Soldier-turned-writer Mukul Deva's novel, "Lashkar", has inspired a new action thriller by National award-winning production company, Planman Motion Pictures.

"Lashkar" is a 2008 novel about a fictional terror attack in New Delhi.

Planman Motion Pictures, which recently won the best Hindi feature film National award for "Do Dooni Chaar", has acquired the motion picture rights of Deva's book. This will be the first action thriller from their stable.

"I started reading 'Lashkar' at around midnight and was simply unable to put it down. Halfway through I knew I just had to make it into a movie. A couple of hours after finishing it, I was in touch with Deva, " Shubho Shekhar Bhattacharjee, CEO, Planman Motion Pictures, said in a statement.

The book explores the battle between terrorists from Pakistan and the Indian military through the eyes of a soldier.

"'Lashkar' is not only an extremely topical book, it also has that gritty flavour and taut, killing pace, which makes for a great film. We are very excited about this. Work on the script is well underway and we hope to take the movie to the floors very soon, " added Bhattacharjee.

"Lashkar" is the first book of Deva's four-book action thriller series, including "Salim Must Die" (2009), "Blowback" (2010) and "Tanzeem" (2011)).

Deva, an ex-Indian Army officer, has 16 years of experience on the frontline.

Already gearing for the release of his next novel "The Dust Will Never Settle", and a new seven-book series on the seven deadly sins, he is more than excited about the movie version of "Lashkar".

"I'm not just excited. I am absolutely thrilled that 'Lashkar' is going to the big screen. The tremendous enthusiasm shown by Planman is heartening, as is the approach Shubho is taking with the script, " said Deva.

"Lashkar" grabbed eyeballs from Indian filmmakers since its release, according to its publishing company HarperCollins India.

"'Lashkar' had started getting offers from Bollywood within days of its release, so we are not at all surprised, " said Sukumar, CEO, HarperCollins India.

"As recent events have shown, like the killing of Osama, which Deva wrote about in uncannily prescient detail in 'Salim Must Die', all four books are highly relevant and lend themselves to the movies, " Sukumar said.

"Deva is a very visual writer and his military background brings a lot of realism to his books, " he said.

"We had been waiting for a filmmaker with the right vision and the drive to take this series forward and have full confidence that Planman will make a blockbuster movie, " he added.