Endemol Shine India acquires rights for Chitra banerjee Divakaruni's Lioness: The Last Queen'

Endemol Shine India has acquired the rights for author Chitra banerjee Divakaruni's unreleased book Lioness: The Last Queen'.

Divakaruni, whose Mistress of Spices' was made into a Hollywood movie starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, is known for bestselling books like Palace of Illusions' and Forest of Enchantments'.

Divakaruni's Lioness' is a historical novel based on the life of a charismatic but hotheaded Indian queen and will hit stores later this year.

Book to screen company, the Story Ink has put together the deal with Endemol and they will also be involved as one of the producers.

Endemol Shine India is pleased to collaborate with an acclaimed author such as Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. The stories she tells and the characters she etches are as inspiring as they are intriguing. With Lioness' she brings alive a hero whose story is largely unknown. Authentic, motivational, patriotic yet tragic, we can't wait to bring alive the story of this legendary queen, Abhishek Rege, CEO, Endemol Shine India, said.

Divakaruni said she was thrilled to be collaborating with Endemol to bring to the screen the story of a queen who fought against the tyranny of the British.

"'Lioness: The Last Queen' is a truthful and complex tale of an amazing woman with great qualities and fatal flaws. Her indomitable spirit and the determination with which she continued fighting the British with whatever weapons she had available to her is inspiring to us even today," she said.

Sidharth Jain, Chief Storyteller and Producer of The Story Ink said, I have been patiently waiting since years to produce a project based on Chitra's book, so when she told me about Lioness, I jumped at the opportunity. Endemol Shine India was the first company I reached out to for a collaboration and they were excited to come on board & lead the project.