Do you believe in astrology ? Many of you might be believing in that. Well many of you think whether astrologers are saying right or only they are making us fools. So today's blog is about astrology and how astrologers spend their days making people fools. I'm Latta Baraiya and I'm a student of the English Department, MKBU. This task is assigned by Vaidehi ma'am. To know more about the task click here. So let's discuss…
First I would like to talk about the short story "An Astrologer's Day" by R. K. Narayan.
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami born on 10 October 1906 and died on 13 May 2001, commonly known as R. K. Narayan, was an Indian writer known for his work set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early Indian literature in English along with Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao. To read more about R. K. Narayan click here.
The short story "An Astrologer's Day" is a very interesting story to read. An Astrologer's Day is a thriller, suspense short story by author R. K. Narayan. While it had been published earlier, it was the titular story of Narayan's fourth collection of short stories published in 1947 by Indian Thought Publications. It was the first chapter of the world famous collection of stories Malgudi Days which was later telecasted on television in 2006.
This is a story about a man who runs away from his home and pretends to be an astrologer after imagining that he has committed a murder. In a strange situation, an ironic twist of fate, he runs into the very man he thought he had killed.
This story tells us how fake astrologers make people fool. It happens because they know some common terms for allure people. And if you are tense, in pain, or unhappy, you are going to attract them. This common trick they use. Not only astrologers but politicians, religious sant and Tantrik also.
Click here to read the full story.
If we talk about the movie adaptation it captures the subject very well. We have several changes in the movie also, that I will discuss in the questions given below.
You can watch the movie here. Click on this link :-
👉How faithful is the movie to the original short story?
The adaptation is good. It portrayed the subject of a story well. But here we can see some changes in the adaptation. The character of the daughter of that astrologer is completely missing in the original short story. It was added by the director in the movie adaptation. If we look at the story, some situations were changed in the movie adaptation.
👉After watching the movie, have your perception about the short story, characters or situations changed?
If I talk about the story, I thought that story might end with the explosion of the astrologer. But at the end the story continued with the daily work which he is doing everyday. But the movie helped me to understand the concept very clearly.
👉Do you feel ‘aesthetic delight’ while watching the movie? If yes, exactly when did it happen? If not, can you explain with reasons?
Yes. I feel aesthetic delight while watching the movie. If I talk about the exact time it happened when the mystery of Gurunanak was solved. While watching I'm very much aware of the relationship between the astrologer and Gurunanak. It also happened when the wife of an astrologer asked him to go back to their village and he denied. And why they leave their village. That time also I feel like there is something behind this. But when astrologer were afraid of Gurunanak, something was linked in my mind. I thought there was some connection between them. And later on we see what happened in the past. So that time I feel aesthetic delight.
👉Does screening of movie help you in better understanding of the short story?
Yes. Screening of the movie helped me a lot to understand the short story "An Astrologer's Day". Because watching movies is more effective than reading. But the point to be noted is if we want to know deeply about a story or anything I must prefer to read a book. Movies have some limitations that can be solved by reading the original book only. But our concept becomes clear while watching the movie. Movie also uses different camera angles to explore their aesthetic. And that is useful to understand the main focus of the story. So the movie screening helped me to understand how the story was portrayed. Visual medium is also effective. So we can easily remember what we have seen rather than what we have read.
👉Was there any particular scene or moment in the story that you think was perfect?
According to me, the movie captures the subject very well. Everything is perfect through the characters. All scenes also interlinked with each other.
👉If you are the director, what changes would you like to make in the remaking of the movie based on the short story “An Astrologer’s Day” by R.K.Narayan?
As a director of the movie I would like to change some shots of the movie.
First I will change the sequence of the movie. I prefer to share the scene of exposition first. Because it creates a curiosity in the audience to know why it's happening and what are the reasons behind it. That can make them connected with the film.
I will change the character of the wife of that astrologer. Because she didn't ask her husband about why he is doing this job, why he is cheating so many people. Instead of resisting, she behaves softly with her husband. She has to be a woman with dignity about the work they are doing.
If we look at her she is also unemployed. So I will make her do this kind of job so that she will earn some money. So she can face her husband also.
The other chance I will have is that I will try to expose the true reality of the astrologers. Who makes fools of people. At the end of the story they will be exposed by one educated person, because uneducated people are easily allured by this type of astrologer. So I will try to hide my face in front of people.
If we think people learn things from their failure. So I think that should be included in the movie that after exposure he changes his job and becomes a good human being !
So these types of changes I will make if I'm a director of the movie. I also recommend you to read the short story. If you haven't time to read full story, at least watch the movie adaptation of the story.
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