Ranveer Singh to play Lord Shiva in trilogy based on Amish Tripathi's bestseller The Immortals of Meluha: Report

Ranveer Singh will reportedly play Lord Shiva in a big-screen adaptation of the Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi, starting with The Immortals of Meluha.

After wowing audiences as Hamza in the Dhurandhar films, it seems Ranveer Singh is going for a drastic shift in his on-screen image. If a new report is to be believed, the actor will play a character inspired by Lord Shiva in a grand big-screen adaptation of author Amish Tripathi’s Shiva trilogy, popularly known as the Immortals of Meluha series.

Ranveer Singh will reportedly star in and co-produce an adaptation of The Immortals of Meluha.

Ranveer to play Lord Shiva

According to a Pinkvilla report, Ranveer has acquired the rights to The Immortals of Meluha under his production banner, Maa Kasam Film. The bestselling novel and its two sequels chart the rise of a warrior from the Himalayas in the ancient kingdom of Meluha. The report says that Ranveer has partnered with Birla Studios to develop the mythological epic as a grand-scale trilogy.

“Ranveer has been passionate about bringing Meluha to the big screen for a long time now. The acquisition happened recently, and the project is now officially under development. Makers are approaching the franchise as a long-term cinematic universe, and the plan is to tell the story over 3 films. The writing work has already begun, and the team is taking its time to crack the screenplay and world-building. The first part is expected to go on floors in 2028,” the publication quoted a source as saying.

The project's details are under wraps for now, with a director not yet chosen. “The director will only be locked once the script work reaches a certain stage. Right now, the focus is entirely on developing the material,” the source added.

All about The Immortals of Meluha

Published in 2010, The Immortals of Meluha is the first book of Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy and marks the beginning of his shared universe of stories, dubbed the Amishverse. The three novels follow the rise of a Himalayan warrior named Shiva who arrives at the ancient kingdom of Meluha. The books blend mythology, history, and realism, turning the Indus Valley Civilisation into Meluha and presenting Shiva as a mortal man who attains the mantle of a God after the kingdom believes he is Neelkanth, their fabled saviour.

The sequels - The Secret of the Nagas and the Oath of the Vayuputras - followed. Since their release, the Shiva Trilogy has become the fastest-selling book series in Indian publishing history, with 2.5 million copies in print.