Shantaram

Release Date: Fall 2008 (estimated)
Director: Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake)
Writer: Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Munich)
Cast: Johnny Depp

Based on the novel by Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram follows a heroin addict incarcerated for a robbery escapes prison and reinvents himself as a doctor in the slums of Bombay; his ties to the crime underworld there lead him to Afghanistan, where he partners with a mob boss locked in a battle with Russian criminals.

Other cast members: Amitabh Bachchan as Khader Bhai, Irfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, etc.

Trivia:Pre-production had to be delayed due to the writer's strike in 2007/08.

Russell Crowe was keen to play the lead in this film. But Johnny Depp had already acquired the rights to the book.

Russell Crowe was so excited about this project, that when he heard that Johnny Depp's Infinitum Nihil Production had bought the rights to the book at a whopping $2 million, he offered to be the executive producer just to be a part of the film.

Amitabh Bachchan will play the role of a gangster with morals.

Mira Nair has said that it would be a dream come true to have both Johnny Depp and Amitabh Bachchan in the same movie.

I'd like to watch this movie because I like movies about prison escapees and I also like movies about mobsters, and I would like to see Johnny Depp's performance in this type of movie.