A discussion between Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Govind Nihalani, moderated by Indrajit Hazra on the novel in adaptation, exploring questions such as: faithfulness or distance? Should the filmmaker follow the book, or can he use it as an inspiration for his own creation? And – lost in translation? Does a book lose some of its qualities when it is translated into a visual medium, or can book and film complement and enrich each other? Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. She has written several books of poetry, and her work has been included in over fifty magazines and over fifty anthologies, including Best American Short Stories and the Pushcart Prize anthology. Her first book of short stories, Arranged Marriage, won critical acclaim and the 1996 American Book Award, the Bay Area Book Reviewers and PEN Oakland Josephine Miles awards for fiction. Her latest novel, The Palace of Illusions, is based on the story of Draupadi in the Mahabharata. Her other published novels are The Mistress of Spices, Sister of My Heart, and Vine of Desire, and she has written three books for children, Neela: Victory Song,The Conch Bearer and The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming. Her books have been translated into 16 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Russian and Japanese. Two of her books have been made into movies. Chitra is a professor in the nationally ranked Creative Writing program at the University of Houston. She lives in Houston with her husband Murthy, her two children Anand and Abhay, and Juno, the family dog.

Govind Nihalani is one of the important names in the Indian art film circuit. His films are powerful, intelligent, brutal and hard hitting.This Pakistan born Sindhi director who moved toIndia after partition, took up photography as a profession and worked with some well-known directors including Shyam Benegal and Girish Karnad before taking up direction himself in the early 80's. Nihalani began his career as a cinematographer, after graduating in cinematography from Shree Jaya Chamrajendra polytechnic, Banglore, 1962. The first feature film shot and co-produced (with Satyadev Dubey who directed it) by him was Shantata! Court Chalu Ahe (Silence! The Court is in Session). Many of his films are adaptation of literary works. He has made films on the writings of Vijay Tendulkar (Aakrosh, Ardh Satya), Mahesh Elkunchwar (Party), Manjula Padmanabhan (Deham), Federico García Lorca (Rukmavathi ki Haveli), Bhisham Sahni (Tamas), Henrik Ibsen (Jazeere) , August Strindberg (Pita) and the Jnanpith winner Maheshwata Devi (Haazar Chaurasi ki Maa). In the later part of his career he began making more mainstream films such as Dev and Thakshak. His first directorial venture, Aakrosh, starring Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil and Amrish Puri, was based on a real story. It was converted into a filmscript by eminent Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar (to whom Osian’s-Cinefan is paying a tribute this year with the screening of this film) and made a huge impact on audiences all over India. It shared the Golden Peacock for Best Film at the 1981 International Film Festival of India held in New Delhi. Ardh Satya, based on a story by Dilip Chitre, is still remembered by film lovers. It changed forever the way in which Indian cinema portrayed the police, and exposed in stark detail the police-politician-criminal nexus.

Indrajit Hazra is the author of three novels the latest of which is 'The Bioscope Man'. He works as a journalist for the Hindustan Times, for whom he writes the Sunday column, 'Red Herring'. He lives in New Delhi.