“Queen of Katwe” helmer Mira Nair is eyeing her next project, another coming-of-age story. She’s “on the verge” of a deal that will see her directing the BBC and Lookout Point TV adaptation of the acclaimed 1993 novel “A Suitable Boy,” Deadline reports. Written by Vikram Seth, the bestseller is set in a newly independent, post-Partition India and follows protagonist Lata’s search for love.
Though her mother is “determined to find her a husband,” Lata is “not convinced she wants the same path as her sister,” who is in an arranged marriage, the source summarizes. “Torn between duty to her family and the excitement of romance, Lata embarks on an epic journey of love, desire, and heartache as three very different suitors vie for her hand. Her choice will play out against the tumultuous political backdrop of India at a crossroads, looking towards its first independent general election and carving out its own destiny.”
“Bridget Jones” screenwriter Andrew Davies is set to pen the script for the series.
The project’s exec producers include Charlotte Moore (“My Scientology Movie”), Faith Penhale (“To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters”), Laura Lankester (“War & Peace”), and Mona Qureshi (“Les Misérables”).
“A Suitable Boy” will “feature the BBC’s first entirely non-white cast,” according to Deadline. The eight-part series will be filmed in India, but a shoot date hasn’t been set yet.
“I am Indian and my home is Kampala. My world is already diverse,” Nair said in 2016. “But films are financed by those who want to see themselves on screen, and it is a white male world. Still, it does feel like America is waking up. Let’s hope it’s the start of an avalanche.”
Nair most recently directed “Queen of Katwe,” Disney’s biopic of Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who learned how to play chess while living in a slum. She went on to compete at the World Chess Olympiads. “Monsoon Wedding,” “Mississippi Masala,” and “Salaam Bombay!” are among Nair’s other credits.