Maddock Films acquires rights to Harinder Sikka’s book ‘Vichhoda’

Maddock Films, known for movies like Bhediya, Stree and Bala, has acquired the rights to author Harinder Sikka’s book Vichhoda. Sikka’s book Calling Sehmat was earlier adapted into Alia Bhatt-starrer Raazi.

The story of Vichhoda is set in 1950 when the Liaquat-Nehru Pact was signed between India and Pakistan.

To be sure, Maddock is only the latest studio to have taken to book rights for film projects. Earlier, film production house Abundantia Entertainment had bought the rights of author Ashwin Sanghi’s historical science-fiction thriller Keepers of the Kalachakra to adapt into a multi-season web series, in keeping with the trend of streaming services turning to books for inspiration. Producer Sheetal Talwar had also announced that he had bought the rights to Shashi Tharoor’s book Why I Am a Hindu. American streaming site Netflix has already adapted sports drama Selection Day, spy thriller The Bard of Blood, dystopian novel Leila and Salman Rushdie’s classic Midnight’s Children, after its success with Vikram Chandra’s crime thriller Sacred Games. SonyLIV has also seen much traction for its crime drama Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story that was based on The Scam.

Earlier, a producer could easily plagiarize a Western film and adapt it for the local audience. But with the world having shrunk thanks to digital media, the next best option is to buy books and adapt them, media experts point out. For long, feature films have been churned out from popular books.

Anurag Kashyap’s crime docudrama Black Friday and Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt’s romantic drama 2 States, stand out as examples. Web series are an extension of the trend, especially considering that there is a sudden demand for a lot more content in the digital space. Plus, a lot of these books are already successful, so there is a proven target audience for the concept, which may overlap on the web.