GoQuest, Zaidi pick up Golden Pen

L-R: Jaspinder Kang, Hussain Zaidi and Vivek Lath

Renowned Indian crime writer Hussain Zaidi has teamed up with local prodco GoQuest to launch a joint venture focused on crime thrillers.

Mumbai-based Golden Pen Productions aims to bring Indian crime stories and writers to a global audience with platform-agnostic content for television, online, film and podcasts.

Zaidi has formed a reputation for gritty, no-holds-barred representation of the criminal underbelly in books such as Black Friday, Dongri to Dubai: Six decades of the Mumbai Mafia and Headley & I.

Golden Pen will focus on creating content in collaboration with writers, both established and up-and-coming talent who will be mentored by Zaidi.

Black Friday has already been adapted as a feature film by Anurag Kashyap, while Zaidi’s in-depth research into the Mumbai mafia has been used by international authors like Misha Glenny in McMafia and Vikram Chandra in his book Sacred Games.

Zaidi said: “I believe it to be the case with many writers emerging from the hinterlands, who have seen and experienced so much during their normal growing up years, that they have developed a bank of absolutely dark yet vehemently true stories which deserve to be tapped into.

“The Golden Pen being one of the few ‘writers-first’ entertainment labels in India, aims to bring such stories in front of audiences, by developing content that pushes the boundaries on every page or in every frame, while being deeply rooted in reality.”

GoQuest Ventures MD Vivek Lath added: “The emergence of new media has resulted in audiences looking for edgy and thrilling content, and the success of series such as Narcos or Sacred Games has shown the potential of such content.

“Through Golden Pen, our core focus will be to develop a diverse body of content in the crime-thriller genre. These projects will be developed with their roots in India but with a strong eye for distribution in international markets as well.”