Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 9, 2015)

The makers of the upcoming Akshay Kumar-Nimrat Kaur starrer Airlift have bought the film rights to bestselling novel Karachi, You're Killing Me, written by Pakistani journalist Saba Imtiaz.

Planned as India's answer to the much-acclaimed Hollywood film, Bridget Jones's Diary, the makers will put the project on floors later this year.

The book's author, Saba Imtiaz, will be closely involved in developing the the film's screenplay.

The book, which became a roaring success upon its release, chronicles the life of Ayesha Khan, a progressive-thinking journalist in her late twenties, who drinks and smokes, putting her modern attitude in contrast to the city's orthodox elements. "It's a comedy of manners in a city with none," is how the author described her debut novel.

But a source close to the development revealed that the makers are re-working the story for an Indian context.

"It's tentatively called Delhi, You're Killing Me and will be entirely set in the Old Delhi environment. The hunt for a young female actress to play Ayesha is currently on," said a source close to the development.

Confirming this, the film's producer Vikram Malhotra told Mirror that he read the book, the very day after he came across a review that described it as a cross between Bridget Jones's Diary and Diary of a Social Butterfly.

"The story excited me just the way Queen had when Vikas Bahl had first narrated it to me. I have full faith that 'Karachi....' would translate into a film that will resonate with today's audience, especially women as they will see a slice of their lives in it! Work is on in full swing on adapting the book into a film and we will finalise the cast soon," said Malhotra.