The Merchant of Venice

Saini, Vijeta 2019

The Punjabi production of The Merchant of Venice was directed by Vijeta Saini, a graduate student at Northeastern University, in collaboration with B.A.M. Khalsa College, Garhshankar and its student run theatre group, The Struggler Theatre Group. The first performance of the production was staged on September 2, 2019. The staging of the play came into being and was driven by the question, “How do people see Shakespeare in Punjab?”. The director, intrigued by the wide-spread presence Shakespeare in Punjab, aims to explore what does the audience finds eccentric, fascinating or relevant in the play with respect to their culture, and how does it affect their reading of the play. To study these aspects of intercultural spectatorship, a survey was conducted after each of the four performances of the play, and interviews were organized with cast members and willing spectators. Read More

Macbeth

Mallik, Nilanko 2019

A modern adaptation of Macbeth by William Shakespeare was directed by Dr. Nilanko Mallik and performed by Shakespeare Youth Performances (SYP) in Kolkata, India on the 1st of June 2019, Saturday.

SYP’s adaptation takes the plot of fight for kingship to fight for becoming the CEO of an MNC – Dunsinane Corp. Inverness, Cawdor, Fife, even Birnam – are all branches of this great MNC, whose CEO is Duncan, murdered by his cousin Macbeth.

In this production, the witches appealed to the audience through their charming music. Although they retain some of their mysterious elements, they were presented as a band of three sisters – who run their own catering service for a living – and take to music as their passion. The famous enchantment of the witches in the cauldron scene (Act IV, Scene I) was rendered to highly grooving, foot-tapping rap song, sung with the aid of a guitar.

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Hamlet

Mallik, Nilanko 2016

A modern topical adaptation of Hamlet by William Shakespeare was directed by Dr. Nilanko Mallik and performed by Shakespeare Youth Performances (SYP) at CLT Aban Mahal, Dhakuria, Kolkata, West Bengal, India on 29th of December 2016, Thursday, at 6:00pm.

“We welcome all of you who have come to watch our performance of Hamlet. Before we begin the play, let me ask you one question – what is the title of the play? Well, some of you know it – Hamlet, The Prince of Denmark. So it is. But does that mean that Hamlet belongs to Denmark? This is where we like to differ. In our production, we have made the setting Indian – rather, Kolkattan, so to speak…we don’t have kings and queens now, but we did have zamindars and now, we do have an ever- growing economically elite class in the Bengali society.

This is a production which shows Bengali families being beset with one tragedy after another. No, don’t worry, this is not going to be the plot of a mega serial – it will be Hamlet – told with all the mighty lines of Shakespeare, but in a Bengali setting. That’s right – this is a Bengali adaptation of Shakespeare, but not a bangla version of Shakespeare, as the lines are the bard’s.”

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Life Goes On (King Lear)

Datta, Sangeeta 2009

A contemporary film adaptation of King Lear, set in modern-day London, centred on the life of three generations of immigrants of a Hindu family from Bengal. Read More

Ur-Hamlet

Barba, Eugenio 2006

Ur-Hamlet is a multicultural project by Odin Teatret: a performance that brings together the Odin Teatret ensemble, a group of actor-dancers from Bali, Japan, Brazil, musicians from different parts of the world, and a long-term pedagogical project for young trainees from all over the world. Read More

Charudatham

Harikumar, Sadanam 2001

Charudatham is an adaptation of Julius Caesar into kathakali .

Video of performance took place on 1 March 2001 at the Nataka Bharathi 2001 Shakespeare on Indian Stage, national theatre festival and seminar at Kasargode, Kerala, India, 24 Feb – 2 March 2001, in association with the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi.

 

Hamlet

Kishworjit 2001

“The dilemma of Hamlet is juxtaposed with the conflict of contemporary Manipuri youth.” (Kishworjit, director). Read More

Hamlet

Hazarika, Anup 2007

Translation into Assamese by AMRITJYOTI MAHANTA (PUBLISHED IN 1998)

Staged 2007 in New Delhi at the Annual Theatre Festival organized by The National School of Drama, Designed and Directed by ANUP HAZARIKA with ABHIJIT GOSWAMI in the role of Hamlet.

