We have previously talked about how a movie on Raag Darbari would be awesome (and why it would unfortunately never get made). The same can be said about Shantaram, a book that has more twists, surprises and adventure than around ten movies combined.
It is a thinly veiled roman a clef by the author, and it makes us wonder - Gregory David Roberts has lived a more colourful life than any of us can hope to have. And that is why this book makes the perfect material for a film
Why a Film Should be made on Shantaram
Apart from the fact that each page literally begs to be translated on-to the silver screen, it is a story about the human heart, and how it copes with laughable loves, the tragedy of loss, about dramatic tensions and more MacGuffin's than Roger Ebert can stomach on a good day, it is the story of a foreigner coming to our country and falling in love with it, it is about a man with a strong appetite for adventure, a philosopher Mafia boss and the city of BOMBAY! There are two books three good books that spell out their love for this great metropolis, one is Midnight's children, the second is Maximum City, and the third is Shantaram.
The characters of this book are multi-dimensional, and the canvas of the story is beautiful and vast. It would whet the appetite of many-a moviegoer, and we as Filmistanis deserve nay demand this film.
Why it won't be made
The film has already gone into development hell, and not many good things have come out of it (case in point - Duke Nukem Forever). It was supposed to be made a few years back with Johnny Depp at the helm of acting and production, but the writer's guild strike left it into cold storage. Apart from that, the complexity of the story and the depth of the philosophy of the mafia boss and the protagonist is quite unfilmable (sic).
Besides, it's a 900 page book, to do true justice to it would require at least three full length feature films.
Still, ummeed par duniya kaayam hai (etc) and we hope for a film on Shantaram (even the author has repeatedly expressed his feeling saying that the film has not been completely shelved) and for the fans of this book, we present an exercise in casting
Lin (Shantaram)
Take your pic...
Prabaker
Karla
Didier
Abdullah
(I know he hasn't done a side-role since Hey Raam...but still)
Johnny Cigar
Vikram Patel
Lisa
Kader Khan
Kader Khan would have been perfect to play the role of (well..) Kader Khan, but given his age etc the role would be better in the hands of Amit Ji
It is a thinly veiled roman a clef by the author, and it makes us wonder - Gregory David Roberts has lived a more colourful life than any of us can hope to have. And that is why this book makes the perfect material for a film
Why a Film Should be made on Shantaram
Apart from the fact that each page literally begs to be translated on-to the silver screen, it is a story about the human heart, and how it copes with laughable loves, the tragedy of loss, about dramatic tensions and more MacGuffin's than Roger Ebert can stomach on a good day, it is the story of a foreigner coming to our country and falling in love with it, it is about a man with a strong appetite for adventure, a philosopher Mafia boss and the city of BOMBAY! There are two books three good books that spell out their love for this great metropolis, one is Midnight's children, the second is Maximum City, and the third is Shantaram.
The characters of this book are multi-dimensional, and the canvas of the story is beautiful and vast. It would whet the appetite of many-a moviegoer, and we as Filmistanis deserve nay demand this film.
Why it won't be made
The film has already gone into development hell, and not many good things have come out of it (case in point - Duke Nukem Forever). It was supposed to be made a few years back with Johnny Depp at the helm of acting and production, but the writer's guild strike left it into cold storage. Apart from that, the complexity of the story and the depth of the philosophy of the mafia boss and the protagonist is quite unfilmable (sic).
Besides, it's a 900 page book, to do true justice to it would require at least three full length feature films.
Still, ummeed par duniya kaayam hai (etc) and we hope for a film on Shantaram (even the author has repeatedly expressed his feeling saying that the film has not been completely shelved) and for the fans of this book, we present an exercise in casting
Lin (Shantaram)
Take your pic...
Prabaker
Karla
Didier
Abdullah
(I know he hasn't done a side-role since Hey Raam...but still)
Johnny Cigar
Vikram Patel
Lisa
Kader Khan
Kader Khan would have been perfect to play the role of (well..) Kader Khan, but given his age etc the role would be better in the hands of Amit Ji
6 comments:
Christopher for Lin, that bald henchmen from sarkar for prabhakar, Sanjay datt for abdhullah and definitely amitabh bacchan did kadar khan. Danny Boyle for direction. It needs to me made a 3 part series. It's one of the most beautiful books ever written n to fit it all in one movie will be killing the Soul of the book.
Even I would like to see Sanju baba for Abdullah, but your picks of Didier, Kader and Vikram were bang on Pablo
jiyo!!
Bang on cast...
I check for this movies news every 3 months... it somehow just occurs to me to know if anything is happening about this movie... still very hopeful though that Mira nair will start working on it soon (especially when bollywood has completely stopped making innovative movies)
Hello from 2023 after watching the Apple TV series. While I lament how the series did not follow the book's plot, I did appreciate how they captured the spirit of various aspects of the Shantaram novel while condensing story plots into a "season."
It's fun seeing the actor/actress predictions here. I imagined very different characters but I think the series captured the main characters very well.
I'm looking forward to dusting off Shantaram soon and giving it a 4th read. It's been a while!
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