Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair will direct BBC One’s television adaptation of Vikram Seth’s acclaimed novel A Suitable Boy (1993), reported Mumbai Mirror.
A Suitable Boy chronicles a mother’s efforts to find a suitor for her young daughter in a newly independent India. BBC One had announced the mini-series last May as the first period drama by the channel to feature an entirely non-white cast.
Andrew Davies is writing the screenplay, which will condense the 1,349-page book – one of the longest English novels to have been published – into an eight-part series. The cast and the release date are yet to be finalised.
Nair’s filmography includes Monsoon Wedding (2001) and The Namesake (2006).
A Suitable Boy was earlier adapted by the BBC into a dramatised radio show. The five-part production by John Dryden was aired on BBC Radio 4 in March 2002. The cast included Ayesha Dharker, Rahul Bose, Rajat Kapoor and Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal.