Film Adaptation elements

I have chosen to keep the title of the film “Management of Grief.” The focus of the story, and film, is how Shaila copes with the loss of her family. I have presented this process in three phases in the film. She will isolate herself from the community she lives in (an Indian community in suburbs of New York City in the 1980s in the movie), she will travel to India and fall in love, then she will return to the United States. I realize that her trip to India is very different from the way it is portrayed in the short story, but I am expanding the plot by incorporating an internal conflict with herself for falling in love. She battles hypocrisy for the majority of the movie, but her character comes out strong in the end, when she chooses to return to her American home without the man she falls in love with. She experiences conflict with herself, with man (Judith Templeton), and with society (opposing cultures). 

Dr. Ranganathan is actually her love interest in India. His character is entirely different in the film. He represents an American journalist living in India, who happens to be covering the Air India Boeing incident when Shaila visits Ireland. He will be played by Tom Hanks - who doesn’t love Tom Hanks? This will not only help garner public attention, but Tom Hanks has been successful in every dramatic role he fills. His name will also be changed to Derek Walker (more Americanized). Shaila will be played by Parminder Nagra, the star of Bend it Like Beckham, Kal Penn will play Vikram, Freida Pinto will play Pam, and Faezeh Jalali will play Kusum. The latter two are from Slumdog Millionare, and Kal Penn is from the Harold and Kumar movies. I realize this seems like an unlikely choice, but I think it would be a great opportunity for him to transition into a more dramatic genre, and subtly so. He will carry the small, but important, part of Shaila’s husband. All of these characters, excluding Tom Hanks and Judith Templteton (who will be played by Nicolette Sheridan who plays the manipulative and ruthless “Edie” on Desperate Housewives), are of Indian descent. This is important in keeping with not only the accuracy of the setting and plot, but with the cultural conflict widespread throughout the movie. 

The love story is perhaps the most symbolic element of the story. It represents a dissonance that is natural among human beings. Shaila struggles with herself and her emotions, but we are all only human, and the process for grieving is individual. The love story is merely a part of this process for her. Also, the rose petals Derek Walker throws into the Irish Sea (I kept that part from the short story) will demonstrate a cultural mix, or “hybrid” tendency, which is one of the reasons Shaila is so fascinated with his character. 

Lastly, the irony in the story is revealed through the unexpected love story, and, most importantly, the fact that Shaila and her family move to the United States to escape religious and political conflict, but she is later faced with a much more personal conflict after the Air Boeing incident.