Iruthiattam

Raju, R. 2001

Iruthiattam, a 2001 Tamil-language adaptation of King Lear. The production was directed by R. Raju from a script by Indira Parthasarthy. Read More

Samrat Lear (King Lear)

Brown, John Russell 1997

Samrat Lear, a March 1997 Hindi-language adaptation of King Lear by the National School of Drama in New Delhi. Directed by John R. Brown from a script by Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Read More

Raja Lear

Bhuthiadia, Sharad 1993

Raja Lear, a 1993 Marathi-language adaptation of King Lear. Directed by Sharad Bhuthiadia from a translation by Vinda Karandikar. A faithful translation, this production was performed in a manner ‘faithful’ to the tradition of realist staging of Shakespeare. This has been the most common staging practice for Shakespeare in India. Read More

Dil Chahta Hai (The Heart Wants)

Akhtar, Farhan 2001

Dil Chahta Hai (The Heart Wants) is a 2001 film set in Mumbai, India and Sydney, Australia. Directed by Farhan Akhtar, the movie features a scene of an opera performance of Troilus and Cressida. Read More

36 Chowringhee Lane

Sen, Arpana 1981

In post-independence India an Anglo-Indian teacher, Violet Stoneham (Jennifer Kendal), lives a quiet and uneventful life at 36 Chowringhee Lane in Calcutta, now Kolkata. Her brother Eddie (Geoffrey Kendal, Jennifer’s father in real life) is senile and ailing in a nursing home. After the marriage of her niece Rosemary (Soni Razdan), she is alone except for her cat, Sir Toby. Her only joy in life is teaching Shakespeare, despite the lack of interest from her students. Read More

Shakespeare Wallah

Ivory, James 1965

Shakespeare Wallah is a 1965 Merchant Ivory Productions film. The story and screenplay are by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, about a travelling family theatre troupe of English actors in India, who perform Shakespeare plays in towns across India, amidst a dwindling demand for their work and the rise of Bollywood. Madhur Jaffrey won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 15th Berlin International Film Festival for her performance. The music was composed by Satyajit Ray. Read More

Sholay

Sippy, Ramesh 1975

Sholay is a 1975 Indian action-adventure film written by Salim–Javed, directed by Ramesh Sippy, and produced by his father G. P. Sippy. The film is about two criminals, Veeru and Jai (played by Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan respectively), hired by a retired police officer (Sanjeev Kumar) to capture the ruthless dacoit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan). Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri also star, as Veeru and Jai’s love interests, Basanti and Radha, respectively. Sholay is considered a classic and one of the best Indian films. It was ranked first in the British Film Institute’s 2002 poll of “Top 10 Indian Films” of all time. In 2005, the judges of the 50th Filmfare Awards named it the Best Film of 50 Years. Read More

Bobby

Kapoor, Raj 1973

Bobby is a Bollywood adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Raj, the son of strict, wealthy parents, falls in love with Bobby, the daughter of a poor Christian fisherman — a romance his parents oppose. Read More

Mr. Romeo

Mukherjee, Subhash 1974

When Pal’s son kills a police constable, his best friend, Saxena, the only witness to this murder, comes forward and as a result Pal’s son is arrested and charged with murder. Pal pleads with Saxena to change his witness statement, but Saxena refuses to do so, and as a result Pal’s son gets convicted and is sentenced to death. Pal swears to avenge his son’s death. Years later, Saxena’s sons, Ramesh and Suresh, have grown up. While Suresh, the younger son, is serious, studious, and business-minded, Ramesh is quite the opposite. Pal’s son, Prem, befriends Suresh and gets him hooked-up with a gorgeous looking girl, and drugs his drinks, thus making him an addict. He falls in love with this girl and wants to get married to her. His parents and Ramesh are opposed to this, and Ramesh goes to the extent of threatening to kill her. Shortly thereafter, the girl is killed, and a drug-induced Suresh immediately believes that Ramesh is the killer. He abducts Ramesh’s to-be bride, Sheetal Batra, and takes her with him to his hideout. Now the climax is set between the two brothers – with Pal and Prem watching delightedly – as they know only one will survive, and the other will be arrested by the police, and get the death sentence, thus leaving the Saxena family childless and without any heir.

rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

For more information, visit IMDb.

