Usual Suspect

As Slumdog Millionaire became a phenomenon from Mumbai to Manhattan,British producer Paul Raphael chuckled to himself at his home in Ipswich.

As Slumdog Millionaire became a phenomenon from Mumbai to Manhattan,British producer Paul Raphael chuckled to himself at his home in Ipswich. He had just bought the rights to the screen adaptation of author-diplomat Vikas Swarups second novel,Six Suspects. (Swarups debut novel Q and A was adapted into Slumdog Millionaire.) It was like a miracle. I had just got the rights to Six Suspects after narrowly missing out on the screen rights to Q and A. Once I heard Vikas was wrapping up his second novel,I was convinced I needed to grab it fast, says Raphael,excitedly,over the phone from Mumbai where he is on a scouting trip for cast,crew and locales. Meanwhile,the novel is being turned into screenplay by Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Hodge (Trainspotting). The movie will be co-produced by Raphael and the BBC Films.

The success of Slumdog… has inspired me to get this film out in the best manner possible, says Raphael,52,who is on his first visit to the country to get an organic feel of the place. His last film,Under the Bombs,bagged the Human Rights Award at the Venice Film Festival in 2007 and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival,US,a year later.

In early 2008,Raphael saw the first draft of Six Suspects and immediately booked the novel through his agent. It was an intense murder mystery set in Delhi and I was keen on doing it, he says. He has yet to approach a director,although after the success of compatriot Danny Boyles Slumdog…,Raphael was inundated with offers from financiers.

Swarups episodic novel has more than a passing resemblance to incidents and characters in contemporary India like a girl bartender who is shot dead by a guest who wants another drink. The book worked for Raphael as it presented a diverse and whimsical portrait of India from Delhi to the Andamans. It was a kaleidoscope of modern India. I always wanted to make a film here using a local subject. The book presented me with the right fodder, says Raphael. In 2002,he co-produced Meera Syals Anita and Me.

Paul is the son of author-screenplay writer Frederic Raphael who won an Oscar for screenplay for Darling (1965) and an Oscar nomination for Two for the Road (1967). He would pack me into the back of his car as he travelled around and I would stay with him. I read out his scripts at age seven, recalls Paul fondly.

And his respect for a good story is rooted in those road trips with Dad. A good story is the basis of any film. But there are no rules for adapting a story. If the material dictates that the script has to be far removed from the book then so be it. That is the journey of a film, says Raphael,who is hopeful of beginning production in the summer of 2011. I dont want to tempt fate since I have been in this business long enough to see things get postponed. But he assures interesting parts for Indian actors in the film,with just one role for an American.

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