Tiger Baby, a production company founded by eminent Indian filmmakers Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, will produce a series of unscripted documentaries and series aimed at highlighting India’s untold stories. is making great progress in the field.
The company recently released Turtle Walker, directed by Tyra Mullaney, a documentary chronicling the extraordinary journey of conservationist Satish Bhaskar, who walked most of India’s coastline to protect sea turtles. “He’s a hero who doesn’t think of himself as a hero,” Akhtar said. “He was able to save sea turtles from going extinct just by walking along almost the entire coast of India. So this is a huge story. The film, which premiered at the New York City Dock, won the prestigious Grand Teton Award at the Jackson Wilde Media Awards.
“We’re both fans of so many genres that we want to do anything, and this one in particular is from that preservation space. We’re both personally very into the environment and conservation. I’m a small-time farmer myself, so I thought this was a really great project to support,” says Kagti.
Another project in the works is “In Transit,” a nine-part documentary series produced in collaboration with Amazon Studios. The series focuses on the stories of transgender people in India, an aspect of Indian society that is rarely covered in mainstream media. “There is a transgender community, but no one really talks about that community, people who identify as transgender from the heartland of India. Where do they come from? Their lives How are they coping? What are they going through and what are they experiencing?
Akhtar’s films include Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), and Gully Boy (2019), which premiered at the Berlinale and became India’s official Oscar winner. He has directed several popular movies. Kagti’s directorial credits include ‘Talaash’ (2012) and ‘Gold’ (2018). The two have also collaborated on several projects, including films such as Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Gully Boy, as well as the critically acclaimed Prime Video series Made in Heaven ( He has co-written books such as “Dahad” (2023) and “Dahad” (2023). Superboys of Malegaon, a film produced by Amazon Studios, Tiger Baby and Excel Entertainment and directed by Kagti, was recently screened at film festivals in Toronto and London.
Tiger Baby’s first release in the unscripted field was Prime Video’s Angry Young Men (2024), a series created by legendary screenwriting duo Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar ( A three-part documentary series that captures the personal and professional journey of Salim Javed (known collectively as Salim Javed).
Akhtar explains Tiger Baby’s unscripted production philosophy: “Every kind of story has its own medium and storytelling, and we watch a lot of documentaries. We’re both documentary buffs, so it’s a very familiar space. And the fact is, people have a hard time getting these stories out. So if they can do it and they like it, they’ll do it.”
“We embrace whatever fascinates us, so we can find the best way to make it happen,” adds Kagti.
Tiger Baby has expanded beyond documentaries to other areas of content production. The company’s advertising and brand collaboration arm, Tiger Telly, has been in operation for about two years.
Meanwhile, music label Tiger Baby Records, a venture with musician Ankur Tewari, a frequent collaborator of Kagti and Akhtar, plans to explore indie and folk music from across India and has announced its first artist. Preparing to launch. “TBR is more than just music. I mean, we’re starting out that way, but it’s more about everything that has to do with sound. So it could be a podcast. We’re also thinking of developing a radio play. ,” Kaguti said.
When it comes to overall strategy, both filmmakers emphasize the importance of emotional resonance over commercial considerations. “We don’t do it just to do it, we do it to really move us. We just develop work that resonates with us, and the work that resonates with us will be shared with others. I feel that it also resonates with me,” Kaguti explains.
Akhtar elaborates: “With everything we do, it would be incredible if we could give people a deeper understanding or empathy about something, or just stimulate different thinking. That’s the pursuit.”
