No matter how well a book is received or how many copies it sells, a cinematic adaptation (the bigger the better) is considered nothing less than consummating a literary work's journey to eternity. It's like the ultimate acknowledgement and celebration of its popularity.
Author Amish Tripathi has never denied or minced words or had one stance for all of his works when it comes to adaptations. But the banker-turned-author is "delighted" that his latest bestseller Suheldev: The King Who Saved India, is a magnum opus in the making.
Maharaja Suheldev, the real life hero
The scale of the film will reportedly be grand, with never before like treatment given to war sequences. The scenes that will depict the hero from the 11th century in all his glory especially where he takes on the oppressive Turkic hordes. The legend of King Suheldev is still buried in history textbooks, rather than a part of popular knowledge. He defeated the army of Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud in the Battle of Bahraich in the 11th century. The war scenes will reportedly be shot using Virtual Production technology.
While a few of the details have been filled in, a lot many have been left out of the upcoming project. Tripathi retains the rights to creative inputs as he joins the team as Creative Producer, while the film will be directed by acclaimed ad filmmaker Senthil Kumar.
Adaptation of Immortals of Meluha
It must be noted that back in 2014, Karan Johar bought the rights to Tripathi's first of the mythological Shiva trilogy, titled The Immortals of Meluha. While the project couldn't really take off for various reasons, in between there were reports on Shiva Trilogy being picked up by a Hollywood studio. Last year Amish said how the Shiva Trilogy was being adapted to a web-series instead.
Who'll play Maharaja Suheldev
Amish Tripathi is yet to respond to the question, as to who in his opinion will do absolute justice to the character of King Suheldev, or whether the grandeur of words and images can be replicated onto the 70mm screen, there's one thing he's often repeated on the sidelines of various literature festivals, "Each book has its own fate, its own journey whether that be a series or a film. It's going to fall in place when the time is right."
