Film Adaptations of World Literature: From Page to Screen — Bengali and Global Perspectives

Film Adaptations of World Literature: From Page to Screen - Bengali and Global Perspectives explores the complex, creative, and often contested relationship between literary texts and their cinematic adaptations. Moving beyond the simplistic "book versus film" debate, this book examines adaptation as a transformative cultural process-one that reshapes narrative, authorship, and imagination across mediums.
Anchored in Bengali literary and cinematic traditions and expanded through global case studies, the book offers a comparative framework for understanding how stories travel from page to screen. Special attention is given to Bengali literature as a luminous canvas for cinematic reinterpretation, with an in-depth exploration of Satyajit Ray's pioneering role in adapting literary classics into enduring films.
Contemporary Bengali adaptations in the digital era are also examined, highlighting new narrative ecosystems shaped by streaming platforms and global audiences. Blending critical theory, cultural studies, and film analysis, the book addresses key issues such as artistic liberty, authorship and power, cross-cultural translation, and the politics of representation. Through case studies of both triumph and failure, it demonstrates how adaptation can succeed as a collaborative dialogue-or falter under aesthetic and ideological constraints.
Written for scholars, students, filmmakers, and serious readers of world literature and cinema, this book positions adaptation not as a derivative act but as a dynamic form of storytelling essential to the global circulation of narratives in the twenty-first century.