Gregory David Roberts novel Shantaram now adapted into drama series

Writer Gregory David Roberts’s wildly popular novel has pursued for a film version ever since it hit bookshelves in 2003. Now, after 15 years, the novel will make its way to the small screen by Anonymous Content and Paramount Television. In addition, the co-producers have also acquired the rights to the novel’s 2015 sequel titled, The Mountain Shadow.

The former convicted bank robber and addict from Australia, Gregory David Roberts, made his way to Mumbai, India in the 1980s and the account of his time in the city was turned into a novel, Shantaram, when he was serving out his prison sentence in the early 1990s.

Variety magazine reported the series’ announcement which was made yesterday. Roberts told them in a statement, “I’m honoured and humbled in equal measure as a writer, and thrilled for the many readers who have hoped that Shantaram would become a vivid screen experience. Television is the perfect medium for the novel, and Steve Golin and Nicole Clemens at Anonymous Content are the perfect partners.”

A decade ago, filmmaker Mira Nair was attached to the film version with Johnny Depp and Amitabh Bachchan to start filming in January 2008. However, due to the Writer Guild of America strike, the project was postponed indefinitely and later shelved.

In 2013, Hollywood trade website, Deadline.com had reported that Warner Bros showed interest in reviving the project and Depp had suggested Australian actor Joel Edgerton for the lead role.