Prolific Indian producer Siddharth Roy Kapur has acquired audio-visual rights to author and historian William Dalrymple’s bestselling historical book on colonialism “The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company.”
Set during 1599 to 1802, “The Anarchy” traces the ascent of The East India Company against the decline and fall of the Mughal Empire. It provides an account of how a provincial trading start-up, run by thirty people from an office in a nondescript London building, became rulers of an entire sub-continent.
“The Anarchy” was recently listed by former U.S. President Barack Obama as amongst his top 10 recommended books of 2019.
Roy Kapur Films is planning a big-budget, grand-scale series adaptation of the book with as yet unnamed international co-production partners.
Roy Kapur, former MD of The Walt Disney Company India and current President of the Producers Guild of India, produced 2016’s “Dangal,” India’s biggest worldwide grosser of all time. His recent credits include “The Sky Is Pink,” starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Farhan Akhtar and Netflix original “Yeh Ballet.”
Roy Kapur said: “While a debate rages today around the world about the increasing power of giant corporations and powerful individuals to wield control over minds and nations, what could be more relevant to global viewers than the true story of the takeover of an entire subcontinent by a small trading company.”
Dalrymple, who is also on board as a consultant for the project said: “I’m very excited looking at the initial treatment note, talking about the various ways to bring this book alive and to bring the characters I’ve been living with over the last 6 years onto the screen, so that everyone else can see them in flesh and blood.”
