Disclosure

A modern maxim goes “Never Judge a Book by Its Movie” and in keeping with this doctrine, I avoid seeing a film that has been adapted from a book until I have read the book first. This practice has stood me in good stead over the years and though I have been disappointed time and again by movies that have failed to live upto the expectations, I always take solace in the fact that I have atleast enjoyed a good book. It is incredible how such a staggering number of excellent books have been made into mediocre movies. However, after many years, I have been proved wrong (or should I say vindicated?).

I first saw the movie Disclosure in a screening at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai (Madras, back then) in 1996 and subsequently, a couple of times on television and enjoyed it each time. So, finally when I read the book a few days back, my high expectations were shattered. I can recall a lot of cases where the book and its big screen depiction have been good but this is the first incident I’ve encountered of a movie being a tad better than the book.

Michael Douglas and Demi Moore (Tom Sanders & Meredith Johnson respectively) have made such an impression on me that I picturized them mouthing the dialogues as I was reading the book. When Tom’s 4-year old daughter says, "Boys have penises, and girls have vaginas,” a dialogue which was not part of the film, I could imagine the look Michael Douglas would have given. The only reference to the Penis in the movie comes from Tom’s wife, who had a strong role as an ardent supporter of her husband but, has almost no role to play in the book. The description of the Virtual Environment System, which has been shown so impeccably in the movie is lacking in the book. Unless one had seen the movie, it would have been hard to imagine how such a system would look like. The character of Cindy, Tom’s secretary, a significant person with a meaty role in the movie is weak in the book. The mediation hearings, Cindy’s role in the hearings, Tom’s triumph and Meredith’s coup are all again depicted much better in the movie.

Personally, I don’t feel the book is that great a read (ok, the concept about Sexual Harassment being all about power and not about gender was good) and I would recommend the movie over the book any day and then, there’s always a first time for everything.