His narration and the subjects reflect society at every level MunshiPremchand was a generation of Hindi literature in India. His benchmark for literary excellence in Hindi influenced many, especially the filmmakers. Famous for his modern Hindustani literature, MunshiPremchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu social fiction. He was considered to be the first Hindi author who prominently featured realism in his work; it took the filmmakers by surprise, forcing many directors to take up Premchand’s narrations to the big screen. His writings mainly explored the caste hierarchies, plights of women, and labourers in the society of the late 1880s. Also referred to as the UpanyasSamrat, meaning Emperor Among Novelists by writers, Premchand has more than a dozen novels, around 300 short stories, essays under his name. Here are a few Bollywood films that are based on MunshiPremchand’s novels. HeeraMoti This film is based on one of the short stories of Premchand, titled Do Bailon Ki Katha. The story of the film, as per the story of Premchand, revolves around Dhuri, a farmer, Razia, his wife, and their two oxen - Heera and Moti. The narration shows the importance of two bullocks in the life of a poor farmer. The film stars BalrajSahni as Dhuri and Nirupa Roy as Razia, and it is directed by Krishen Chopra. Like all Premchand narrations, this story too pitches the impoverished family against a rich landlord. Godaan Godaan is considered to be one of the greatest Hindi novels of MunshiPremchand in modern Indian literature. The theme of the novel brings to light the socio-economic deprivation as well as the exploitation of the village poor. This novel was translated into English twice. It was made into a film in 1963, starring Raaj Kumar, KaminiKaushal, Mehmood and Shashikala. In fact, it was also made into 27-episode TV series in 2004, Tehreer... MunshiPremchand Ki, starring PankajKapur and SurekhaSikri, directed by Gulzar. ShatranjKeKhilari This is a 1924 short story by MunshiPremchand, depicting the story of decadent royalty of Central North India. The story is narrated around the life of the last independently ruling NawabWajid Ali Shah. The narration concludes with the British annexation of the Nawab's kingdom of Awadh in 1856. The tale gets interesting as the two main characters get deeply immersed into playing chess, making them irresponsible towards families and society. The film was made in 1977 by Satyajit Ray that won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. Other novels of MunshiPremchand that have been made into movies are Oka Oori Katha, Sadgati, Sevasadanam, and Mazdoor.