 

 

Reshma Aur Shera

Dutt, Sunil 1971

Reshma Aur Shera (Hindi: रेशमा और शेरा; translation: Reshma and Shera) is a 1971 Hindi crime drama film produced and directed by Sunil Dutt and starring Waheeda Rehman as Reshma and Sunil Dutt as Shera. It also stars Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee and Amrish Puri in supporting roles. Sunil Dutt’s son Sanjay Dutt, who was 12 years at the time, appears briefly as a Qawwali singer in his first film appearance. Read More

Mississippi Masala

Nair, Mira 1991 | One Comment

Mississippi Masala is a 1991 film inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet about the interracial romance between an African American man and an Indian American woman in rural Mississippi. Read More

Josh

Khan, Mansoor 2000

Josh was a 2000 film directed and co-written by Mansoor Khan and inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The movie takes place in 1980 and is set in Goa, India. The story is centered around two rival gangs. The younger brother of one gang leader falls in love with the twin sister of the other gang leader. Read More

Kaliyattam (The Play of God)

Nair, Rajasekharan Jayaram 1997

Kaliyattam is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ seen through the local traditional theatrical dance form of Theyyam, in which the actor takes on a divine dimension – as soon as he wears his mask and his headgear. Read More

In Othello

Abel, Roysten 2003

A multicultural theater company in today’s New Delhi is staging a production of Shakespeare’s Othello. The director takes a bold step by casting an inexperienced small town actor as Othello. The new actor falls in love with the leading lady, who is also the director’s love-interest, and the two men become bitter rivals. Things become even more complicated as the actors’ theatrical personae start to seep into their lives outside the theater. Read More

Omkara

Bharadwaj, Vishal 2006

In this adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Othello” set in India, half-caste bandit Omkara Shukla (Ajay Devgan) abducts his lady love, Dolly Mishra (Kareena Kapoor), from her family. Thanks to his cleverness, he gets away with the kidnapping. A conspiracy, however, forms against him when he denies his right-hand man, Langda Tyagi (Saif Ali Khan), a promotion. Ultimately, this plot threatens not only his relationship with Dolly, but their lives and those of their associates as well. Read More

Maqbool (Macbeth)

Bharadwaj, Vishal 2003

Maqbool is based on William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, with the Mumbai underworld as its backdrop. Maqbool (Irrfan Khan) is the right-hand man of Jahangir Khan (alias Abba Ji) (Pankaj Kapoor), a powerful underworld don. Maqbool is grateful and feels a close connection and personal indebtedness to Abba Ji. Seeing their close relationship, but also sensing Maqbool’s ambition, two corrupt policemen (Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah) predict that Maqbool will soon take over the reins of the Mumbai Underworld from Abba Ji. Read More

When Hamlet Went to Mizoram

Butalia, Pankaj 1990

When Hamlet Went to Mizoram was a 1990 film directed by Pankaj Butalia which features rehearsals

Mizoram is a small state on the Northeastern border of India. In the 1940s, J.F. Laldailova, an officer in the British army, introduced the people of Mizoram to Shakespeare, translating his works into the Mizo language. The film shows bits of rehearsals and performances of Hamlet and a discussion by various actors of how Shakespeare’s works, and Hamlet in particular, relates to their own lives.

 

For additional information, visit IMDb.

 

Angoor

Gulzar 1982

Based on Shakespeare’s ‘A Comedy of Errors’, this is a story of identical twins (2 pairs) and mistaken identities. Read More

Kannaki

Nair, Rajasekharan Jayaram 2002

Kannaki is a Malayalam musical romance adaptation of Antony and Cleopatra. Villagers Manickam and Choman are very close friends. Manickan is in love with Kannaki and wants to marry her but Choman wants him to marry his sister. Read More