From Maqbool and Omkara to Haider, The Blue Umbrella, Pataakha, Khufiya and Charlie Chopra, Vishal Bhardwaj has drawn on an extraordinary range of literature to create unforgettable Indian cinema. But what makes these adaptations so compelling? How does Shakespeare become the Mumbai underworld, caste- ridden Uttar Pradesh, or conflict-scarred Kashmir? Or Ruskin Bond’s quiet Himalayan world become a tender, darkly comic fable of childhood and loss? Or Agatha Christie’s classic country-house mystery become a distinctly Indian whodunit, steeped in the textures and eccentricities of contemporary India?

In Vishal Bhardwaj: The Literary Imagination on Screen, Surabhi Modi Sahai offers the first comprehensive study of Bhardwaj’s engagement with literature across genres, languages and cultures. Blending adaptation theory, film criticism and close textual analysis, she reveals how Bhardwaj reimagines classic and contemporary texts through music, politics, regional identity and visual storytelling, creating films that are at once faithful to the spirit of their sources and unmistakably his own.

An essential read for cinephiles, students of literature. and film, and anyone fascinated by the creative journey from page to screen, this book celebrates one of Indian cinema’s most original interpreters of literature.