Reimagining the Social Novel: From Gunahon Ka Devta to Milan and Chetna

Abstract

The present paper explores cinematic adaptation as a complex process of cultural re-mediation by following the path of the critically acclaimed social novel of Dharmavir Bharati, Gunahon ka Devta (2000) to the two films based on it, namely: Milan (1967) and Chetna (1970). Beyond the conventional fidelity criticism, the paper argues that these movies are not merely adaptations of the novel but rather recreate the underlying disjunctions of the novel: e.g., disjunction between personal desire and social responsibility, disjunction between tradition and modernity to suit the changing commercial logic, their stars and their social-political fears of the respective times. The literature review by a comparative textual analysis shows that both these adaptations carry out a distinct cultural negotiation: the tragic, psychologically motivated social critique of the novel is translated into a myth, redemptive romance in each of them, which offers the escape of therapeutic value through the virtuous star characters of Sunil Dutt and Nutan. On the other hand, the transposition of the conflict in the gritty plane of the urban melodrama in *Chetna* turns it into a crisis of the modern sexual politics and of the urban contradiction of classes through the rebellious character of Rajesh Khanna. In the end, the paper maintains that the films can be used as a cultural barometer, to reveal how mainstream Hindi cinema is absorbing and domesticating the problematic moral ambiguities of the post-independence literary canon, and in the process transforming subtle psychological drama into mass-culture genres that appeal to the imaginations and fears of an emerging post-independent India.