Everything that has a beginning has to have an end. That, unfortunately for its fans and even more so for its producers, also applies to one of the most lucrative movie franchises of recent times — the decade long saga of Harry Potter.

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As Deathly Hallows Part 2 mania hits theatres, magical and non-magical beings will rush through the turnstiles to witness the final battle between Potter and the Dark Lord. Wands shall joust, spells will be cast, tears shall stream down, and through it cash registers, all over the world, will ring in magical rapture.

My introduction to the universe of Potter was through this very movie franchise. I saw The Sorcerer’s Stone and then a year later Chamber of Secrets. By the time I had sat through the third episode Prisoner of Azkaban, I was shaking my head in disappointment. Every story seemed to follow a set pattern.

Potter, the orphan wizard, leaves his oppressive human relatives to a school where they teach magic. He zips about on a broom. He hangs out with his friends. An evil plan is uncovered involving Lord Voldemort. Harry defeats the bad man. Ho hum.

Then years later, on a whim I picked up the first book. I was skeptical — I knew the ending, what else would be left? Still let me read on if only to find what all the fuss is about. Within two days, I was on the second. In about two weeks of steady night-time reading, I had gone through the whole series, emerging at the other end of Deathly Hallows, a certified ‘Potterhead’.

I now understood the phenomenon. JK Rowling is a master at drawing believable people and fantastic places, of creating mood, atmosphere, suspense, tragedy and humour through the written word. But her greatest strength lies in her intricate detailing.

Detailing in the plot where the significance of a small action or a line spoken is truly understood 1,700 pages later, three novels down. Detailing in the settings, the magical artifacts and in the marvelously constructed action set-pieces.

And finally detailing in the characters — both in terms of their progression through the story (Harry Potter changes from lovable innocent boy-wonder to a rather unpleasantly short-tempered adolescent and finally matures into a larger-than-life hero at peace with his destiny) and the dramatic conflicts that rage inside each of the protagonists.

The movies (even the third part, considered to be cinematically the best) just do not do full justice to the subtle nuances of Rowling’s pen. Perhaps someone like Lord of the Ring’s director Peter Jackson could have done a better job. We will never know.

As they exist now (and I am not expecting the last installment to be much different), the movies, focussed as they are in moving from one point in the story to the other, simply paper over the finer details of characterisation. They also give expository short-shift to episodes of great importance, taking tense slow-burn sequences and making them into “action movie” blow-everything-up-in-two-minutes special-effects-driven extravaganzas.

Blink-and-miss-it screen time is given to many protagonists developed with great care in the books, thus depriving the audience of any kind of emotional investment in their fate. Some of the very interesting concepts like Dementors and Patronuses are not fully explained with the result that the world of Potter on screen is never as engaging it is in print.

So unless you have read the books, firmly resist the temptation to have a DVD marathon of the previous Potter films and then join your Potterhead friends for Deathly Hallows. The Potter films are firmly for the converted, those already steeped in the lore.

For them it is a chance to scream, applaud and weep for their favorite characters, to relive the magic once again. For those still outside the world (and there must not be many of you), please please read the books first before you buy a ticket or rent.

You owe ‘The Boy Who Lived’ that.

You owe yourself that.     Arnab Ray is the author of the best-selling May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss from Harper Collins India. He blogs at http://greatbong.net