★In 1979, a mafia came to the book fair. As soon as the bookstore gave him that book, sales of other books dropped. Meanwhile, the Mafia book sold millions of copies in just a few months. Its name went to the top of the list of books sold that year. The book could not be satisfied after ruling for only one year. To everyone's surprise, the book world's mafia 'The Godfather' topped the sales list for 8 consecutive years. Godfather in name, Godfather in deed. Readers also stumbled upon the book world after getting the smell of thriller. There is no falsification of the story with the name. Godfather won the hearts of readers of all ages. When the whole world was full of praise for the Godfather, one was dissatisfied and deep in thought. When asked, "What do you think of Godfather?" He mumbled in reply, "The story is very good, but it could have been written better!"
★Readers were amazed. Better a poor horse than no horse at all. What is the identity of such a brave commentator? The 50-year-old commenter's name is Mario Pujo. Yes, that's right. He is Mario Pujo, from whose pen the immortal novel ‘The Godfather’ was created. He may be a little dissatisfied with his own creation!
Pujo family
The story of the Pujo family in Naples, Italy. The newlyweds, Antonio and Maria Pujo, left their homeland of Italy in search of fortune and moved to the United States, the land of possibilities and opportunities. The story of the life of Godfather's creator Mario Pujo begins just like the Corleone family in Sicily. The expatriate Pujo family found their new address in Manhattan, New York. On October 15, 1920, a son was born in their Manhattan home. The name is Mario Gianluigi Pujo. Mario was the twelfth child on the family siblings list. The main source of income for Onton's family was the job of a truck driver in his father's railway department.
★On the twelfth birthday of the twelfth child, father Antonio left his mother and moved elsewhere. The relationship between the two of them was not going well for several years. Although the father left his children, the mother Maria did not leave them. On the contrary, he took up the difficult task of making everyone human one by one with his maximum.
Handcuffs of an inexperienced person
When Mario Pujo was a high school student, he gradually became interested in writing. But his mother could not be satisfied with her son's writing. Writing seemed to be a luxury in Tanaporen's family. He used to tell Mario to look for work elsewhere instead of writing. So Mario decided to join the army. But even then there were obstacles. He did not get a job there due to visual problems. However, Mario Pujo served in the Air Force as a volunteer during World War II. Although he was not allowed to go to the battlefield, he had the opportunity to work in the bureaucracy for several years
★At the end of World War II, Mario Pujo was admitted to New York City College. The intoxication of writing in college life took hold of Mario anew. He started composing short stories. He started writing short stories as well as novels. Mario Pujo's first novel, The Dark Arena, was published in college in 1955. The novel, which is a mixture of his own war experiences, did not sell well in the market. This time Mario started writing another novel called 'The Fortune Pilgrim'. But due to laziness and various tasks, it took almost nine years to write it. The novel was published in 1984. Although Ahamri was not sold in the market, it was sold more than the previous novels. A critic wrote a short review of him in the New York Times. But seeing this small success, no one wanted to imagine Mario as a groundbreaking writer. Thus began the literary journey of an 'inexperienced'.
Debt burden
In 1980, he began working as an assistant editor at a magazine. His job was to write action stories for magazines. Sometimes he would write fake stories in the name of various famous people. Mario Pujo liked this strange job. After getting a new job, he focused on building a family. In 1974, Erica married a woman named Lina Brosk. Later 5 children were born in their house.
★Mario Pujo spent most of his time writing for the magazine. And the rest of the time he used to read books. He would raise his head and look around while reading a book. Sometimes he would burst out laughing with light jokes with his colleagues. But this form of smiling Mario did not last long. In late 1975, notices were sent to his house by various creditors. Mario calculated on paper that he owed a total of 20,000. It is impossible to pay this money with the salary of the magazine. He doesn't do much without this writing. Leaving the loan notice, Mario Pujo stared at the porch bored. His wife Erica and son Anthony were sitting on the porch talking. Pujo decided that he would somehow save this beautiful scene. But how?
The Godfather
Pujo picked up the pen again with the burden of debt on his head. But this time he didn't sit down to write a magazine story, this time he decided to write a few more novels. If there is some money to be made from it, then even a small loan can be repaid. First he searched the old file and found the papers of an unfinished novel. He started writing a novel in the early 1960's, but his work did not end there. As he started writing novels, he thought, let's write some stories about the mafia!
