Mumbai: It has not been the smoothest week for the Akhtar siblings. While Farhan Akhtar’s Don 3 has already been caught in a storm after FWICE issued a non-cooperation directive against Ranveer Singh over his exit from the film, now Zoya Akhtar’s production house has landed in serious trouble too.
According to reports, 66 hard disks containing important production material have allegedly gone missing from Tiger Baby Digital LLP, the production house of Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti. The drives reportedly had data linked to projects including Made In Heaven and Ghost Stories, along with unreleased footage, raw shooting material, edited scenes, post-production files, backups and advertisement projects.
The matter came to light after staff members reportedly needed certain hard disks for ongoing work but could not find them. An internal check then revealed that several hard-disk boxes were allegedly empty and damaged. As per the company’s records, Tiger Baby had 119 hard disks, out of which 66 were allegedly missing.
Police have reportedly registered an FIR and arrested two people, including a staffer. Investigators said one of the accused allegedly admitted to stealing 24 hard disks over five months and selling them for around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 each. Police also suspect that some of the hard disks may have later entered the grey market.
What makes the case more alarming is not just the missing hardware, but the data inside it. The police are now trying to find out whether the material was copied, accessed, transferred or leaked before the drives disappeared. Cyber experts may also be brought in to check if any unreleased content was circulated online or misused.
This comes at a time when Farhan Akhtar is also in the headlines over the Don 3 controversy. FWICE’s action against Ranveer Singh, widely being discussed as a ban, was later clarified by Ashoke Pandit as a “non-cooperation” directive. The dispute reportedly involves a compensation claim of around Rs 45 crore over losses linked to the film’s pre-production.
Two different issues, two different production banners, but one family name repeatedly landing in the news the Akhtar camp is clearly facing a rough industry moment.
