An ill-starred Indian adaptation of The Fault In Our Stars has received a release date.
The Hindi-language film, based on John Green’s 2012 YA bestseller, will hit screens in May of next year, according to a News18 India report.
The movie, which stars Sushant Singh Rajput and Sanjana Sanghi, is titled Dil Beshara, which translates as Helpless Heart. Green’s book was previously adapted as a hugely successful American film in 2014, starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort.
The novel tells the story of a relationship between a teenage thyroid-cancer patient, Hazel Grace Lancaster, and college student Augustus “Gus” Waters, who lost a leg to osteosarcoma. Kirkus gave the book a starred review, noting that Green’s “carefully structured dialogue and razor-sharp characters brim with genuine intellect, humor and desire.”
The stars haven’t exactly aligned for the new film’s production, however. Its first-time director, Mukesh Chhabra, was briefly removed from the movie in 2018, following accusations of sexually harassing women in his role as a casting agent, as reported by the Hindustan Times; he denied the allegations and was later reinstated, following an investigation, per entertainment-news site Pinkvilla. And on Oct. 14, Indian TV network Republic reported that Rajput—who plays the film’s Gus equivalent, renamed Manny—has taken ill with dengue fever.
Sanghi, who will be making her film debut in Dil Beshara as the Hazel-esque character Kizie, seems in perfect health, however. She shared the release date on Twitter:
An extraordinary love story close to my heart releases on 8th May 2020, only in cinemas. #DilBechara @itsSSR @CastingChhabra @foxstarhindi @arrahman pic.twitter.com/LPbqF1KQVf
— Sanjana Sanghi (@sanjanasanghi96) November 15, 2019
Hulu’s 8-episode miniseries of Green’s Kirkus-starred 2005 debut YA novel, Looking for Alaska, premiered last month, and his 2008 book, Paper Towns, became a 2015 film starring Cara Delevingne.
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.