Published By: Elisa Ghosh

Hollywood movies based on Indian books

How amazing does it feel to know that some award-winning movies are actually penned down by Indian authors?

Books have been an all-time inspiration for filmmakers all around the world. Surprisingly it is not just Bollywood movies being inspired by novels. Ample amounts of Hollywood movies are recreation of fictional books. Out of the plethora of Hollywood movies, there are some exceptional ones adapted from novels written by Indian authors and have paved their way towards the box office hit list. Check out some of these incredible masterpieces:

Victoria and Abdul

Starring Dame Judi Dench and Bollywood actor Ali Fazal, Victoria and Abdul is a Hollywood motion picture based on an Indian novel penned by Shrabani Basu. This movie depicts a true story about the relationship of Queen Victoria and Abdul, her servant. The journey of Abdul in becoming one of the greatest and influential court men of the Victorian Empire, has been elegantly caught up in the movie.

Lion

This Hollywood movie is actually adapted from a fictional book namely, A Long Way Home, written by Saroo Brierley. The story revolves around the life of Saroo, who initially lost his parents, but eventually found them years after, by means of the google maps. The film stars Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and a few other ensemble casts from the Indian cinema.

Namesake

This movie is based on the Indian novel with the same name, Namesake, written by Jhumpa Lahiri, Pulitzer prize winning novelist. Starring Bollywood eminent personalities Irfan Khan and Tabu, the movie is about a couple, their child and about the life of struggle being led by them.

Slumdog Millionaire

It is a story that recalls the life of a boy from the slums, who became a contestant of a reality show Who wants to be a Millionaire? During the game it is seen that the boy is answering the questions correctly, which however, leads to him being falsely accused of cheating. Later it becomes evident that the real-life experience of the boy makes him enabled to answer all the questions. This movie again is an adaption of a novel titled Q & A, written by an Indian author Vikas Swarup.

Midnight’s Children

Adapted from the novel with the same name, written by the famous post-modernist Indian writer Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children portrays actual events of the Indian history. The movie features the colonial rule and the life after independence in India along with certain mentions of the partition.

Apart from these notable works, there are for sure certain other Hollywood movies taken up from Indian books, which are waiting to become an iconic hit for the rich contents it triggers.