ROAR AWAY, LADIES!

Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti's Tiger Baby Films-the first women-led Bollywood production house making mainstream entertainers-is rolling out hit after hit

- NAMRATA ZAKARIA

This year may well be called the year of Tiger Baby Films. The production house has helmed two massively successful series (Dahaad and Made in Heaven 2, released on Amazon Prime Video in May and August respectively) and is coming up with a third offering by the end of the year-The Archies-on Netflix. This, after the company's debut film, Gully Boy (2019), became not just a box office success, but also one of the most disruptive films of the year. It was picked as India's entry to the 92nd Oscars.

Tiger Baby Films, launched in 2015, is helmed by two incredibly smart creative founders-unusually both women. Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti have been longtime friends and collaborators as directors, producers and writers. Their leg-up may have come from the production house of Zoya's brother Farhan Akhtar-the flourishing Excel Entertainment, which he co-owns with Ritesh Sidhwani. Zoya directed the critical and commercial successes Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and Dil Dhadakne Do (2015) for Excel, while Reema directed the popular Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd (2007), Talaash (2012), and Gold (2018).

But both women have ensured their place in the spotlight by turning producers with Tiger Baby. "When we wanted to produce, we just launched our own production house. Excel was launched by Farhan and Ritesh, who were classmates. They were our producers and we directed some films for them," Zoya says. "We wanted to make films that interested us. And when OTT platforms became a thing, we wanted our films to travel the world," Reema adds.