★From there the work of writing Godfather began. He put his finger on the typewriter and closed his eyes. The serious voice of mother Maria Pujo floated in his imagination. The powerful form of the mother was reflected in the restless movement of the typewriter as a don, known to everyone as Don Vito Corlioni. The Godfather novel was written around the Corleone family's mafia. After finishing the novel, he received an advance of হাজার 5,000 from the publisher. This money was enough for him. But what happened next changed the whole situation.
Super Mario
In 1979, The Godfather came into the book world. If someone wrote the novel 'The Godfather' to pay off the debt, then the author himself is a mature mafia. Because, in the first week of its release, the novel topped the list of bestsellers in every bookstore in New York. The same thing happened the following week. Godfather's sales did not decrease but increased several times. Godfather's fame spread throughout the United States, England, France, Germany, and several other countries. The Godfather topped the sales list for almost 6 weeks. Sales were about 21 million copies. And in the meantime, some inexperienced Mario has become a millionaire 'Super Mario'. In the eyes of critics, he took the place in the list of the greatest writers of all time. But his joy in printing everything was elsewhere. And whatever it is, the debt was finally released! After receiving one good news after another about the sale of books, Mario looked at his wife and children with confidence. Fate changed very quickly
Mario Pujo initially earned ৪ 400,000, according to the novel's copyright. After handing over the proceeds to publisher Mario, he immediately telephoned and told his mother the good news. But the funny thing is, Mom couldn't believe it at first. He thought Mario got ৪ 4,000. But when he later realized that it was not a thousand, but a million dollars, he whispered to Mario, "There's no need to tell anyone more!"
Hollywood and others
Mario Pujo did not know that his fate had not yet changed. He was summoned to Hollywood a few weeks later. Although the context was Godfather, this time the purpose was different. This time the godfather of the novel has to be transformed into a silver screen. Mario Pujo and director Francis Ford Coppola co-produced the screenplay for The Godfather. Released on March 14, 1982, the film took the film industry by storm that year. Along with the success of the movie, the sale of Godfather novels increased again. The dialogue "I will make an offer, he can't refuse" became famous in the mouths of movie lovers. The Godfather movie is marked as part of history in the powerful performance of the actors
★Following this success, he later wrote the screenplays for The Godfather Two and The Godfather Three. As a writer, he has won many awards. But his greatest achievement was winning two Oscars for his screenplay in the first two Godfather movies. Mario Pujo did not stop at Godfather. He authored several novels, including Fool's Die, The Sicilian, Omerta, The Last Dawn, The Fourth K, and The Family. Like Godfather, the rest of the novels are considered best sellers.
Inspiration to write The Godfather
Who was the inspiration behind the thrilling description of the mafia world given by Mario Pujo throughout the novel, even though his mother contributed to the character of Don Vito Corleone at the beginning of the discussion? Many speculated that Mario Pujo may have been acquainted with a large mafia ring. It is not possible to write a timeless novel like Godfather without watching the activities of the Mafia from the very front. But Mario ruled out this possibility. He states this in his book The Godfather Papers and Other Writings:
“I'm a little embarrassed to admit now, but the fact is, I wrote the whole Godfather novel without any mafia contact or personal experience. I didn't even know any petty mafia. I wrote the whole novel based on crime documents and some investigations. ”
Many were surprised at this statement. This shows how keen Mario Pujo's imagination and thinking were. After the book was published, Mario Pujo met some real-life dons. They all asked Mario this question during the interview. As always, none of them could believe Mario. Many dons read the Godfather novel and then chose Mario Pujo as their favorite author. Mario Pujo's writing was like an encyclopedia of their fancy life. In the pages of the book they see the reflection of that life.
Farewell to the Italian farmer
★In a 1996 interview with The Times, Mario Pujo said of himself,
“I am a little Italian farmer. The only difference is, I'm living a somewhat prosperous life.
★Quite a simple-minded man Mario Godfather did not get lost in the ferry of luxury even after success. After the death of his wife Erica in 1986, he fell in love with a woman named Carol Gino. Although living with Gino, he had a very friendly relationship with his children. They all lived quite a distance away on Long Island. After completing his latest novel, Omerta, he went on to write the screenplay for the fourth Godfather movie. But luck did not help him this time. So before he could write the screenplay, he died of a heart attack. Mario Pujo died on July 2, 1999 in New York. His death became an irreparable loss to the thriller lovers of the world. The fourth installment of Godfather was also canceled. But Mario did not return empty-handed. Although he emerged as an inexperienced writer, he has passed away as the greatest thriller writer of all time.
Nice article