Hard drives with unreleased OTT content stolen from Zoya Akhtar’s office ahead of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara movie sequel

A major data theft has come to light at Tiger Baby Digital. The production house is co-owned by filmmakers Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti. The company's Mumbai office has allegedly lost dozens of hard drives containing valuable production materials. Two men have been arrested in connection with the case.

The matter surfaced on 21 May around 4:30 PM. A staff member needed a specific hard drive for ongoing work but could not locate it. This prompted an internal inspection of the storage cupboard at the Bandra West office. During the check, several hard drives were found to be missing. Only a few burnt cardboard boxes remained inside the cupboard.

A full inventory check at the Bollywood production company revealed that 66 out of 119 hard drives were missing. Partially burnt packaging boxes were also discovered inside the storage area. The company's executive assistant, Mehjabeen Mushtaq Shaikh, filed a formal complaint with the Bandra police. An FIR was registered following her complaint.

The scale of the missing material has made this case particularly serious. The hard drives had storage capacities ranging between 16TB and 72TB.

They reportedly contained raw shooting footage, edited scenes, post-production files, advertisement projects, archival material and completed movie-related data. Some content was linked to OTT and film projects that are yet to be released.

According to Bollywood Hungama, the stolen material reportedly included content connected to projects such as Made In Heaven and Ghost Stories. Advertisement campaigns for beauty and digital-content companies were also allegedly stored on the missing drives.

The Accused

Suspicion quickly fell on Mohammad Shahid Azim Khan, a member of the production house's support staff. Khan had been given the responsibility of managing and storing the hard drives. During questioning, he allegedly confessed to stealing hard drives over a period of five months.

Reports vary slightly on the exact number he admitted to stealing. HT and Bollywood Hungama report the figure as 24 drives while Mid-Day places it at 25.

Mohammad Shahid Azim Khan allegedly sold the stolen drives to Ritesh Suresh Shah, a 44-year-old Borivali resident. Shah allegedly purchased the drives for ₹15,000 to ₹20,000 each. Both men have since been arrested by the Bandra police.

Senior Inspector Ravindra Salunkhe confirmed the arrests to Mid-Day. "We have arrested both accused, including the employee who stole the hard disks from the company," he said. "Further investigation is underway."

Both Mohammad Shahid Azim Khan and Ritesh Suresh Shah have been sent to police custody until 29 May.

CCTV footage from the office has been seized for further investigation. Police are now trying to determine whether the data was copied, accessed or leaked before the drives disappeared.

Cyber experts may be brought in to check if any material has been circulated online or misused. Investigators are also examining whether any other employee played a role in the matter.

Tiger Baby: Upcoming Projects

Tiger Baby Films has a packed slate of upcoming projects across multiple formats. Reema Kagti is actively directing Dahaad Season 2 for Prime Video. The crime-thriller series is currently in production.

Zoya Akhtar has reportedly completed the first draft of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara movie sequel. The sequel revisits the original characters as they navigate midlife decisions in their 40s.

Jee Le Zaraa, a female-led road trip movie, is also in the pipeline. Casting and timeline updates for that project are still underway.

Tiger Baby has also expanded into short-form content and micro-dramas through its arm Tiger Telly. A Perfect Match is among the projects produced under that banner.

On the unscripted side, In Transit is a four-part GLAAD-nominated documentary exploring love and identity across India's transgender community. Turtle Walker traces a conservationist's decades-long effort to protect endangered sea turtles.

It is unconfirmed if any of these projects are affected by the data theft.