mid-day: Tell us about this idea, why choose these four particular written works (Hamlet, Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth) by Shakespeare?
Megha Mukherjee: THE idea isn’t new. People have adapted Shakespeare’s plays as novels time and again. And a series like this does exist (Hogarth Shakespeare), but not for the Indian context. Which is what is surprising — Shakespeare really works in our context here. Ambition, revenge, lovers’ quarrels, political machinations — we read about these things every single day.

Megha Mukherjee

Clearly, adaptations are possible, as Vishal Bhardwaj has proved not one, but three times. People didn’t need much convincing as far as the idea goes. As for choosing these specific plays, when I was sending the proposal to the authors, I was clear that they could choose whichever play they wanted to work on. So really, the list of plays is their making.