Sir,

I read with interest the letter by K. V. Srinivas about the film ‘Guide’. I remember reading the article ‘Is this Malgudi?’ But I am not sure if it had appeared in Life or any other periodicals.

The inimitable style of R.K. Narayan can be seen everywhere in his writings. I am quoting from memory. It seems the people connected with the film (Dev Anand) gave a rosy picture of the project — probably with regard to money matters — with repeated mention of the words “sky is the limit.” Narayan goes on to tell that “their sky started coming down and down and at one point you could puncture their sky with your umbrella!”

It is this mis-adventure that made him avoid any proposals for film-making for any of his works. Also he would not trust any producer to faithfully adhere to his narration. That is why it took a lot of cajoling and persuasion to make him agree to Shankar Nag – Narasimhan duo to do Malgudi Days into TV serials. That he was extremely happy about this production is a different story.

– R. S. Mohan Murthy, Jayanagar, 18.9. 2017

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