From Print to Performance: A Study of Film Adaptation and Intertextuality in The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Abstract

This research examines the adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) into Mira Nair’s film, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012). This study aims to explore the elements of adaptation and intertextuality principles as they transition from print to performance. It highlights the addition and subtraction in the narration, characterisation, and plot during the transformation from a book to a film. The objective of this research is to focus on the individual attributes and characteristics of the telling and showing modes in Mohsin Hamid’s intellectual use of words and Mira Nair’s works of art, respectively. This study applies Linda Hutcheon’s adaptation theory and Julia Kristeva’s principles of intertextuality to compare Hamid’s book and Nair’s film. As a result, this research examines the telling and showing modes of novel and film, respectively. It explores their differences and similarities between the narrative of a book and a movie.