Director John Crowley says reading the novel "The Goldfinch" was a very vivid and memorable experience, and that is what he wanted to retain in its onscreen adaptation.

Crowley has brought the story of Donna Tartt's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel alive with the film of the same name. It features Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman and Ansel Elgort in the lead roles.

"I am one of the many millions who adore that book," Crowley said.

"I read it when it first came out and thought it contained a remarkable mix of elements. It was an interesting way of looking at grief and shame -- the way this child gets stuck at the point in his life when he lost his mother and how his dilemma only gets deeper and more complicated as he grows into an adult," he added.

Elgort will be seen as Theo Decker, whose life is changed forever when his mother dies in a terrorist bombing at an art museum. He connects with a kind and wealthy woman Mrs. Barbour (essayed by Kidman), who comforts him in his grief. He also finds a friend in Boris, played by Finn Wolfhard. Warner Bros Pictures. will be releasing the film in India on September 20.

The director found the book to be "a very vivid, extremely memorable and affecting reading experience".

"That's critical when you turn to making a book into a film, because it's the thing you want to hold on to and what you keep going back to -- that first feeling you had as a reader," he added.