Endemol Shine India To Create Web Series Based On Crime Thriller Novel ‘You Beneath Your Skin’

Endemol Shine India has optioned Damyanti Biswas’s bestselling Indian crime novel You Beneath Your Skin to develop as a multi-part drama series, with all proceeds from the option going towards social enterprises in the author’s native New Delhi.

Set in contemporary New Delhi, the multi-strand narrative concerns an Indian-American single mother and her autistic teenage son, whose comfortable middle-class lives are turned upside down by a police investigation; a crime spree of slum women found stuffed in trash bags, faces and bodies disfigured by acid. Although a work of fiction, the novel tackles endemic problems in India: violence against women, slum poverty, and police corruption.

Abhishek Rege, CEO, Endemol Shine India, said, “You Beneath Your Skin is a is a crime thriller, layered with issues of poverty, misogyny and corruption. Taking a leaf out of the vast legacy of phenomenal women writers in the crime thriller genre – Damyanti’s book brings a sensitivity an otherwise violent genre. The protagonist is fascinating as she is a single mother and traversing an unorthodox life through the rather orthodox setting of Delhi. Gripping, relevant and hard-hitting, this is a story peopled with many characters, multiple fractured relationships, small intimate moments and effective back stories. This is a thriller with a family at the center of the plot. These are the stories that Endemol Shine India wants to bring to the fore.”

Dramatic rights were acquired by Endemol Shine India from agent Ed Wilson at Johnson & Alcock, working with Sidharth Jain at Mumbai-based agency The Story Ink.

Writer and activist Biswas is currently based in Singapore. All proceeds from the book go towards the educational charity Project WHY, and the Chhanv foundation, which helps acid attack survivors.

via Deadline