The series, which is to be directed by Anand Tucker, tells the story of a British agent who was executed in the Dachau concentration camp during World War II.
Sonal Pandya
Freida Pinto will play the historical spy Noor Inayat Khan in an upcoming television series, Spy Princess, which is based on the British secret agent's World War II mission.
Khan, a pacifist with an Indian father and American mother, became the first Muslim female wireless operator.
Khan’s story was partly told in the recent film, A Call To Spy (2020), in which Radhika Apte played the spy. The feature, directed by Lydia Dean Pilcher, was released in theatres in North America and later was streamed on Amazon Prime.
The series, which is said to be an emotional thriller, will be directed by Anand Tucker and produced by Andy Paterson. Khan, whose codename was Madeleine, was eventually caught by the Gestapo and taken to the where she eventually executed. She was only 29.
Pinto will also be executive producing the series, which is also being produced by Claire Ingham, founder of Red Room Films. The producers are still in discussions with broadcasters.
In a report in The Guardian newspaper, Pinto stated, “Sending women to the frontline is controversial even now. Sending a Sufi mystic, who won’t use a gun, daughter of a long-haired Indian guru who preaches love and peace — ridiculous! But Noor thrives, not in spite of her differences, but because of them. Her struggle to reconcile her values with the desire to find her own path and with her complex sense of duty is something I am so excited to explore.”
The series, an adaption of Shrabani Basu’s novel Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan, has been written by Olivia Hetreed. The author will be a consultant on the series. Basu’s 2010 book Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant was turned into the British drama Victoria & Abdul (2017) starring Judi Dench and Ali Fazal.
Tucker also added, “Olivia has created a spy thriller, a love story and a search for identity, the true story of a remarkable and complex woman doing the most dangerous job imaginable. Our series challenges ideas of heroism and the portrayal of Asian women on screen — often victims, sometimes terrorists — never the hero.”
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