It will be a sad note to say that almost nobody has tried to translate Shakeshpeare's all works into any Indian language. It needs to be done. If any translations are there, they are piecemeal. If done in true spirit, it will be great. In fact, Gulzar adapted Comedy of Errors in his Angoor to Indian social culture and it was a masterpiece. Do we smell of Hamlet in "Karz"? I had an opportunity to act in "Merchant of Venice" (Kannada translation) and though everything was of contemporary British culture, the emotions expressed were wonderful. In my college days, few of the lecturers staged "Julius Caesar" in a remote village, which was applauded by even the village people. The great Shakeshpeare will be an unknown mystery to the common Indian if all his works are not (1)either translated into Indian laugnages (2) or rewritten in Indian languages to suit to Indian languages and culture.
RE:Shakeshpeare - Always great
by Jayasree Nair on Mar 20, 2007 12:42 PM
The complete works of Shakepeare including his poems have been translated into Malayalam and published by D.C.Books in two volumes, edited by the late poet and scholar Dr.K.Ayyappa Paniker. The translations have been done by a group of eminent translators. These volumes are into their second edition now.
Indeed shakespeare is very much there in our heritage too ! That is because almost all his characters are 'universal characters'. Many of you may also be aware that Shakespeare being a drop-out from school when he was studying in 7th standard used to vividly watch 'the greek dramas' in the theatre and this was how he got 'acquainted' with the 'drama' which later on inspired him to come up 'with his 'Master-pieces'! His comedies like Twelfth-night in which you have viola dressup as a man in order to 'find her love' is almost a common feature copied into our films. Taming of the Shrew,this shakespearan comedy is commonly being taken up to inspire our film producers. Our films with 'royal kings and queens' story in them have been highly influenced by King Lear wherein we get to see how the king is usually unaware of the real love and is 'falsely impressed by people who flatter him' in order to get into his good books. So all in all Shakespeare is very much in our heritage !!
Dr. Trivedi!s article made me feel Bengali is now not considered as indian language & movies also. I have read both tragedies and comedies of Shakespeare in Bengali in fifties. Also commedy of errors was rewritten by Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar and cinematised in fifties as Bhrantibilas. Would u like to correct the data maam
