Shantaram

Having gone through potential leading men (Russell Crowe! Then Johnny Depp! Then Joel Edgerton!), writers and directors quicker than ice melting in the Mumbai ...

I wanted the novel to have the page-turning drive of a work of fiction but to be informed by such a powerful stream of real experience that it had the authentic feel of fact.” In 1990, Roberts was captured again in Frankfurt, and was extradited to Australia and served six years in prison; two of which were in solitary confinment. He smuggled drugs and passports and ran with the mujahedin in Afghanistan.” However two years later, he escaped from Pentridge Prison - just like Lin in the book - and became one of Australia’s most wanted fugitives for 10 years. He ends up being protected by the Afghan mafia and is released, but ends up in Afghanistan smuggling weapons for mujahideen freedom fighters. Four years later, we have our final, finished retelling of the story; a 12-episode series that, like the far-reaching action in the book, will jump from Australia to India to Afghanistan and beyond.

Based on a 2003 novel by Gregory David Roberts, it boasts crime, prison breaks, political deception and a vibrant 1980s Bombay setting. It's more-or-less a tick ...

In an interview with [Entertainment Weekly](https://ew.com/article/2004/10/08/shantarams-bizarre-story-true-life/), he said: "He was a very harsh critic. In reality, Roberts was never a paramedic, just [nifty](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/shantaram-gregory-david-roberts-charlie-hunnam-series-b2198044.html?r=22323) with a first aid kit. [spirituality](https://www.instagram.com/gdr_shantaram/?hl=en). Hunnam's backstory also has his life of crime begin as the result of a girlfriend lost to similar drug abuse, when in reality Roberts' ended up robbing banks and taking heroin after the collapse of his marriage, which also resulted in [losing](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/shantaram-gregory-david-roberts-charlie-hunnam-series-b2198044.html?r=22323) custody of his daughter. [Bond](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/james-bond-queer-fandom) with just a hint of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. In an interview with the [BBC](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/4146087.stm) following the book's release, he said about the choice "I think the novel form chose me. He spent much of the six years he was back in prison writing Shantaram, which he says a guard tore up twice. [front door](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/shantaram-gregory-david-roberts-charlie-hunnam-series-b2198044.html?r=22323). In an [interview](https://themountainshadowebook.com/interview.html) about Shantaram's follow-up book, The Mountain Shadow, he said “they’re novels, not autobiographies, and all of the characters and dialogue is created. Set in the 1980s, he's a fugitive on the run after a prison break in Australia lands him in Bombay on a counterfeit passport. He too befriended a local man (in the series this character, Prabhu, is played by Shubham Saraf) who housed him in his village just outside of the city. It's more-or-less a tick-box exercise in plots destined for some flashy TV treatment, and more than that, it's a true story.

Charlie Hunnam and Richard Roxburgh star in the new drama thriller television show Shantaram, based on the book by Gregory David Roberts.

Additional episodes will be released weekly on Friday. However, Charlie Hunnam fans can currently watch Crimson Peak, Triple Frontier, and The Gentlemen on Netflix, all of which feature the actor. The story is actually inspired by Roberts’ own life and follows an Australian bank robber who flees the country to find refuge in India.

Antonia Desplat and Alexander Siddig star alongside Hunnam in the series, which is based on a 2003 novel.

We want to know just how far Lin fell and what he did to land him in prison to the point where he had to escape in order to survive. One of the problems with the first episode is that we don’t really know much about Lin’s squandered potential other than what he told the professor, and we don’t know about what went into his decision to go to Bombay. When he thinks he’s helping Karla with Lisa in order to rescue her, he tells her he wants to “run towards something, not away from something.” But he slowly realizes that he’s always going to be running away, because his past could catch up with him at any point. Parting Shot: After leaving Karla’s flat, ticked off that she used him as she did, he gets mugged, his money and fake passport taken. In the hotel room Prabhu is kept awake by the torture he was subjected to by a police detective who pressed him for the name of the associate who killed one of his police colleagues. After Lin runs afoul of a bunch of corrupt cops who want to beat up a “white motherfucker” for breaking curfew, he looks to get out of Bombay. But the idea of exploring a city’s expat underbelly is certainly reminiscent. He manages to escape, with the help of his cellmate, but it isn’t easy; it involves crawling through vents, stealing a saw, and climbing down a 40-foot wall. Among others, he also gets to know an American named Lisa (Elektra Kilbey), who is essentially a junkie under the thumb of two Indians who serve as her pimps. While in a market with Prabhu, Lin meets a beautiful woman named Karla (Antonia Desplat), who invites her to go to an expat bar called Reynaldo’s Cafe. He meets Prabhu (Shubham Saraf), who is the self-proclaimed “best tour guide in Bombay. He has made enemies in prison, which is why he needs to escape; otherwise, he’ll be killed.

Apple TV+ is selling it as a political thriller set in early-'80s Bombay, but the streamer's new series Shantaram plays like fan fiction for liberal arts ...

Later, we learn that Lin only got caught because he stayed at the scene of the robbery to give CPR to a guard that got shot. “But to survive in a slum, he must unfurl it for all to see.” [suggests](”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shantaram_(novel)”) he’s the one who first wrote Lin as a misunderstood saint, which makes sense considering he was turning his own life into an adventure tale. And sure, Lin has to assault a few inmates on the inside, but that’s just for protection. His escape is less about the “lowbrow” desire to get out of prison than his great spiritual need to leave a system that brutally punishes people with principles. The story begins, for instance, when he breaks out of an Aussie jail and flees to India, and we’re inundated with flashbacks of him being abused by his jailers, who are furious he won’t give up his partner in a bank robbery gone wrong.