indica News Bureau-
Academy award winning director and producer Shekhar Kapur, to adapt ‘Ibis Trilogy’ written by author Amitav Ghosh into a series. The trilogy by Ghosh is based on the trade of opium between India and China, run by the East India Company. Ghosh’s magnum opus comprises three parts- Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke, and Flood of Fire.
Spilling the beans about Kapur’s new project, Kabir Bedi, a noted actor in cinema and television revealed on twitter that the series will be scripted by Michael Hirst, of ‘Vikings’ fame and directed by Kapur.
Bedi tweeted ,”Shekhar Kapur to Direct an epic series on 19th century Opium trade between Britain India and China, based on @GhoshAmitav’s IBIS trilogy, produced by @endemolshine, written by Michael Hirst, who scripted THE TUDORS, VIKINGS & @ShekharKapur’s Oscar nominated ELIZABETH. Brilliant!”
To this Kapur replied on twitter, “Opium trade funded industrial revolution in the west. It was grown/packed in India. Food production in Bengal was uprooted as British forced farmers to convert vast tracts of land to poppy. And when the Chinese emperor objected, the British went to War! On grounds of free trade!”
An earlier tweet by Kapur informed the audience that the trade played an important part in funding industrial revolution in the West.
“Opium trade funded industrial revolution in the west. It was grown/packed in India. Food production in Bengal was uprooted as British forced farmers to convert vast tracts of land to poppy. And when the Chinese emperor objected, the British went to War! On grounds of free trade!”, tweeted Kapur
Ibis Trilogy is a historical fiction set in the early 1900s. The books describe in detail about the cultivation and trade of opium. It also throws light on the trafficking of porters (coolies) to Mauritius.
