The makers of Airlift have bought the film rights to bestselling novel Karachi, You're Killing Me

Literary inspiration, music and locations.... Bollywood is turning to our neighbouring country for a creative boost. The makers of the upcoming Akshay Kumar-Nimrat Kaur starrer Airlift have bought the film rights to bestselling novel Karachi, You're Killing Me, written by Pakistani journalist Saba Imtiaz.
Planned as India's answer to the muchacclaimed Hollywood film, Bridget Jones's Diary, the makers will put the project on floors later this year.
The book's author, Saba Imtiaz, will be closely involved in developing the the film's screenplay.
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The book, which became a roaring success upon its release, chronicles the life of Ayesha Khan, a progressive-thinking journalist in her late twenties, who drinks and smokes, putting her modern attitude in contrast to the city's orthodox elements."It's a comedy of manners in a city with none," is how the author described her debut novel.
But a source close to the development revealed that the makers are re-working the story for an Indian context.
"It's tentatively called Delhi, You're Killing Me and will be entirely set in the Old Delhi environment.The hunt for a young female actress to play Ayesha is currently on," said a source close to the development.
Confirming this, the film's producer Vikram Malhotra told Mirror that he read the book, the very day after he came across a review that described it as a cross between Bridget Jones's Diary and Diary of a Social Butterfly.
"The story excited me just the way Queen had when Vikas Bahl had first narrated it to me. I have full faith that Karachi.... would trans late into a film that will resonate with today's audi ence, especially women as they will see a slice of their lives in it! Work is on in full swing on adapting the book into a film and we will finalise the cast soon," said Malhotra.
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