From Pages to Silver Screen: The Expedition of Half Girlfriend

Abstract

Reading of a novel can go on and on and the reader can read it at his own pace. But if same novel is to be adapted into movie it needs a lot of adaptive measures. This research paper deals with the novel Half Girlfriend (2014) and the cinematic version with the same title Half Girlfriend (2017) directed by Mohit Suri. One of the famous English authors of short fiction, novels, comic books and screenplay Mr. Neil Gaiman quoted on adaptations "I've always believed that the best book-to-film adaptations are the ones that take the spirit of the book, rather than trying to adapt every single word". (Gaiman) The novel Half Girlfriend underlines the aspirations, dreams struggle and fear of Indian youth from rural background. Through the character of Madhav Jha, Chetan Bhagat illustrates the inner turmoil between territorial identity and cosmopolitanism. Both the movie and novel portray how his communication in English language is used as a catalyst to flaunt superiority in contemporary India. The novel has used simple diction and relatable themes because of which the audience feels connected. The same can be seen in the movie. The paper is an in-depth analysis of the adaptation of novel into movie investigating the difference between core narratives and character presentation.