Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s bestselling 2008 novel The Palace of Illusions will be adapted into a film. Producers NR Pachisia and Dipankar Jojo Chaki have bought the rights. No production details have been revealed yet.
The Palace of Illusions is a retelling of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata from the perspective of Draupadi, the wife of the five Pandava brothers. The book chronicles Draupadi’s childhood friendship with Krishna, her marriage to the Pandavas and eventual exile, and her unspoken yearning for Karna, who sides with her husbands’ cousins and enemies, the Kauravas. The film adaptation is being developed with the help of Anand Neelakantan, who has written three novels based on the Mahabharata and the Ramayana as well as the Rise of Sivagami, a literary spin-off from the Baahubali films.
Divakaruni said in a press release that the book is “perfectly suited” for a film adaptation. “The Mahabharata, as a story, is powerful and dramatic and most importantly, relevant to our lives both as men and women,” she said.
Divakaruni’s 1997 novel The Mistress of Spices was made into a film of the same name by Paul Mayeda Berges, starring Aishwarya Rai. Her 1999 novel Sister of My Heart was made into a Tamil TV serial, Anbulla Snegidheiye, by Suhasini Mani Ratnam. Some of her works, including The Palace of Illusions, have been adapted into plays.