You could either love it or hate it, but you simply can’t ignore Dan Brown’s bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code. After its record-breaking sales and the world-wide controversies it generated, it was but natural that Hollywood would come up with its movie- version. Now that the movie (released in May this year) has made its money at box-office, the 2 disc- DVD version comes to town. What perfect marketing sequence!

Most of the success of The Da Vinci Code is in the gripping, mysterious plot weaving an intriguing mesh of ancient religious legends and modern thriller elements. For those few of you who have not yet read the original novel, here is a brief synopsis. As Jacques Sauniere- (the museum- curator) is found murdered inside Paris’s Louvre museum, Robert Langdon- (a visiting American Professor of ancient symbolism) becomes the prime murder suspect. He finds an unlikely ally in Sophie Neveu- a cryptographer working for French police. Sophie-(who is also Sauniere’s estranged grand-daughter), feels that there is more than what meets the eye in that murder. She helps Langdon escape from cops, hoping that he would help her unravel the deadly secret, which her late grandfather wanted to tell her. Constantly on the run from police as well as the real murderer, Langdon and Sophie must unearth and unscramble a baffling series of cryptic clues which would lead them to the mythical Holy Grail. Will they succeed in their quest?

Director Ron Howard’s movie quite faithfully sticks to the original story and vividly brings the book to life on screen. In fact, considering its two-hour length and inherent complexity, it is a movie best enjoyed on home theatre. The special features-disc is as interesting, giving rare insights into the author’s, director’s and actors’ vision into such challenging film adaptation. It’s fun to see how an international ensemble cast like Tom Hanks (as Langdon), Audrey Tautou (as Sophie), Jean Reno (as Inspector Fache) and Ian McKellen (as Sir Teabing) was put together; how Louvre and other exotic locations were used for the shooting and how a bestseller book was converted into a blockbuster film.