MUMBAI: Dev Patel, who came to the limelight with Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, has been signed to play the lead role in Bill Bennett directed thriller Defiant, based on the true story of double honour killings in India.

Based on true events and set in India, the film tells the story of two young lovers from different backgrounds on the run from their parents who want to kill them as inter caste and inter-religion marriages are considered taboo in India.

The 22-year-old actor will star opposite Toni Colette in the film in which he will play one of the lovers on the run.

Colette, an Emmy-winning journalist, follows them for a story but ends up risking her life to save the young lovers.

The film is being produced by Bennett and Australia-based Anupam Sharma. The shooting of the film will begin in North India by late October.

The Little Film Company, which is handling the international sales of the movie, will introduce the project to foreign buyers for the first time in Cannes next month.

The film will be Patel‘s third project based on an Indian story after Slumdog Millionaire and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.