The semi-autobiographical 2003 novel by Gregory David Roberts tells the story of a convicted Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escapes from Pentridge and flees to India, where he reinvents himself as a doctor in a slum before embarking on a series of crazy adventures that include working as an extra in Bollywood, passport forgery in Mumbai, and arms trafficking in Afghanistan.

Roberts, who was known as "the building society bandit" in his criminal years in Melbourne, escaped from Pentridge in 1980 and was captured in Frankfurt a decade later. He wrote his book while in prison in Australia after being extradited from Germany.

Understandably, there has long been interest in adapting this remarkable tale for the screen.

Soon after the book was published, Russell Crowe expressed interest in starring in an adaptation. In 2004, Warner Bros paid $US2 million for the rights to the story, with Johnny Depp set to star. Australian director Peter Weir was lined up to direct but left the project in 2006 because, a Warners spokesman said at the time, "his interpretation of it differed greatly than that of the studio and producers".

In 2013, the stalled project received another jolt of life when Joel Edgerton was courted – reportedly by Depp, now attached as a producer – to star in it. But once again it came to nothing.

Warner's rights to the project finally lapsed in 2015, and in January 2018 Anonymous Content – the US production outfit behind The Revenant, Boy Erased, True Detective and the recent TV series Catch-22 – acquired the rights.

Other than Depp no longer being involved, there has been no word yet on casting. But this time Shantaram is extremely unlikely to get away.

The federal government has committed $7.4 million towards securing the production, on top of the 16.5 per cent location offset. That suggests the total spend of the series in Australia is in the region of $55 million.

The state government has also invested through Film Victoria's production incentive attraction fund.

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Film Victoria CEO Caroline Pitcher said she was "delighted that Victoria would be hosting the first streaming television series" from Apple TV+ following the company's announcement in March that it was moving into commissioning original content.

"This production is going to employee hundreds of highly skilled Victorian screen practitioners and provide up to 1000 more job opportunities for Victorians over an 11-month period," she said.

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