Luther to get an Indian adaptation

BBC's crime drama series, Luther, starring Idris Elba in the lead, is getting an Indian adaptation. Applause Entertainment, the studio behind the law drama, Criminal Justice, will be producing the show. While the original is five seasons and 20 episodes long, the Indian adaptation's first season alone is expected to have eight to ten episodes.

Luther is about a troubled detective, DCI John Luther, who, having been separated from his wife, is torn between an unrelenting approach to solving serial murders and his attempts to rekindle a failed marriage. The series has already been adapted successfully in Russia and Korea as Klim and Less than Evil, respectively.

Applause Entertainment is backed by Aditya Birla, and has a reported production budget of $45 million. Set up in 2017, the company produces shows before offering it to OTT providers in India, while retaining the IP of the product. 

Criminal Justice is the Indian adaptation of the BAFTA-winning series of the same name, which is incidentally also a BBC production. It is currently streaming on Hotstar, with production on a second season already underway. The company's other productions -- Indian adaptations of US show The Office and Israeli show Hostages -- are also scheduled to be streamed on Hotstar, alongside the original series, Mayanagari – City of Dreams, a political drama.