Another shot at screen immortality for Meluha

Shekhar Kapur; Suparn Varma; Karan Johar had acquired the adaptation rights in 2012 and Amish Tripathi

In 2012, Karan Johar had created a buzz in Bollywood when he acquired the adaptation rights of Amish Tripathi's bestseller, The Immortals of Meluha. The adaptation, however, did not materialise, and Johar's remake rights reportedly expired in 2017. But every story has its fate. It looks like Tripathi's Shiva Trilogy is destined to play out on the screen. Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur has joined forces with The Family Man 2 director Suparn S Varma to helm a show based on the first book of the mythological fantasy series.

For Varma, who serves as the showrunner and director of the series, it is a responsibility and an honour to bring alive the author's written word on the screen. He has had multiple discussions with Kapur and Tripathi to ensure they are creatively aligned. "The Meluha trilogy is a genre-defining book. With Amish, it has been a meeting of minds from the first discussion. His ambition reflected in the book is contagious, and to translate his epic on screen is a responsibility I'm happy to take on," says Varma. The project is all the more special as it unites him with one of his idols. "Shekhar Kapur is a film school. Collaborating with him is a journey that will involve discoveries about life, the world we live in, and the one we seek to create.

While many filmmakers have evinced interest in adapting the trilogy, Tripathi says he is assured of Kapur and Varma's vision for the story. "There is grandeur to the story, especially showing worlds that have never been seen before on OTT screens, such as the Indus-Saraswati civilisation. But at its core, the series will chronicle the extraordinary journey of a hero." Kapur views the trilogy as a story that cuts across age and genre. "It's not just mythology, it's modern storytelling at its best [that] lends itself to a beautiful international series," he says. The team will begin casting soon.

Backing the trilogy is International Art Machine, which intends to foray into Indian entertainment with the project. Roy Price, CEO of the studio, says, "Our goal is to partner with creators across Asia to produce series that will carry the banner of Asian originals abroad." The studio also has Dibakar Banerjee's political thriller Gods, and the Preity Zinta-helmed dramedy, The Kitty Party, in the pipeline.