A reader compares Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Arun Matheswaran’s DC, and Shyam Benegal’s Nishant to explain how each film uses famous texts: as springboard, as name-drop, or as meaningful revision.
Benegal’s Nishant is presented as a model of literary subversion that shifts the viewer’s perspective on an epic through careful character setup, moral ambiguity, and refusal of easy catharsis.
Literature and Cinema Posted on September 22, 2026 6 By Aman Basha Ruminations on three films and their respective relationships with popular works of literature. It seems the second week of August 2026 would forever exist in my memory as the week where I sat for two movies of a strangely similar nature. Both these movies prominently cited famous works of literature, only to use this literature as less source material and more a springboard to dive into their filmmakers' pet obsessions.
While a weakling, Viswam is the subject of unusual affection and attention by Anna. The first of these movies was Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, whose relation to Homer has already been subject to some strongly worded articles by Homer translator Emily Watson. The novella has spawned many adaptations and interpretations over the ages that have taken Sarat's characters in wild directions, but DC is in a league of its own.
It took little time to realize that I was on the verge of completing a hattrick. The third film in this hattrick, however, emphasized to me how well The Odyssey captured the futility of war and violence with its similar plot beats of a woman as an excuse for an invasion through a trojan horse-like religious procession. It also exposed how poor the relationship between DC and Devdas was.
By Neerajaa Musafir café and Once more are the two recent pieces of art that have left a lasting impact on me.(I have not watched Bethehelem kudumba unit yet though!). Both of them had many beautiful aspects to be highlighted but I wanted to first talk about how it left me thinking about the one […]
By Premkumar Ethirajulu Back in 2009–10, in a phase when I had a lot of “me time,” I went on a run of watching as many films as I could, especially the classics from the 1980s and 90s. I watched Thoovanathumbikal on one such day and was completely swept away by how it normalized taboo subjects … … Continue reading →
By RK My 10-year old daughter could not believe me when I said that I did not have a single book while growing up during the 1980s and I did not even know that books could be read for pleasure before my teenage. The look on my daughter’s face when I first said this to […]
By Premkumar Ethirajulu A few days ago, my wife and I visited the Madras archive exhibition conducted by The Hindu on Mount Road, and we were thrilled to see those old newspaper archives and photos spanning the pre and post independence era. I saw a news item about the first Chennai Book Fair that was […]
By Ishwarya Mukund It was a dark and stormy night. I was standing by the shores of Marina. It was my last night in Chennai, my resignation letter had been accepted and I had finished all the formalities at the corporate office that evening. It was a silent moment with no sound other than the […]
Cinemas in Rome and Lazio screen Venice films. Cinemas in Rome and Lazio celebrate the 83rd Venice Film Festival by screening previews of movies presented at the gala cinema event earlier this month. From 24 September to 6 October, cinemas in the capital and the Lazio region will screen 50 films that premiered at the w
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