Scripting a Screen Epic

Noted Tamil author B. Jeyamohan talks about the challenges in adapting an epic literary work like Ponniyin Selvan into a film

- Aditya Shrikrishna

Short story lends itself to cinema. It’s difficult to adapt the novel into film and this is true the world over,” says B. Jeyamohan, the celebrated Tamil author, literary critic and screenplay writer who stands on the cusp of wider fame today with several of his works being translated into English and film adaptations achieving popular success. His short story collection Aram (2011), translated by Priyamvada as Stories of the True, was published in 2022, and his 2003 novel Ezham Ulagam, translated by Suchitra Ramachandran as The Abyss, came out last month. Jeyamohan has been writing films for over two decades now, working with filmmakers like Shankar, Mani Ratnam and Bala. Vetrimaaran’s Viduthalai Part 1 (2023), inspired by Jeyamohan’s short story ‘Thunaivan’, released in March. There is another horse in the race—the adaptation of Kalki R. Krishnamurthy’s book