Singerithra Chandran, who starred in Bridgerton, will play the lead role in Song of the Sun God, a new drama series from creator Olivia Hetreed. The novel by Shankari Chandran will be adapted into a six-part series, and the actress will serve as associate producer on the project. According to a recent article published by Deadline, the planned drama series based on the 2017 novel would include Chandran in the dual role of star and producer. Synchronicity’s forthcoming series executive producer Claire Mundell is thrilled to have Charithra on board.
Leela will be portrayed by Chandran, who rose to fame as Edwina Sharma in the second season of Netflix’s smash blockbuster regency drama Bridgerton. Leela is a young woman from Australia who was born and raised in London but has no idea of her family’s hidden history or cultural traditions. Chandran, who is represented by Jonathan Arun Group in the United Kingdom and Gersh in the United States, starred in the romantic comedy podcast A Mid-Semester Night’s Dream, which was launched in September, and in the role of Sabina Pleasance in the Amazon Prime Original series Alex Rider. Synchronicity Films and Photoplay Films of Australia will co-produce a film adaptation of Chandran’s Song of the Sun God, with Chandran serving as a creative consultant. Karen Radzyner (Photoplay Films) and Mundell (Synchronicity Films) will be working together on the series. “drive and passion for adapting significant and meaningful novels for the cinema,” as Mundel put it, led Synchronicity to take on the project.
She added, “The novel by Shankari Chandran is a dramatic and very emotional narrative of the Sri Lankan conflict viewed through the lens of one family.” We think the project will connect with people all throughout the world because of the current and universal subjects it explores. Cineflix Rights is footing the bill and has the first dibs on international distribution. Leela and her family will be the focal point of Hetreed’s version of Song of the Sun God. In her new novel, Hetreed (who also contributed to Girl with the Pearl Earring) follows three generations of Sri Lankan women as they live in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Sri Lanka and deal with love, deception, and misdeeds. Leela’s attempt to find her missing aunt and learn the truth behind her absence is both perilous and very emotional.
The novel published in 2017 follows the lives of Nala and Rajan, a married couple who meet in 1946 (on the brink of Sri Lanka’s independence from Britain) and begin their lives together in an arranged marriage. The couple falls in love while ethnic tensions rise and the country heads toward a deadly civil war, forcing them to make tough choices for the sake of their unborn child. Song of the Sun God’s release date is still unknown. Both of Bridgerton’s first two seasons are available to watch right now on Netflix.