Author–Screenwriter– Director (1930s–1950s): Articulating Authorship Through Self-Adaptations and Film Novelisations in Bengali

Abstract

During the 1930s, one of the significant factors that strengthened the connection between Bengali literature and film was the emergence of certain key figures who straddled overlapping roles as author–screenwriter–director, frequently adapting their own literary works and reframing the contentious ‘authorship issue’ that arises between writer and filmmaker. By focusing on three such figures—Premankur Atorthy (1890–1964), Sailajananda Mukhopadhyay (1901–1976) and Premendra Mitra (1904–1988)—this essay examines the manner in which self-adaptations served to transfer the power of the literary author to the nascent cinematic auteur, particularly through the intermediary process of screenwriting. The essay also draws attention to the practice of film novelisations that was mobilised since the mid-1940s by Mitra and others like Jyotirmoy Roy and Panchugopal Mukhopadhyay, where novels were written based on cinematic works, akin to French cinéromans and contrary to ‘authorless’ novelisations by ghostwriters. In subsequent years, film novels were written by director Hemen Gupta, writers Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, Shaktipada Rajguru and Kalkut, which brings to light a largely unexplored dimension of the relationship between Bengali film and literature.