. Maybe, I should request my friends in UP (Vishal was born in Chandpur, Bijnor), or in Mumbai to recommend my story to him. Incidentally, Vishal had recommended Ruskin Bond’s story to a potential film-maker whose response was: I don’t find a film in that story. Later, Vishal himself made the film.
Bhavabhuti, a great Sanskrit author but not acclaimed during his lifetime observed in a memorable shloka: Time is perennial and vast is the world; someday an appreciative reader would enjoy my works.[vi]
Ruskin Bond wrote The Blue Umbrella in 1980 which became a film in 2005, and his Susanna’s Seven Husbands written in 1997 became a film in 2011. Why should I be in indecent hurry?
[ii] Matthew Robbins is a veteran screenplay writer for Hollywood films. He co-wrote with Hal Barwood the screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s first feature film The Sugarland Express. 7 Khoon Maaf was his debut screenplay writing for Indian cinema.
[iii] Females sometimes kill and eat their counterparts after mating in a macabre behaviour that gave the insect its name. Black widows are solitary year-round except during this violent mating ritual. (Black Widow Spiders | National Geographic)
[iv] Did Anna have a seventh husband? Watch the film or read the short-story or novella to find out.
[v] Haunted Mansion is one of the stories in my book Tell A Tale and Other Stories (https://amzn.in/d/2S6kFvs)
[vi] Reference is to the following shloka from the Sanskrit playwright Bhavabhūti's work, Mālatīmādhava:
ये नाम केचिदिह नः प्रथयन्त्यवज्ञां
जानन्ति ते किमपि तान्प्रति नैष यत्नः।
उत्पत्स्यते तु मम कोऽपि समानधर्मा
कालो ह्ययं निरवधिर्विपुला च पृथ्वी॥
Translation:
"Some may spread disdain about us here,
They know not anything; no effort is made towards them.
Yet, someone sharing my disposition will arise,
For time is endless, and the earth is vast."
This verse reflects the sentiment that despite current misunderstandings or criticisms, there will eventually be someone who comprehends and shares one's values or perspectives, given the boundlessness of time and the vastness of the world.
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