Mira Nair's newest offering, Vanity Fair, encapsulates the essence of the English classic

Revenge may be wicked, but it's natural." This statement aptly provides an insight into the mind of Rebecca (Becky) Sharp, the pivotal character in Mira Nair's latest Hollywood production, Vanity Fair, based on William Makepeace Thackeray's epic novel of the same name.

Set against a tumultuous England during the Napoleonic era, it weaves an intriguing mesh of events. Published in 1847, Vanity Fair was a powerful novel of its time, an entertaining satirical narrative of English society. Nair couldn't believe her good fortune when Focus Features offered this film to her. "It is one of my all time favourite books, which I first read as a young girl during my boarding school days in Shimla," she says.

Vanity Fair, subtitled, 'A Novel without a Hero' remains true to its description. The riveting centrepiece of this tale is Becky Sharp (Reese Witherspoon), a woman well ahead of her time. The daughter of a starving artist and an opera singer, Becky refuses to accept her lack of status by birth and perseveres in her relentless attempts to climb the social ladder.

Her desperation and drive to succeed, ultimately lead to her downfall. She marries the suave Rawdon Crowley (James Purefoy) but her inherent insatiability and a twist of fate leave her with less than what she started out with. As a skilful dramatic construction, Becky's life runs parallel to that of her best friend Amelia Sedley (Ramola Garai) - their situations in a constant state of flux like shifting sand dunes.

Nair's Vanity Fair successfully plunges the depths of Thackeray's characters, doing justice to the richness of the multi-dimensional human spirit. She brings out the timelessness of his work addressing issues that are relevant in any time. She states, "The reasons I wanted to make Vanity Fair are Thackeray's essential, and, in my view, spiritual questions: 'Which of us has dreams, and when we achieve them, are we happy? What is contentment? What is aspiration? What is the vanity of life?'"

Thackeray's intrigue with the effect of the expansion of the British Empire on the British society is chronicled in his book. Nair has chosen to highlight this with a classic touch of her filmmaking élan - depicting a more vibrant and pulsating England injected with a strong presence of exotic India. Witherspoon performing a sultry Moroccan-style dance sequence (choreographed by our very own Farah Khan) is evidence of Nair's flair. She laughingly adds, "What's the point if there is no mirch masala?"

The strength of the film also lies in its supremely talented cast. Witherspoon plays Sharp with integrity, exhibiting the fiery shades of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind. The rest of the cast consists of well-established actors like Jim Broadbent, Bob Hoskins, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ramola Garai (the upcoming British actress whom Nair was so eager to work with that she didn't even audition her).

Vanity Fair is a case in point that Thackeray's interpretation of society and the gradients in human behaviour are still increasingly resonant in our world today.