The Godfather was a bestselling novel by Mario Puzo before Francis Ford Coppola's film came out, but take it from us, the book is VERY different from the film. Puzo's work is spread over a wider canvas and has many more characters, which kind of makes it a little scattered and almost without a central plot. Coppola's film rendition is way sharper and sticks mainly to Don Corleone and his sons. Of course, the casting helps with Brando and Pacino turning in performances of two lifetimes, but the film is sharper and way more impactful.We have lost count of the number of people who bought the book after seeing the film and were disappointed.

Let us get one thing straight - Thomas Harris' Silence of the Lambs was a terrifyingly good book. It revolves around a young FBI trainee, Clarice Starling, who is asked to talk to a dangerous serial killer, Hannibal Lecter, to try and get a perspective on a number of sickening murders that are taking place. The book is all about how Starling uses Lecter's advice and inputs as she tries to solve the murder with the help of her boss, even while the dangerous Lecter himself uses the opportunity to try and escape. The book was dark and terrifying. So imagine how good the film must be! Jonathan Demme's film adaptation lacked the sheer width of Harris' book, which actually gave us a better idea of the murderer's mind, but then it gave us Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling and the magnificent Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. And suddenly we found ourselves going to the film more often than the book because they were THAT good. The tense conversations riddled with romance, ridicule and revulsion between Starling and Lecter got a whole new dimension when brought to the silver screen by Foster and Hopkins.

Steven Spielberg's film about a rogue white shark wreaking havoc on a small town has become such a cult classic, that many people do not even know that it was actually based on a book. Peter Benchley's book which was also called Jaws was actually a bestseller in its own right, although it got mixed reviews. Benchley's book was actually more about how life in the town got affected by the shark attacks and the personal life of its police chief. Spielberg turned the focus totally on to the shark and the hunt for it, and turned what was a mildly thrilling experience into a terrifying rollercoaster that would redefine cinema, with memorable performances from Roy Schneider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw.

Another Spielberg film that totally overshadowed the book it was based on. However, unlike Jaws which was hardly a literary classic (although it sold well), Schindler's List was based on a book that had won the prestigious Booker Prize - Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally. The book was about how a German industrialist called Oskar Schindler rescues Jews from death in Hitler's Germany by employing them in his factories. The book was very well written but a little tedious and almost scholarly in places, giving out information that was disturbing but whose impact tended to be scattered because of Keneally's slightly long drawn out narrative and wide canvas. Spielberg changed that in a film that was direct, pulled no punches and showed Nazi cruelty at its worst. The film was made in black and white for greater impact and Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson turning in memorable ones. The book disturbed people, the film shocked them. The publishers have since changed the name of the book to Schindler's List. Need we say more?

Yippee-Ki-Yay! Another film that many do not even know is actually based on a book. Bruce Willis' epic terrorist takedown in Nakatomi Towers, with a newbie Alan Rickman playing a suave villain have pretty much eroded any memory folks might have had of Nothing Lasts Forever, the book by Roderick Thorp on which the film is based. Director John McTiernan did make some changes to the plot of the book, which actually had a retired detective rescuing his daughter from a terrorist attack in a multi-storied building, and also changed the name of the lead character from John Leyland to John McCLane. Stallone is believed to have turned down the role, but aided with good acting, a super sharp script and amazing action, Die Hard cleaned out all traces of Nothing Lasts Forever, which true to its name has largely disappeared from store, And no, the book did not have McClane saying "Yippee-Ki-Yay"!