‘Cultural sensitivity a challenge while adapting western content’

Panaji: Just because a film or a show has done well in the West, does not mean it will appeal to Indian audiences, said the panellists at the 55th Iffi at a discussion on adapting Western films for Indian audiences. Stories need to be translated for Indian audiences keeping in mind their culture and traditions, they stated.

Writer-director, Suparn Varma said that a show like ‘Peaky Blinders’ won’t translate in the Indian milieu even if it’s a brilliant series. “As creators one would like to adapt all brilliant stories, but not every story will translate for Indian audiences keeping in mind the culture and traditions.”

General manager of BBC Studios, Sameer Gogate, said, “It’s the stories that take precedence and the characters follow.” The panellists were of the opinion that deciding the character arc or the cast of a remake is challenging because the characters must appeal to the audience and at the same time they should be relatable.

One of the biggest challenges is adapting characters to appeal to Indian audiences while maintaining their core essence. Another panellist Mrinalini Jain, group chief development officer at Banijay Asia which adapted the foreign series, ‘The Night Manager’ into a Hindi-language thriller starring Anil Kapoor, said that pitching a story to an actor or a director is easier because they have watched the original series, but placing it before the audience is a challenge.

Speaking about adapting South Indian films in Bollywood , the panellists said that the cultural chasm needs to be changed for the story to be universal. Creators do take liberty to capture the emotions and adapt the pieces but there is a fine line between translating format and transposing format. “Transposing format relatable for the audience is where the magic lies,” said Jain.

However, referring to the series, ‘Out of Love’, the panellists said that the universal trait of a character must not be forgotten. Gogate said, “The root of the characters are in our ethos and that’s why certain characters appeal to us more than others. The balance between the western culture and Indian society needs to be maintained for a show to work for the audience.”