London: Gregory David Roberts's bestseller 'Shantaram' is getting an Apple TV+ adaptation and British Indian actor Shubham Saraf will be part of the main cast. He is familiar to Indian audiences for playing Nawabzada Firoz Khan in A Suitable Boy.
Saraf is popular in London's theatre community for playing Mahatma Gandhi's assassin, Nathuram Godse, in 'The Father and the Assassin'. In Shantaram, his role is being kept under the wraps. He will be working with co-actors Charlie 'Pacific Rim' Hunnam and the Sudanese-born English actor Alexander Siddig.
Shantaram is about a heroin addict and convicted bank robber who, in the 1980s, flees Australia to India. He reinvents himself as a doctor and a gangster in the slums of Bombay.
Saraf has described working in the adaptation as "an intense life-altering experience". He was cast amid the pandemic. Shot in Thailand and Australia for six months, the actor had to spend two weeks in quarantine in each country, reported Variety. He was quoted saying: "Nothing about Shantaram was ever easy. It was a joyous challenge to everyone involved."
Showrunners chose Thailand as the location because shooting in India amid the pandemic was impossible. They found the Thai exterior acceptable. Studio interiors were filmed in Melbourne.
Recalling the shooting days, Saraf said Apple had a bit of forest in the suburbs, one hour outside of Bangkok. The company built an entire slum set, with a running river in the middle of it.
"It was really hot in the day, beating sun, with nowhere really to cover. You're literally in the slum with the shacks all around you. At night, you're being bitten by mosquitoes. And it was long - 13-hour days, six days a week," he added.
The series is created by Eric Warren Singer and Steve Lightfoot. It will have ten episodes directed by Justin Kurzel and Bharat Nalluri.