By RAVIKANT BANKA
Last week, I was going through my child’s literature textbook, when I came across a name that has been immortalized in the history of literature – William Shakespeare.
It was a little funny to see his name as he was the one who once proclaimed, “What’s in a name?” That was the first thought among many which ran through my mind at that moment. They also left me wondering about the influence this man has had on the world during his time and beyond.
Firstly, kudos to the man, synonymous with “seen it all, done it all”. He explored and nurtured so many genres that his name is immortal across many forms of literary works. Drama, romance, thriller, suspense, horror… the list can go on and on. Either he was in the right place at the right time or he was simply brilliant beyond his time. Either way, hats off to him.
However, I cannot help but imagine what is left after Shakespeare. He ruthlessly exploited so much so soon that barely anything seems left to ‘discover’. With ‘The Merchant of Venice’, he gave us suspense. With ‘Macbeth’, the feeling of revenge and a supernatural element to the tragedy. ‘Othello’ took us into a world of jealousy and betrayal. And with ‘Romeo and Juliet’, he brought to life, love and romance in its truest form; a form that has been exploited in almost every tragic love story, be it books, theatre, or films. He has explored and exploited a wide range of genres, spread across 38 plays, 154 sonnets and two long narrative poems. Is there anything that remains which can be called ‘fresh and new’ anymore?
And then I had this upsetting thought. Upsetting because being in the world of creativity, I take originality with a fist of pride. Hundreds of years later, after Shakespeare and the world’s recorded existence, do we have any concept left to explore? Can any idea we come up with be called original? Or, is everything that we do going to be called a copy of the original? Sometimes, just to make ourselves feel better, we like to call it an inspiration or an adaptation. And, sometimes, this inspiration reaches cult status and is called a ‘tribute’.
A special mention is reserved for Vishal Bharadwaj, who started his directorial journey by adapting some of Shakespeare’s acclaimed works into films like ‘Maqbool’ ala ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Omkara’ ala ‘Othello’. And today, he enjoys the status of being called an acclaimed story-teller. It is like a food dish, garnish and present it in a different manner and you have a so-called ‘authentic 5-star’ dish ready.
Each of Shakespeare’s ideas have been tried and tested, then as well as now. Every concept has been exploited to the point of saturation. Every ounce of quality has been squeezed out, its juice extracted and harvested for use. Everything remains but a cliché!
So where does that leave us, especially those from the ideas domain? Of course, if we have no new ideas, we are simply copying old ideas and reproducing them. We regenerate old ideas in our own way. We redo them and give our own meaning, our own essence. We put our own little stamp on them. Be it a movie, drama, or a book, nothing’s new or original. However, we can still be proud of them and call them our own.
Feedback: ravi@eggfirst.com
