Netflix is adapting Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘Unaccustomed Earth’ into an epic drama
Jhumpa Lahiri has a gift for capturing the small moments that shape human life in the most beautiful ways. Her writing often turns family dinners and fleeting encounters, while also incorporating unspoken tensions into stories that then linger for years. And now one of her most celebrated works, Unaccustomed Earth, is getting adapted by Netflix as a new eight-episode drama.
The book came out in the year 2008, and based on it, the series promises to take Lahiri’s delicate short stories and expand them into something cinematic. It is being produced by John Wells and Madhuri Shekar. Moreover, the show is going to be a dramatic exploration inside a close-knit Indian American community.
At the centre of it all is Parul Chaudhury, played by Freida Pinto. Parul is a devoted wife whose carefully ordered life is thrown into turmoil when her long-lost love re-enters the picture. That role belongs to Indian actor Siddharth, who plays Amit Mukherjee. He is the dependable childhood sweetheart who turns Parul’s world upside down as he enters it. Their reunion sparks an affair that is much complicated.
Amit is described as a warmhearted and loyal man in the book. He is someone his friends lean on in every crisis. But again, he also struggles to keep his own life steady, both in work and in love. It’s generally these warmhearted people who are there for everyone, but when it comes to themselves, they are the loneliest. When Parul reappears in his life, it doesn’t just bring back memories but also turns his world upside down. The show is going to build their relationship into the kind of forbidden romance that can only end in heartbreak.
The setting of Unaccustomed Earth is Cambridge, Massachusetts. This immigrant neighbourhood is full of interconnected families who watch each other’s lives as closely as their own. One has to be careful at every step, as even the smallest secret carries the risk of becoming a community scandal. In that sense, the show doesn’t just adapt Lahiri’s stories, but it also widens them into a portrait of how immigrant lives intertwine.
For Freida Pinto, this role feels like a return to the kind of character-driven storytelling she first found fame with in Slumdog Millionaire. For Siddharth, it’s a high-profile entry into the international platform after years of acclaimed work in Indian cinema. Together, they bring Lahiri’s words to life for audiences who might never have picked up the book.
Unaccustomed Earth has always been about the push and pull of the past and the future. Now, as a Netflix series, it has the chance to recreate those on an even bigger canvas. For Lahiri fans, it’s a long-awaited adaptation. For everyone else, it may be the beginning of discovering a brilliant writer.