India’s Matchbox Shots has acquired the screen rights to “The Gurugram School Murder,” crime journalist Leena Dhankhar’s account of the 2017 killing of a child at an elite school in Gurugram.
The adaptation draws from Dhankhar’s reporting on one of India’s most prominent criminal cases. On Sept. 8, 2017, a seven-year-old boy known publicly as Prince was found with his throat slit inside a school bathroom. Local police initially detained an innocent school bus conductor before the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested a fellow student, who was accused of carrying out the killing allegedly to secure the postponement of an examination.
The project is being helmed by Dikssha Jyote Routray of Matchbox Shots.
“What happened in this case is every parent’s worst nightmare,” Routray said. “It is a tragedy that also unravels dark truths about the pressures shaping young children in contemporary urban India. Our commitment is to tell this story with the carefully researched nuance it deserves.”
“This is not just a crime story, but the story of a family’s pain and years of struggle for justice,” Dhankhar added. “Through this story, we hope more people understand the emotional devastation such incidents leave behind. The family has lived with the loss every single day, and justice must prevail without compromise.”
The project carries the support of Prince’s father, who continues to pursue accountability in the case.
“There has not been a single day when we have not remembered or missed him,” he said. “Our fight has been painfully long, and it will continue until the guilty receive the harshest punishment. We want the truth to reach more people so society understands our pain and ensures that those responsible are never spared.”
Matchbox Shots is a Mumbai production house mentored by filmmaker Sriram Raghavan. The company’s credits include “Andhadhun,” “Scoop,” “IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack” and “Khauf.” The company is led by producers Sanjay Routray, Dikssha Jyote Routray and Sarita Patil. Its war drama series “Operation Safed Sagar” is set for release on Netflix.