Propagate Content snaps up film rights to Doshi's Burnt Sugar

Propagate Content has bagged the film rights for Avni Doshi's Booker Prize-shortlisted novel Burnt Sugar (Hamish Hamilton).

The deal for film rights with Propagate was negotiated by Anna Soler-Pont at the Pontas Literary & Film Agency on behalf of Doshi. The Academy Award nominated Indian-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta (pictured) will be writing and directing the feature film.

Mehta said: "Depicting complicated human connections are what drive most of my projects and I look forward to delving into the complex, layered and at times surprisingly dark mother-daughter relationship that is so shockingly illustrated in this novel. Burnt Sugar is often sprinkled with razor sharp humour and it’s unexpected take on the old-as-time relationship left me gasping. It grabbed me from its first sentence and I couldn’t say yes fast enough when I was asked to bring the vision to the screen.”

Hamish Hamilton said translation rights for the novel have been sold into 26 languages, including German, French, Spanish, Korean, Russian and Arabic. The Lot Productions has also licensed theatre rights with an aim to develop a play to premiere in London during the 2023 season. The novel will be adapted by writer Carmen Nasr with the cast and creative team to be announced. 

The story is set in the Indian city of Pune, and tells the story of Tara, who was wild in her youth. She abandoned her loveless marriage to join an ashram, endured a brief stint as a beggar — mostly to spite her affluent parents — and spent years chasing after a dishevelled, homeless "artist", all with her young child in tow. Now she is forgetting things, mixing up her maid’s wages and leaving the gas on all night, and her grown-up daughter is faced with the task of caring for a woman who never cared for her.

The publisher said: "This is a love story, a tale of obsession and betrayal. But not between lovers – between mother and daughter. Sharp as a blade and laced with caustic wit, Burnt Sugar unpicks the slippery, choking cord of memory and myth that binds two women together, making and unmaking them endlessly."