The book ‘Gurugram School Murder’ is getting an adaptation by Matchbox Shots
India’s Matchbox Shots has acquired the screen rights to ‘The Gurugram School Murder’, crime journalist Leena Dhankhar’s account of the 2017 murder of a child at an elite school in Gurugram.
The adaptation is based on Dhankhar’s reporting on one of India’s most prominent criminal cases. On September 8, 2017, a seven-year-old boy, publicly known as Prince, was found with his throat slit in a school bathroom. Local police initially detained an innocent school bus conductor, before the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested a fellow student accused of committing the murder, allegedly to secure an exam postponement.
The project is led by Dikssha Jyote Routray of Matchbox Shots.
“What happened in this case is every parent’s worst nightmare,” Routray said. “It’s a tragedy that also unravels dark truths about the pressures that shape 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 had to live with the loss every day and justice must prevail without compromise.”
The project has the support of Prince’s father, who continues to strive for responsibility in the business.
“There hasn’t been a single day that we haven’t remembered him or missed him,” he said. “Our struggle has been painfully long and will continue until the guilty receive the harshest punishment. We want the truth to reach more people so that society understands our pain and ensures that those responsible are never spared.”
Matchbox Shots is a production house in Mumbai, helmed 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. The war drama series ‘Operation Safed Sagar’ is scheduled to release on Netflix.
