'Sahara Group's story could be made into a Bollywood film'

Producers have evinced interest Sahara: The Untold Story, written by Tamal Bandyopadhyay

'Sahara: The Untold Story', the book written by financial journalist Tamal Bandyopadhyay to demystify the largely unlisted Sahara India Group headed by Subrata Roy, could well be made into a Bollywood film.

 

Tamal told Business Standard here today that a few Bollywood producers had evinced interest in the celluloid adaptation of the controversial book.

 

"Bollywood has shown interest in my book, although nothing has yet been finalised," he said.

 

The writer was in town along with the publisher, Akash Shah of Jaico Publishing House, to launch the book in Lucknow.

 

The book is the result of research, interviews and traveling by the author to comprehend one of India's largest business conglomerates, which has interests in real estate, media, hospitality, retail etc.

 

It features an interview with Roy, who is currently incarcerated in Tihar jail over the case of alleged non-payment of Rs 24,000 crore to investors after a long drawn court case with market regulator SEBI.

 

Tamal said he had finished writing the book in October 2013 and a copy the book was sent to Roy before being released. In December 2013, Sahara India got a stay on its publication and slapped a Rs 200 crore defamation suit against the writer and the publisher.

 

The stay was vacated and the suit withdrawn in April 2014 following an out of court settlement, which entailed prominent display of Sahara's disclaimer on the contents and narratives of the book.

 

To a question, Tamal said Sahara Group was indeed a complicated organisation and has a complex structure largely due to it being an unlisted entity. He added Roy had been smart enough to exploit and use the various regulatory loopholes in the regulatory bodies.