Sources say shoot of Apple TV's Shantaram to kick off in Dharavi in January with Amitabh Bachchan playing don Khader Khan.
After changing hands several times over, the screen adaptation of Gregory David Roberts' best-selling novel Shantaram will finally roll in India from January 2021. A source from the production unit reveals that a large portion of the Apple TV series — featuring Charlie Hunnam as the lead and helmed by Justin Kurzel — will be shot in Dharavi and south Mumbai, thus remaining honest to the material. The source says, "The makers were keen to roll the project in 2020, but had to postpone the plan due to the pandemic. It's a classic Bombay story, so the local production team has been looking for low-risk areas to shoot. It will be largely filmed outdoors instead of on a set."
The book was to be adapted by Mira Nair in 2007, but the Johnny Depp production did not take off. The shoot locations were reportedly a bone of contention with the studio unwilling to film in India then. The source adds, "Amitabh Bachchan, who was supposed to be part of Nair's film, will be attached to the series. He is likely to play crime lord Khader Khan." Radhika Apte features in the show about an Australian fugitive who builds a new life in the slums of Mumbai.
Charlie Hunnam and Radhika Apte
mid-day reached out to Bachchan's team, who remained unavailable for comment.
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