Gregory David Roberts' Shantaram, a 2003  novel about an Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escapes from jail and flees to Mumbai, will be adapted for a television series.

The novel was earlier to be adapted as a feature film produced by Johnny Depp and with Mira Nair as the director. But it was shelved.

Now Anonymous Content and Paramount Television have bagged the rights to the book, as well as to Roberts' 2015 sequel The Mountain Shadow. The book tells the story of a writer-turned-bank robber who escapes a maximum security prison in Australia and makes his way to Mumbai, where he begins a long search for love and redemption.

"I'm honoured and humbled in equal measure as a writer, and thrilled for the many readers who have hoped that Shantaram would become a vivid screen experience," says Roberts. "Television is the perfect medium for the novel, and Steve Golin and Nicole Clemens at Anonymous Content are the perfect partners," he adds.

Golin says he has been pursuing the property for more than a decade. Paramount TV president Amy Powell calls the book a "rich story that is so beloved by audiences worldwide."