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Today marks the birth centenary of Ian Fleming, the man who created James Bond. Neeti Sarkar checks out how many people even know of the printed avatar of the suave super spy
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The latest Bond Daniel Craig wowed the audience in Casino Royale, the movie closest to the book
We seem to live by the belief that there is only “One life to live,” so the little haiku, “You only live twice. Once when you are born and once when you look death in the face,” comes as a bit of surprise. And even more of a s
urprise is the fact that these lines appear in “You Only Live Twice,” written by Ian Fleming in a book about the adventures of a British spy with the code name of 007.
Yes we are talking about James Bond, who since his debut on movie screens in 1962 has become a worldwide phenomenon all but overshadowing the 14 books —12 novels and two collections of short stories that Fleming wrote.
James Bond in the novels was much a man of his times and so in keeping with his in synch ways, the character is better known from the medium of the moment, movies rather than the books.
Says business management student, Abhimannue Srikishan: “The movies are more popular because they offer ‘more for less.’ This would mean audio-visual experience as opposed to mere text.”
Photo: AP
In print The name is Fleming, Ian Fleming
Valene Varela, another undergraduate student, concurs with this opinion but feels it is about time we did away with the stereotypical notion that books are outdated and that television is in.
No clue
Shamefully, many “die hard fans” of the suave super spy admit to not even being aware of the existence of the novels on which the movies are based!
Rakesh (name changed ), a P.R. executive and self acclaimed movie buff says: “People are concerned only with the outcome and not the origin,” and horror of horrors, “not too many care about such nitty gritties!”
Evelyn Rajeshekar, a student of journalism, believes that the “James Bond movies sell better due to the excessive advertising and marketing.”
The latest Bond film, “Casino Royale” starring the delicious dream boat, Daniel Craig, is very close to its printed source, which is also the first James Bond book.
However, a large majority, like Payal Wadhwa, an accountant, confess that they had “not read the book and had no yardstick to assess how close or how far away the movie was from the book.”
Fortunately, there are a handful that swear by Fleming’s spellbinding novels. According to former Principal of Baldwin Boys’ High School, S.D. Samuel, “Ian Fleming’s books were widely read earlier. And we would wait with anticipation for newer adventures.”
Musty dusty
Walk into public libraries and you will be appalled to find the thrill-a-minute page turners piled up any which way on the lowest and dustiest racks.
Bookstores are divided on the saleability of the books. Augustine Jones of Landmark says: “The sale of these books is reasonably good as there are quite a few avid readers who snap them up.”
However, Rajan Das of Crossword says: “The sales are not really satisfactory.” The reason he attributes to this is “the probability that Fleming’s style does not appeal to many, especially of the present generation.”
“Remembering the creation and forgetting the creator is what man usually does,” Priyadarshini Mohan, an advertising professional pontificates. “This is true even of Fleming’s works,” she adds.
It is ironic to see the serpentine queues grow longer in front of the ticket counters at a multiplex and on the other hand to witness the books that created the phenomenon being ignored.
The next time you stumble across these books — and there are spanking new reprints with super cool introductions, do dip into them for some gratuitous sex and sadism not to forget wry British humour!
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