Mira Nair, director of Vanity Fair, has signed to direct Johnny Depp in Shantaram, a film about the bizarre life of Gregory David Roberts, a heroin addict who escaped prison, pretends to be a doctor in India, and he begins making links with the local underworld eventually heading to Afghanistan and working with a mob boss fighting Russian criminals.

Wow, one hell of a story. Roberts has written a book by the same title which has inspired the film. Previously we heard that Peter Weir was on direction duty but then left when his vision of the film was different to that of the studio. Now the story from Empire tells us that Nair is directing it looks set to move forward.

The superb Franke Potente and Emily Watson are also in various stages of attachment with the film. Hopefully both will join Depp and we'll see something special from this film, it certainly has the material.