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In a push toward bigger budgets, London production outfit Inspired Movies has acquired the rights to African drama "A Bend in the River" by Nobel-prize winning scribe V.䒷. Naipaul.

After Merchant Ivory's "The Mystic Masseur," it's the second of Naipaul's novels to be adapted for the bigscreen; Naipaul will exec produce.

The story of an Indian shopkeeper in post-colonial Africa who becomes embroiled in the chaos and social breakdown that follows the rise of a despotic leader is being adapted by Farrukh Dhondy, best-known for penning Ketan Mehta's Bollywood epic "The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey."

While Inspired Movies focuses on low-budget fare at roughly $7 million, "A Bend in the River" will be produced under the new Inspired Studios label, which aims to produce pics with budgets south of $20 million. Inspired Movies execs Phil Blackburn, Meenu Bachan and Peter Ansorge will produce.