The production outfit and director behind the acclaimed Indian film Maya have launched their next project, Opium Royale, which is budgeted at $3.5m.

Set to start shooting in India on Jan 15, 2004, Opium Royale is produced by Dileep Singh Rathore and Emmanuel Pappas of Kundalini Pictures and directed by Digvijay Singh.

Rathore told ScreenDaily.com that Opium Royale is set in India of 1947 and unfolds as a surrealistic, erotically charged comedy of manners that plays out against backdrop of the birth of a nation.

Written by Naman Ramachandran and Digvijay Singh, the film has also attached Liz England as casting director and Chris Courtney as line producer.

Maya was released in 10 territories and played at a string of festivals in 2001.