NR Pachisia and Dipankar Jojo Chaki will produce the project
Award-winning novelist and poet Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s best seller, The Palace Of Illusions: A Novel (2008), is all set to be adapted for the silver screen. We have learnt that producer NR Pachisia and Dipankar Jojo Chaki have acquired the rights of the book and are currently developing it with author Anand Neelkantan (Asura: Tale of the Vanquished, 2012), who is known for his fictions based on the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Palace Of Illusions is an interpretation of the Mahabharata from Draupadi’s viewpoint — a woman living in a patriarchal world.
Chitra confirms, “I am excited as the book is perfectly suited for a spectacular on-screen adaptation. Mahabharata, as a story, is powerful, dramatic and, most importantly, relevant to our lives both as men and women. I’m sure this is going to be grand as the makers will get the best team on board for every aspect.”
Pachisia says, “We have acquired the rights, but it is too early to talk about it, given the interest around the book.” Chitra’s previous novel, The Mistress Of Spices (1997) was adapted into a film by the same name (2005) and starred Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.