Marty Adelstein’s production company Tomorrow Studios (Snowpiercer, Hanna), a partnership between Adelstein and ITV Studios, today announced plans to adapt for television POLITE SOCIETY, a modern-day retelling of Jane Austen's Emma set in contemporary Delhi, based on the highly-anticipated forthcoming novel by award-winning author Mahesh Rao (The Smoke Is Rising). This will mark the first mixed-language series for the production company, as well as their first project set in India. Adelstein and Becky Clements will executive produce the series, with Rao on board as a consultant.

Polite Society tells the story of Ania, the daughter of a wealthy Indian family who aspires to match-make for her friends and family, only to find herself caught up in an unforeseen scandal and an unexpected match of her own. Pairing stiletto-sharp observation and social comedy with moments of true tenderness, the novel travels through the mansions of India's elite and celebrates the many routes to happiness.

“We are thrilled to be adapting ‘Polite Society’ in our continued quest to find the most compelling characters and ways to tell their stories for a global TV audience. Mahesh’s novel strikes that rare balance of telling a wholly authentic story, while also feeling universally relatable,” said Adelstein.

“I’m excited to see my written words leap off the page and onto the television screen with Tomorrow Studios and its partnership with ITV Studios bringing this story to an audience worldwide,” added Rao.

Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, Rao’s debut novel, The Smoke Is Rising, won the Tata First Book Award for fiction and was shortlisted for the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and the Crossword Prize. His second book, One Point Two Billion, is a collection of short stories.

Polite Society will be released by Putnam in August 2019 and marks Rao’s first book published in the U.S. Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians, contributed the following book testimonial, “Is it possible to marry a book? Because Polite Society is so funny, smart, sophisticated, and captivating, you just want to spend your whole life with it. It was love at first sight from the very first page and I never wanted it to end.”

Rao is represented by Lutyens & Rubinstein and Casarotto, Ramsay & Associates Limited.