Shashanka Ghosh to join forces with Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah and Anupam Kher to bring Manishka Lakhe’s 2010 novel to the big screen
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 29, 2018)

Veere Di Wedding director Shashanka Ghosh’s next film will be a Hinglish satirical crime escapade titled The BetelNut Killers. The film which is based on Manisha Lakhe’s book by the same name revolves around an NRI Gujarati family that runs into two former American convicts. The film will takes off in 2019.

Producer Joy B Ganguly informed Mirror that Shashanka and he had brainstormed on the project a long time ago. “The idea came to Shashanka when he was travelling to the US in the late ’90s. Over the last few years, we kept discussing it and have now decided to go ahead with the film. The script is being developed at the moment.”

He goes on to add that the film is in the zone of what Shashanka had started out doing with Quick Gun Murugun and Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part 2. “It needs an ensemble cast and we will be approaching Ratna Pathak Shah, Anupam Kher and Naseer saab (Shah). There are two American actors as well who we are in talks with,” he said, adding that 90 per cent of shoot will take place in New York and the remaining in Mumbai.

The novel, a farcical black comedy, released in 2010, and revolved around the Shahs who run a grocery store in Portland, Oregon. Chimanbhai Shah, the mild-mannered owner, is forced into taking drastic steps after the sexy Supriya draws his customers away to her new store that has suddenly come up in the neighbourhood. Following the downturn in business, the Shahs approach a supari killer from Mumbai to rid them of their competition.