Anonymous Content and Paramount TV to turn bestselling novel Shantaram into a TV series
Anonymous Content and Paramount TV have gained the rights to Gregory David Roberts’ bestselling novel Shantaram, according to Deadline. The book, which is set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay, is set to be turned into a TV series. A deal has also been made for the rights to the sequel, The Mountain Shadow.
Shantaram will be executive produced by Anonymous Content’s Nicole Clemens and Steve Golin, as well as Andrea Barron. Golin and Par TV president Amy Powell said in a joint statement, “We are excited to have been entrusted with bringing this epic novel to television together and to have the opportunity to explore Gregory David Roberts’ rich story that is so beloved by audiences worldwide.”
Shantaram is described as follows on Amazon: Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.
Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay’s hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.
As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city’s poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.
Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas—this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.
Are you guys excited to see a TV version of Shantaram? Let us know in the comments.
