One the world’s bestselling mystery writers, AGATHA CHRISTIE doesn’t need any formal introduction for the readers, especially for the die-hard fans of crime-mystery thrillers and who-dun-it novels.
The author is hugely famous all over the world and in India too with a regular demand of her books and their reprints being released with innovatively designed covers reaching the younger generation. As a matter of fact, in the last decade or so, many of her famous novels have also been adapted for comic strip books too, further widening their reach entertaining many young readers.
However, I surprisingly could find just a few Indian films made as official or unofficial adaptations of her works till date in the history of our Indian cinema that once had a huge fan following of this specific genre of suspense and mystery thrillers (now almost vanished in the more popular Hindi Cinema).
Here is the list of 6 Indian suspense thrillers based on AGATHA CHRISTIE’s mystery novels.
1. CHUPI CHUPI AASHEY (Bengali/1960)A Bengali Murder mystery directed by Premendra Mitra, CHUPI CHUPI AASHEY (meaning Silently He Comes) features Chabi Biswas, Tarun Kumar, Jahar Ganguly, Robin Majumdar, Tapati Ghosh, Prabir Kumar, Sushama Ghosal and more in the key roles.
The story revolves around all suspected murderers and a police detective marooned together in a guest house surrounded by water due to continuous heavy rainfall.
Based on Agatha Christie’s radio play/short story THREE BLIND MICE or THE MOUSETRAP, the film is a rare cinematic adaptation of one of the most successful and longest running plays revolving around a murder mystery.
2. GUMNAAM (Hindi/1965)A Hindi suspense thriller released in 1965, GUMNAAM (meaning Unknown/Anonymous) is one of the most successful Hindi films in this particular genre. Directed by Raja Nawathe, it was an adaptation of Christie’s AND THERE WERE NONE and featured Manoj Kumar, Nanda, Pran, Madan Puri, Helen, Tarun Bose, Mehmood and more in the lead cast.
Focusing on a group of people stranded on an island and getting murdered one by one, the film effectively makes an impact with an engaging theme, talented cast, melodious music and Mehmood playing a major role in its box office success. Interestingly its most famous, cult song ‘Gumnaam Hai Koi’ was also highly inspired from the theme music of English thriller CHARADE (1963).
3. DHUND (Hindi/1973)Produced and directed by B. R. Chopra, DHUND (meaning Fog) reveals the story of a stranger visiting a house, meeting a beautiful woman who had just murdered her abusive and violent husband. And then they both try to fabricate a misleading story in front of all hiding the actual truth.
The film is highly inspired from Christie’s THE UNEXPECTED GUEST and stars Sanjay Khan, Navin Nishchol, Zeenal Aman, Danny, Madan Puri, Ashok Kumar, Deven Verma and more playing the important roles.
4. SHUBHO MAHURAT (Bengali/2003)SHUBHO MAHURAT (meaning Auspicious Time) is an unusual murder mystery with an interesting backdrop of film industry and the title also refers to the first day on the shoot of a new feature film. Directed by Rituparno Ghosh, the Bengali suspense mystery is based on a Miss Marple case written by Agatha Christie with the title THE MIRROR CRACK’D FROM SIDE TO SIDE. And it’s all about a murder by poison on the event itself involving the big names of the industry.
Apart from the exciting premise, the other major attraction of the film is its extraordinary cast wherein you get to see the veterans Sharmila Tagore, Rakhee, Nandita Das and Kalyani Mandaltogether on screen playing the key characters. Interestingly both Sharmila Tagore and Rakhee appeared together in a film after decades post Yash Chopra’s DAAG in 1973.
5. GRANDMASTER (Malayalam/2012)A fast pace Malayalam thriller, written and directed by B. Unnikrishnan, GRANDMASTER features Mohanlal as an IPS officer who is given the task of investigating a series of murders, where every murder happens after an anonymous letter received by the department giving a clue in advance.
Loosely or partially based on Christie’s THE A. B. C. MURDERS, the serial killer chooses his victims in alphabetical order in the film too as there in the famous mystery novel. As an intelligent adaptation, GRANDMASTER turns out to be a more than decent watch, largely satisfying the fans of this particular genre.
6. CHORABALI (Bengali/2016)Interestingly titled CHORABALI (meaning Quicksand), this Bengali suspense thriller is a murder-room mystery directed by Subhrajit Mitra featuring Barun Chanda, Tanushree Chakroborty, George Baker, Locket Chatterjee, June Malia, Sayani Datta, Shataf Figar and more playing the lead roles. Set in north Kolkata it’s a typical who-dun-it drama wherein a murder happens in a home in the presence of a group of people and one of them is the killer who had planned the brutal act in advance like a perfect murder.
The film is based upon Christie’s Hercule Poirot’s case titled THE CARDS ON THE TABLE and the novel can also be seen in one of the initial scenes of the film giving a clear indication.
Hope the die-hard lovers of the genre have a great time watching these onscreen adaptations of CHRISTIE’s famous creations.
(Note : Please do inform if you have an information about any other Indian film (of any language) based on an Agatha Christie novel)
(Note: The article was first published on UC-News Mobile App in March 2018)
