All-Time Favourite Books & Movies and Their Epic Journey

VISHWAS PATIL is an author, historian and a civil servant who writes in Marathi, With a degree in both Law. and English Literature, Vishwas Paril possesses the genius of a juggler, managing the demands of a highe profile job while being a creative artist par excellence. His forte lies in transforming historical facts and ably weaving the wealth of his experience into supreme artistic fears.
Well known for his work Pampat (a novel about the Third Battle of Panipar), Patil exhibits not only a deep understanding of the past but also great mastery at storytelling. The novel Jhadajhadati (A Dirge of the Damned), which fetched him 14 awards, is of great social relevance, while being a literary masterpiece. Mahanayak, based on Netaji Subhash Chandra, which received great acclaim for its extensive research, is also considered one of the outstanding novels of the 20th century, Patil is one of the youngest recipients of Sahitya Akademi Award whose works have been widely translated into almost all languages in India.
NADEEM KHAN has been a teacher of the English language and literature for over 40 years, at Nagpur and Amravati in Maharashtra. Comfortable with Hindi, Marathi and Urdu, he has several translations to his name. Six decades of voracious reading and avid film watching helped him transfer the substance of Vishwas Patil's Marathi original into English with felicity and authenticity.
Nadeem Khan currently heads the Regional Centre of the Govt. of India run Indian Institute of Mass Communication at Amravati.

he thirst for literature of the highest quality can never be quenched. The works of William Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, John Steinbeck, Oscar Wilde, Miguel Cervantes and Sharatchandra Chattopadhyaya occupy a permanent place in my heart. I have had the privilege of roaming extensively through these dense forests that contain within them the entire range of human emotions and sentiments. I then began exploring the treasure-trove of movies made on these immortal classics, and partook of their pleasure to my heart's content. Not Gone with the Wind was the outcome of my indulgences in the overlap of these two different forms of art.
My obsession with movies is a gift to me. from my land of birth-the city of Kolhapur in Western Maharashtra. It was here, in the mid 1920s that the world renowned 'Prabhat Film Company was established. I grew up in these environs. It was here, while a student in Std V, that I had experienced the thrill of getting the great V. Shantaram to autograph my school notebook. Later, while working as a government officer at Film City in Mumbai, I had the rare good fortune of making the acquaintance of and spending quality time with luminaries like Dilip Kumar, Naushad and Ilaya Raja.