Shantaram’s Duniya Na Mane screened

Delhiites got the opportunity to watch V Shantaram’s rare 1937 social classic Duniya Na Mane which was screened on the opening day of the Delhi Book Fair to commemorate 100 years of Indian cinema.

Made only six years after the advent of talkies in Hindi cinema, the movie, made by Shantaram’s Prabhat Film Company, wowed a thin audience with its incredible sense of humour, its trenchant wit and satire. The film, though made in the 1930s, was far ahead of its time and broached the issue of treatment of women in the Indian society, something which finds relevance even today.

Also called The Unexpected, the film is based on the Marathi novel Na Patnari Goshta by Narayan Hari Apte, who also wrote its screenplay. The story revolves around a character named Kamala, played by Shanta Apte, who is married off to an old wealthy man as an orphaned young girl.

Ritwik Ghatak’s Meghe Dhaka Tara [Bengali] based on a novel by Shaktipada Rajguru, Dev Anand’s Guide adapted from RK Narayan’s work, Samskara [Kannada], based on UR Ananthamurthy’s novel are also set to be screened.

The schedule is a mix of old and new films, with Umbartha based on Marathi novel Beghar, the Vidya Balan-starrer Parineeta which was adapted from Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Bengali novel and Slumdog Millionaire being included. The curtains will come down on 9 September with 3 Idiots adapted from Chetan Bhagat’s bestseller.