Shantaram

Gregory David Roberts' quasi-autobiographical novel about a fugitive who travels to India to pursue a new life, published in 2003, is a certified global hit, ...

But there are plenty more nuanced, modern takes on adventure stories based in India — the BBC’s A Suitable Boy is a good place to start. A Shantaram adaptation has been in development in one guise or another for the last two decades. Now on the run, he secures a fake passport and heads to a place he can hide in a crowd: Mumbai (though since Shantaram is set in the 80s, the city is still called Bombay). A story set in the 80s, from a book published in 2003, doesn’t adopt any 2022 sensibilities and often wanders dangerously close to a tired, problematic white saviour narrative. Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) plays main character Dale, though for most of the series we’ll know him as Lindsey “Lin” Ford, a new identity to evade questioning authorities. Every airport bookshop in the world has a copy of Shantaram.

Charlie Hunnam stars in an adaptation of the bestseller as an Australian fugitive seeking purpose, redemption, and possibly love amid the political, social, ...

(Shantaram, a title the series has yet to explain, refers to Lin’s reputation as a “man of peace,” which is ironic considering how much violence he keeps inadvertently trailing in his wake.) Lin’s wide circle of acquaintances includes the alluring Karla (Antonia Desplat), an enigmatic European dealmaker who teases his affections while introducing him to a group of colorful fellow exiles and outliers, including a journalist who can’t help herself from snooping into her new friend’s past, with potentially tragic consequences. He’s also an altruist, a flawed man doing good deeds in a strange land to compensate for the black mark on his soul. He shows his true colors when he adds, “It was the smell of hope.” (Given where they end the story, on a dark and cliffhanging twist, there had better be a second.) I know few pleasures greater than digging into a fat, sprawling novel.

The new limited series puts a white protagonist in a sea of brown faces, posing an interrogation of the white savior story into an elaborate thriller.

'Shantaram' creator Steve Lightfoot spoke to HollywoodLife about Charlie Hunnam's performance as Lin in the Apple TV+ series.

“And I hope they just love the breath and scale of the show and that world we put on there. “We follow stories without the Lin character in them.” The book is told in a first-person point of view, so as Steve pointed out to HL, the Depth of character and how much we can take the audience on a ride with someone,” Steve explained. “He was actually attached to the show when I came onboard. In Shantaram, Lin escapes an Australian prison and relocates to Bombay in the 1980s, but he’s still far from safe.

Here's how you can watch the long-awaited new series Shantaram starring Charlie Hunnam.

bought the film’s rights and hired ](https://collider.com/joel-edgerton-shantaram/) [Eric Roth](https://collider.com/joel-edgerton-shantaram/) to rewrite the script based on the draft written by the novel’s author. However, things start to shake up in the Slough House, and soon enough everyone finds themselves unintentionally entangled in a dangerous scheme. With a long list of crimes under his belt, things aren’t looking too well for Keenes, but he’s desperate for a way to be freed of his 10-year sentence. Five Days at Memorial: following the heart-wrenching aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, employees at Memorial Medical Center are put into a sticky dilemma between standard medical protocol and what’s truly best for patients in critical times of emergency. “Based on the internationally best-selling novel by Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram follows a fugitive named Lin Ford (Charlie Hunnam) looking to get lost in vibrant and chaotic 1980s Bombay. All alone within the hustle and bustle of the city, Lin navigates his new life in Bombay without making too much of a scene. When the novel was first published in 2003, several parties have shown interest in turning it into a movie. Filled with love, connection, and tension, Shantaram is about a man looking for freedom and redemption despite his past flaws. The trailer for Shantaram was released by Apple TV+ on September 14, 2022. Plans to adapt Shantaram for the screen go way back almost two decades ago. Inspired by Roberts’ own life, Shantaram is jam-packed with exhilarating action scenes with emotional moments to keep you rooting for the leading man. A subscription to Apple TV+ typically costs $4.99 per month and comes with a seven-day free trial.

Shantaram (Apple TV+). Apple's adaptation of Australian author and former bank robber Gregory David Roberts' bestselling novel is as ambitious and bulky as ...

In each episode the bone-dry Fielder advises a struggling business, convincing them that his dubious ideas will turn their fortunes around. So if you find yourself wanting more Nathan, then Neon's here for you. But it's not too long until he returns to his old ways when he gets involved in the Indian underworld. (Neon) [Advertise with NZME.](//advertising.nzme.co.nz/) (Netflix)

The Sons Of Anarchy star is back with a new adventure series and tackling the local lingo.

[Cookie Guide](https://www.sevenwestmedia.com.au/cookies-guide). [Sunrise](https://7news.com.au/sunrise)’s Edwina Bartholomew. [7plus >>](https://7plus.com.au/sunrise?utm_source=7NEWS&utm_medium=contextual-link&utm_campaign=sunrise) [Apple TV+](https://7news.com.au/technology/apple) series Shantaram. [TV series](https://7news.com.au/entertainment/tv) Sons of Anarchy.

The first four episodes of the 12-episode Apple TV series reveal a White Knight finding a Brown playground.

The story of a foreigner trying to blend into an environment like this requires a sense of physical conflict. Follow us on [also read] [Entertainment](https://www.firstpost.com/category/entertainment) [Amitabh Bachchan @ 80: Eight faces during eight phases of his career](https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/amitabh-bachchan-80-eight-faces-during-eight-phases-of-his-career-11426961.html) Even if I were to intellectualize his quest – by believing that Lin is rescuing to be rescued – it’s the simplifying of his personality that stands out like a sore thumb. That’s not to say the source material is self-righteous; it’s the treatment that stops short of nominating Lin for the Nobel Peace Prize. By the end of the fourth episode, Lin has already transformed into a global version of the upper-class Brahminical/male do-gooder often portrayed by superstars like Amitabh Bachchan (Aarakshan, Pink, Jhund) in Bollywood movies. A brothel called The Palace is built like something straight out of an Arabian desert; a Mondegar-like Irani cafe-bar is lit like a cosplay set in a school contest named Colonial Hangover. Viewed through the lens of a distinctly Western gaze (the creators are not Indian), retro Bombay is presented as a melange of Middle Eastern exoticism and South Asian colour. In terms of plot, it’s only the setting of the stage: An Australian fugitive flees to 1980s Bombay for a fresh start with a fake passport (Dale is now a Kiwi named Lindsay or Lin-baba), befriends shady expats and kind locals, falls in spy-film-like love with a Swiss-French wheeler-dealer, lives in the slums, and is only just starting to engage with the underworld – the first act of a two-decade-long journey. A Colaba apartment feels like a rustic East European space tucked away in a park at the corner of Manhattan. It’s hard to review a sprawling 12-episode mini-series – amounting to approximately 12 hours of television – based on the preview screeners of its first four episodes alone. Yet, it’s not hard to get a mini-series like Shantaram from a third of its running time. I remember associating the sight of the hardcover with my own first year in Mumbai, the metropolis at the center of the Shantaram story.