Sheetal Talwar, who produced the Demi Moore Amber Heard starrer The Joneses, and Hindi films including Rann, Rakta Charitra and Mausam, had bought the film rights of British author Jeffrey Archer's 1984 novel First Among Equals and a short story, A La Carte, from his collection of A Twist In The Tale last year. (Mirror, November 18, 2013).

The latest is that Talwar is about to hand over the directorial reins to Shatrughan Sinha's son Kussh Sinha for a TV series based on First Among Equals.

When contacted, Kussh confirmed that he had indeed met Talwar. “We haven't finalised the details though," said Kush.

A source close to the development said, “Kussh has wanted to wield the megaphone for a long time and is now ready for the job. Talwar and he are working out the modalities."

This is the first time that Archer, whose books have sold over 25 million copies worldwide, has granted the right of his books to an Indian producer.

But many Bollywood films in the past have borrowed plots and subplots from the 73-year-old novelist's books including Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl (Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less) and Khudgarz (Kane and Able).