Deepa Mehta set to bring Shyam Selvadurai's 'Funny Boy' to the big screen

Indian Filmmaker Deepa Mehta's next film is set to be an adaptation of Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist Shyam Selvadurai's "Funny Boy".

The book chronicles six poignant stories of a boy coming to age within a wealthy Tamil family in Colombo, it was first published in 1994.

"I am going to start shooting for a film from January called 'Funny Boy'. It's based on Shyam Selvadurai's book. It's a really lovely, coming-of-age story with a Sri Lankan setting," Mehta  was quoted as telling the New Indian Express.

The director, whose previous works like "Earth" and "Midnights Children" were also book adaptations, said it's hard for her not to visualise books cinematically while she's reading.

"I love adapting books. There are some books which are cinematic and there are some which aren't. When I read a book, I keep visualising it. Words come to life, you form images and sometimes I can even see who's acting in it."