Comparison of novel 'Hard Times' and movie 'Tamasha'

This blog is a response to a task assigned by Dilip Barad sir (Department of English, MKBU). For more details of the task click here. 

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognized him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today.

‘Hard Times’ is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book surveys English society and satirizes the social and economic conditions of the era. 'Hard Times' is unusual in several ways. It is by far the shortest of Dickens's novels, barely a quarter of the length of those written immediately before and after it. Also, unlike all but one of his other novels, Hard Times has neither a preface nor illustrations. Moreover, it is his only novel not to have scenes set in London. Instead, the story is set in the fictitious Victorian industrial town of Coketown, a generic Northern English mill town that is in some ways similar to Manchester, though smaller. Coketown may be partially based on 19th-century Preston.

 

Tamasha is a 2015 Indian coming-of-age romantic drama film written and directed by Imtiaz Ali and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala from his studio, Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment. It stars Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. The film score and soundtrack album were composed by A. R. Rahman, while lyrics for the songs were written by Irshad Kamil. Tamasha was filmed in the Indian cities of Shimla, Delhi, Gurgaon, and Kolkata, with additional filming in Tokyo and Corsica. The film tells the story of character Ved Vardhan Sahni (played by Kapoor) in three stages: as a 9-year-old child, a 19-year-old adolescent, and a 30-year-old adult in a nonlinear narrative.

 

Que: Comparative study of 'Hard Times' and Hindi film 'Tamasha'.

Ans.

Though both the novel and movie are written in different eras, we still find similarities in both of the works. Hard Times, published in 1854, and Tamasha, released in 2015, have similar themes like industrialism, dehumanization, imagination, and creativity. In both works, we see the struggles of characters in both novels and movies. 

First, let’s talk about similarities:

Individuality and conformity:

In both of the works, we find individuals struggling for their individuality and seeking conformity from society. In the movie, there is a character named Ved who struggles with family issues when choosing a career, and he becomes just a puppet of the mechanical job and struggles to get out.

In the same way, we find the character of Loisa, who also suffers from the same problem: she likes different things, but due to her father’s belief system and for her brother’s sake, she has to marry Mr.Bounderby, whom she does not like.

Society's Expectations:

In society, there is pressure that a person has to follow certain things just to protect their family’s so-called reputation, for which one has to struggle a lot. In the novel, we find Louisa, Cecelia, and Stephen Blackpool struggling to fulfill the needs of society. In the movie Tamasha, we find Ved wands to be a storyteller in his life, but because of his father’s choice, he has to choose his career in engineering, and he also suffers a lot.

The Impact of Art and Imagination:

In the novel, there are many references to Cecelia having the ability to imagine certain things that are out of reality, but she suffocates every time she tries to express her feelings. And Gradgrind has a belief system that only understands the language of facts.

Similar to Ved, we see from his childhood that he likes stories, and his imagination is strong enough to create new stories as well. 

Self-Discovery: 

One characteristic of the novel is that in the novel, characters grow in front of the readers, so we find a change in the behavior and belief systems of the characters. In the novel, we find that Mr.Gradgrind has always followed factual information, but in the end, he also understands the importance of heart or imagination as well. 

In the movie, we see that Ved is so delved into an industrial and monotonous life that he does not even know that he wants something else but in the end, he discovers his true self and follows his passion.

Escape from Monotony:

In the novel, there are so many references to the monotonous lives of characters, for example, the workers of the factory. In the movie, we find how Ved is stuck in his hectic and monotonous life. But in the novel, we see that a person can only escape from this type of life through better understanding. But for poor people, the escape is only as we see in Stephen’s character.

In the movie, the protagonist escapes from this life after discovering himself and gaining a better understanding of life, but we can see he belongs to a well-to-do family.

Differences:

Medium:

 

"Hard Times" is a classic 19th-century novel, while "Tamasha" is a contemporary Bollywood film. This alone leads to significant differences in style, narrative, and presentation.
 
Setting:

 

"Hard Times" is set in the industrial town of Coketown in England during the Victorian era, focusing on the harsh realities of industrialization and class struggle. In contrast, "Tamasha" primarily takes place in various scenic locations, including Corsica and India, exploring themes of self-discovery and relationships.
 
Characters:

 The characters in each work are distinct. "Hard Times" features characters like Mr. Gradgrind, Louisa, and Bounderby, who represent various aspects of Victorian society. "Tamasha" revolves around Ved and Tara, two modern individuals dealing with their own personal struggles.

In summary, "Hard Times" and "Tamasha" are distinct in terms of medium , setting, and character, but they share common ground in their exploration of human nature and the development of their central characters.