Chantabbai — Novel and Cinema
When I was in Hyderabad in February, I visited Navodaya Book House in Kachiguda and purchased three books. One among which was Chantabbai by Malladi Venkata Krishnamurthy. I had watched the film based on the book called Chantabbai (before reading the book), directed by Jandhyala, withChiranjeevi and Suhasini as the star cast.
I don’t recall the scenes or the story completely but remembered what it was about and the climax twist in the movie. As I was yearning to read a comedy novel in Telugu, there couldn’t be a better option than Chantabbai.
This time, I thought of reading the book and immediately watching the movie to observe how the movie adaptation was made in the 1980s. From what I knew, the movie was a commercial flop at its release, but fans and filmmakers regard it as one of the best detective comedies made in Telugu cinema.
Okay, enough context. Let’s discuss the novel first, followed by the movie and the changes made in the adaptation.
Chantabbai — Novel
I started reading, expecting a hilarious novel on a lighter note, with a pinch of reader’s pride that I know the climax (as I remember it from the movie). Malladi made it a point to mention to the readers not to reveal the climax to others on the back cover of the novel. I was like, “Dude, I know why you wrote this!”
I believe Malladi named the protagonist Ekalingam first and then changed it to Ekadantham. The reason I say this — there are two instances in the novel where Ekalingam was used instead of Ekadantham.
The novel starts off with a hilarious conversation between Ekadantham (our protagonist) and Dr Nischala in her hospital about a case that Nischala assigns to Ekadantham. Ekadantham is a detective with good sense of humor.
Every character in the novel is linked to or centred around Ekadantham. We follow him throughout the novel in a quest to find out Chantabbai’s whereabouts.
Every scene involving Ekadantham brought a smile to my face owing to the dialogue or the description of his actions with the other characters, including his love interest Jwala. Jwala has no major role in the novel except for talking to Ekadantham regularly over the phone and finally getting married in her father’s presence.
Until the climax, the novel stays entertaining, with twists and turns that come as surprises for us. A character called Aashirvadam tries using English words in Telugu sentences, and his dialogues got me laughing throughout.
If I remember correctly, I tried completing the book in three working days, and on the third day, I was hesitant to finish it because I didn’t want to leave this novel that is so novel (pun intended).
I knew the movie’s climax and assumed it would be the same here, but then came the shocker. It took a sudden turn to be serious, like Yandamoori’s protagonist’s anger, and I was taken aback while reading those lines. It is unlike what is shown in the movie; honestly, how they ended the novel felt good.
Ekadantham and Jwala’s wedding scene is another good one that I enjoyed reading. It is wholesome and has good humor uniting all the novel’s key characters in one place.
The writing is smooth and hooks us from the first paragraph. Malladi is known to be “Aahlada Rachayitha”, and I felt it while reading the book. There’s no single paragraph where I wasn’t connected or felt bored. The situations, characters, and conversations make it a good novel.
Now the bar is high for the movie to reach 🙂
After finishing the book the next day, I opened YouTube and started watching the movie.
Chantabbai — Film
Although I don’t remember every scene or character from the movie, I was surprised to see the changes they made while adapting the book. Here’s a note from Malladi before the movie starts.
The movie duration is comparatively shorter than the length and story of the novel.
Jandhyala and Malladi collaborated on this movie, adding more humour in actions than dialogues, introducing new characters, and changing a few characters while retaining the soul of it.
Our Ekadantham is James Pond, aka Panduranga Rao, the detective working with an agency. He has an assistant, Ganapathi, played by Suthivelu, a new character that isn’t present in the novel. The costume of Ganapathy is weirdly funny, and he becomes the typical ‘friend/subordinate’ of a commercial film protagonist who takes hits, becoming an element of comedy in the film.
Another interesting character, Inspector Saumitri, is present in the film but not in the novel. Jwala, the protagonist’s love interest in the novel, has a good character in the movie, played by Suhasini.
The story progresses with Jwala. Pond rescues Jwala from a murder charge and identifies his boss as the culprit. Dr Nischala and Jwala are friends, so Jwala introduces Pond to Dr Nischala to identify her missing brother, Chantabbai.
Since it is a movie, they worked on placing songs that won’t hamper the narration but become a part of driving the story forward. The songs are good, and the comedy touch of Jandhyala is evident.
Aasirvadam is Bhatt here, and the character seems altered with lesser scenes and hence, lesser impact when compared to the novel.
In the film, they made Jwala a chatterbox, while Pond talks only when it’s necessary, a good change that suits the movie till its climax.
One interesting character that isn’t present in the novel but surprised me is Allu Aravind. He did a cameo in the film, and the scenes involving him brought a lot of laughter. In my opinion, it was a good choice to add visual comedy that brings instant laughter over dialogue, as the movie has a shorter duration.
The movie’s climax is different, and it was good but not that impactful compared to the novel. They changed the film’s climax to suit the audience’s taste then, and I believe it was apt.
When I watched the movie for the first time (before reading the book), it felt like a good twist for a movie to end and worked well for me.
They could’ve tried to include the wedding scene from the novel. It would have worked well, but that would have been out of place for the climax they’d written for the movie.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book more than watching the movie, and I mean no disrespect to the movie at all. The movie is good too, and the characters and their antics made me smile while watching it.
Chiranjeevi’s action from the first scene until the last scene reflects his effortless sense of humor and how he pulls those scenes. I sincerely hope someone brings back that vintage Chiru soon :)
This has been a good exercise for me to read a novel, watch its adaptation, and understand their choices while making the movie.
Until next time…
