Charithra Chandran, who starred in the second season of Bridgerton, has been cast as the main character in the upcoming Olivia Hetreed drama Song of the Sun God, as reported by Deadline.
The six-parter, based on Shankari Chandran’s novel, is being produced by The Cry indie Synchronicity Films and Australia’s Photoplay Films and will star Chandran, who rose to prominence as Edwina Sharma in the second season of Shonda Rhimes’ smash Netflix regency drama, as well as Alex Rider for Prime Video. Cineflix Rights has come on board as a producer and financier, with first dibs on exclusive global distribution.
Pearl-Bearing Girl The story of a Sri Lankan family’s love, lies, and misdeeds across three generations in the United Kingdom (UK), Australia (Australia), and Sri Lanka are adapted here by novelist and earring designer Hetreed.
Leela, played by Charithra Chandran, is a young Australian woman living in London who is largely alienated from her native culture and who does not know the truth about her family’s past. On the other hand, her search for her missing aunt and the shocking truth behind her disappearance takes her across three continents and puts her in mortal danger.
Shankari Chandran, the author, serves as a creative consultant on the project, with Claire Mundell of Synchronicity and Karen Radzyner of Photoplay serving as executive producers. The latter’s previous company, Dragonet, was involved in the production, but when she left, she took the project with her.
Synchronicity’s “Drive and passion for adapting powerful and important books for the screen,” as Mundel put it, makes the show a good fit. Mayflies, an adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s novel, is being made by the same company for the BBC, as is a film version of The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
She went on to say that “Shankari Chandran’s novel is a poignant and deeply moving story of the Sri Lankan conflict seen through the prism of one family.” We believe that the project will resonate with audiences all over the world due to its timely and universal themes. Our team is thrilled to have Charithra on board as a cast member and producer.
Reps in the UK and the US for Charithra Chandran include Jonathan Arun Group and Gersh, respectively. It was reported in June by Deadline that she would play the lead in the romantic comedy podcast, A Mid-Semester Night’s Dream.