Originally posted by: hotdogg
Many thanks.
The original work was written in Gujarati.
It's an epic written in 5 volumes over a span of 15 years, set against the hinge of the 19th & 20th centuries.
Not sure if it was ever translated and if it ever was, whether it captured everything what the writer was trying to convey...
My friends tell me it's scope is staggering...for e.g. Kumud is the daughter of the Vidyachatur who is actually the Prime Minister of Ratnanagari in the novel...
Another thing they tell me...Devdas and Saraswatichandra were both written around the same time and both tackled the theme of love's labor lost in a rigid society...key difference was that in Devdas the weakling hero goes straight to the gutter blaming everyone (including his love!) but himself and in Saraswatichandra the hero rises above himself for his love and is always around in any difficulty...
So its phenomenal that SLB who managed to glamorise a weakling Devdas has taken on a show with a totally opposite positive perspective for the same issue.
Thanks for the interesting info on the book. I don't know how to address you @hotdogg, but couldn't pass by without commenting after reading it. Always been curious about the characters in the book but now reading your comment I can feel the pressure SLB must be having converting such a great piece into a show where everything runs on TRP's and saas bahu concepts. It is really a huge challenge and if he achieves atleast the essence of the book, that itself is a great achievement for him. Wow, I never knew it has 5 vols written in a span of 15 yrs, that really is a huge one.i wish I could read it, it would have been more interesting to see the characters take shape in real but now I am a greater fan of SLB. It takes guts to try something so huge. Yeah Devdas was of self pity and surrenders himself to his sorrows but SC takes the strength from his love and stands up to support it, a really strong character.
Bollywood
