Sriram Raghavan Working On New Thriller In The Johnny Gaddaar Mould

Andhadhun director Sriram Raghavan is honing a new thriller for Matchbox Shots. It is inspired by the tonal spirit of his 2007 film, Johnny Gaddaar.

Johnny Gaddaar was a neo-noir heist thriller that was Neil Nitin Mukesh’s screen debut alongside Dharmendra, and has since blossomed into a cult favorite.

Sriram Raghavan Teases New Project

“I am personally working on a couple of subjects with them,” Raghavan told Variety. “One is a true crime sort of thing which I am sort of adapting in my own way. And the other is a fiction, it is a thriller, and I mean next year is 20 years of ‘Johnny Gaddaar,’ so something I want to do in that zone.” The director has yet to settle on a title.

The filmmaker has a long relationship with Matchbox. “Matchbox began, I mean as a company, with ‘Andhadhun,'” he added. “So we tasted success very, very early, and I am very happy that now ‘Safed Sagar’ is like doing sort of similar sort of wave, creating waves in the OTT [streaming] kind of a thing.” Andhadhun emerged Matchbox's breakthrough success. Matchbox has snapped up book rights, including The Gurugram School Murder and The Johnson and Johnson Files.

Raghavan also directed the Matchbox-produced Merry Christmas, with Sanjay Routray producing, and was involved with Vasan Bala's Monica, O My Darling. “It is a comfort zone for me,” Raghavan says. “I work there, Sanjay is a friend of mine, and we know each other for many, many years.”

Besides the Raghavan projects, Matchbox’s slate entails a wade variety, comprising a second season of Scoop for Netflix with Hansal Mehta, an untitled dark comedy thriller from Jigra director Vasan Bala and another untitled thriller by Darlings director Jasmeet Reen.