MUMBAI: Siddharth Roy Kapur's production banner Roy Kapur Films and American studio Wiip on Thursday announced the series adaptation of author William Dalrymple's novel "The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company".
The two companies have hired screenwriter Jeremy Brock, known for his work on movies such "The Last King of Scotland" and "Mrs.Brown", to adapt the book, which charts the rise of the East India Company and how it became the first global corporate power by conquering an entire subcontinent.
Dalrymple will serve as a creative consultant on the project.
"The Anarchy" will be mounted as an international co-production between Wiip and Roy Kapur Films.
It will be produced across the US, UK and India, a press release stated.
The book tells the remarkable story of how one of the world's most magnificent empires, the Mughal empire, disintegrated and came to be replaced by the British East India Company - a dangerously unregulated private company based thousands of miles away in a small London office just five windows wide.
Published in 2019, the book was one of The Wall Street Journal's Best Books of the Year.
"We are delighted to announce that we have brought on board the acclaimed BAFTA award-winning screenwriter Jeremy Brock, to adapt William Dalrymple's global bestseller 'The Anarchy' into a premium series. Jeremy's expertise in crafting intricate character-driven narratives that are deeply rooted in history and setting them against a huge canvas, makes him the perfect collaborator for this project. We look forward to creating a globally relevant series together that will appeal to audiences across geographies, languages and cultures," Kapur said.
The series will be executive produced by Wiip's Paul Lee, Kapur, and XPat Productions' Naz Haider.