Lockdown reading helps Admission 24 CEO learn new things, broaden his horizons

In 1977/78 film-maker Shyam Benegal wrote to Ruskin Bond about the latter's novella 'A Flight of Pigeons' that had been recommended to him by Ismat Chugtai. And by 1979, Benegal had made 'Junoon', based on the book, starring Shashi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Jennifer Kendal and Naseeruddin Shah.

Far removed from Bond's stories set in picturesque hillstations, 'A Flight of Pigeons' - which he wrote in the early 1960s - is set around the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

Trivia: The name of the film was given by Javed Akhtar.

In 2011 Vishal Bhardawaj turned Bond's short story 'Susanna’s Seven Husbands' into a gripping film. For the film adaptation, the author expanded his five-six-page story into a 70-80-page novella.

Starring Priyanka Chopra as the lead, '7 Khoon Maaf' makes you question terming every murder as a sin, as Susanna (Chopra) navigates through life and her wicked husbands. You''ll even get a chance to see Bond make a rare screen appearance in a cameo in the film.

Written in 1980, the book about a little girl from Himachal Pradesh was adapted into a movie in 2005 by Vishal Bhardwaj. It follows the story of Binya and her blue umbrella that she gets after trading her lucky pendant, and featured Pankaj Kapur and Shreya Sharma in lead roles. The innocent tale set in the backdrop of the Garhwali landscape won the National Award for Best Children's film.