Radhika Apte, Richard Roxburgh to star in Shantaram, Apple's miniseries based on Gregory David Roberts' novel

Radhika Apte and Richard Roxburgh will star alongside Charlie Hunnam in Apple's adaptation of Gregory David Roberts' book Shantaram. Australian director-screenwriter Justin Kurzel will direct the first two episodes of the 10-episode Paramount Television and Anonymous Content project, according to Deadline.

Radhika Apte, Charlie Hunnam and Richard Roxborgh have been cast in Apple's adaptation of Shantaram. Images from Twitter

Hunnam will take on the lead role, while Roxborgh will play Detective Sergeant Marty Nightingalem, who works for the Australian Federal Police, and Apte will be seen as Kavita, an Indian journalist.

The novel, a fictionalised account of David Roberts life, revolves around Lin, a one-time bank robber and heroin addict, who escaped from Melbourne's infamous maximum-security Pentridge Prison. His life on the run took him to Germany and then slums of Mumbai, where he set up a clinic as a way of giving back to the society, followed by his involvement with freedom fighters against the Russians in Afghanistan. The 2003 novel has been published in 39 languages in 42 territories worldwide, and has sold more than six million copies.

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Eric Warren Singer has adapted the book for TV. He and Kurzel are also attached as executive producers with former Walking Dead showrunner Dave Erickson, Steve Golin, Nicole Clemens, Andrea Barron, and Richard Sharkey, adds Deadline.

The show will get into production in October, and will be shot in Australia and India. It was previously reported the Australian government will provide $ 5 million for the production of the project through its Location Incentive program, with the Victorian government also supporting the series through Film Victoria's Production Incentive Attraction Fund.

The release date has not been announced, but Apple TV will be launched in November, reports The AV Club.

Apte was last seen in the comedy Bombairiya, also starring Akshay Oberoi, Ravi Kishan, Adil Hussain, Amit Sial, Shilpa Shukla, and Siddhanth Kapoor.

(With inputs from Press Trust of India)