MUMBAI: Abundantia Entertainment and Neeraj Pandey recently announced a strategic deal in which the former would acquire rights to remake the Neeraj Pandey penned, best-selling novel ‘Ghalib Danger’ into a major Hindi film. The deal aims at the creation of a franchise for brand ‘Ghalib Danger’ and also includes the acquisition of rights to adapt the book as entertainment content across multiple platforms spanning television, digital & online media, graphic novels and gaming.
After earning widespread critical and commercial acclaim for super-hit films like A Wednesday and Special 26, Neeraj Pandey turned author to pen the gangster saga ‘Ghalib Danger’. The book, which was launched in December 2013, met with instant success to attain best-seller status in bookshops across the nation and is underway with its second print run to cater to the ever-growing demand amongst readers and fans of Pandey’s work.
The book revolves around the life of its protagonist Kamran Ali. A young taxi driver by profession, Kamran stays in Mumbai and dreams of making it big someday. A twist of fate awaits him on an eventful day as his life transforms when he saves the notorious underworld don Mirza from near death at the hands of a rival gang. As an act of gratitude and faith, Mirza takes Kamran under his wing and thus starts the journey of a small-town boy becoming the feared and revered ‘Ghalib Danger’. The lead character is a complete work of fiction and the story itself draws upon extensive research on the genre conducted by Neeraj Pandey and his team.
Speaking on the announcement and plans for the franchise, Neeraj Pandey said: “It's always wonderful to collaborate with like-minded people and Ghalib Danger was a fantastic opportunity for Friday Filmworks and Abundantia to come together. It will be interesting to see this content getting exploited across entertainment platforms.”
Talking about this development, Abundantia Entertainment founder and CEO Vikram Malhotra added: “Abundantia is founded with the vision to support and promote progressive and clutter-breaking content. The ability to adapt a best-seller like ‘Ghalib Danger’ into a major movie and to partner with Neeraj on the film represented a significant opportunity. The gangster-thriller genre that Ghalib Danger boasts of has met with consistent success across platforms and we are delighted that we will be able to bring alivethe book for its fans all over the world”.
In a first-of-its-kind deal, Abundantia would partner with Friday Filmworks to co-produce the film and also leverage on Pandey’s and Friday Filmworks’ capability to custom-create and adapt the book across content consumption platforms.
Production for the film is set to commence in the second-half of 2015 and is envisaged as a big-scale, ensemble cast entertainer.
