Kolkata: National Award-winning filmmaker Srijit Mukherji has said India has turned into a nation of offended people and getting offended has sort of become a national pastime.

Srijit, the director of ‘Begum Jaan’ said this while speaking at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet here yesterday evening.

“It has become a national pastime, what you are doing today I am getting offended – that kind of thing. In case I take up certain work my plea will be don’t burn us, don’t behead us, he said.

“If you troll us fine, may be there can be a peaceful demonstration in front of our house, this much,” Srijit said, referring to the protests and agitation over screening of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Padmaavat’ in many parts of the country, indirectly.

Speaking about adaptations from literary works, he said, “I think there had been films which were better than book. I can name some such as ‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’ and ‘Saptapadi’ and I think in such cases the film fraternity has redeemed itself.” 

He also said that if you are dealing with a story you should stick to its essence.

People tend to get divided, when one adapts from a book, he said, adding, while one group questions why some contents of the book were changed in the film, others ask why nothing was changed in the film since it is an adaptation, he said.

“I have faced this from the fans of writer Sunil Gangopadhyay whose ‘Kakababu’ series I have taken up for adaptation in two films already,” Srijit said.

“It is not sacrosanct and you are free to disagree with me but it is my perspective,” he said.

Referring to the film ‘Rajkahini’, themed on partition, which was readapted as ‘Begum Jaan’ in Hindi by him, Srijit said that it was important for him to become both the characters, the rapist and the rape victim, in order to portray graphic details of the crime scene and the angst of the victim.

“If I do not wrench out the dark aspects in human psyche how can I be truthful in portrayals?”, he asked.

Srijit said while the recent ‘Yeti Obhijaan’ was a more successful adaptation of the original ‘Kakababu’ classic ‘Pahar Churay Atonko’, his first Kakababu series film ‘Mishawr Rawhoshyo’ was more cinematic.

“My third ‘Kakababu’ series film, ‘Kakababur Protyabarton’ will have a mixed approach. There will be loyal adaptations in some parts and some cinematic changes for the sake of scripting,” he said, adding, the film will be largely shot in a jungle.

Srijit, who shared the podium with the writer of the thriller ‘The Mahabharata Murders’ Arnab Roy, said, “I loved the way Arnab developed the story.” (PTI)