Reema Kagti is an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter known for her work in Hindi cinema. She has directed feature films and web series, and is a co-founder of the production company Tiger Baby Films along with director Zoya Akhtar. Her work spans genres ranging from comedy and sports drama to crime thrillers, and she is regarded as part of a generation of Mumbai-based filmmakers who emerged in the 2000s with a distinct urban sensibility.
| Name | Reema Kagti |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter, producer |
| Industry | Hindi cinema (Bollywood) |
| Origin | Assam, India |
| Production company | Tiger Baby Films (co-founder, with Zoya Akhtar) |
| Notable films | Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007), Talaash: The Answer Lies Within (2012), Gold (2018) |
| Notable web series | Made in Heaven (2019, 2023), Dahaad (2023) |
Kagti hails from Assam in north-east India. Before turning to direction, she worked as an assistant director on a number of Hindi and international productions shot in India during the 1990s and early 2000s, gaining experience across genres and on multi-cultural sets. This phase of her career placed her within the wider circle of filmmakers associated with Excel Entertainment, the production house run by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, with whom she would later collaborate extensively.
Kagti made her directorial debut with Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007), a multi-narrative comedy-drama produced by Excel Entertainment. The film followed several newly-wed couples on a bus tour to Goa and was noted for its ensemble cast and tonal mix of humour and gentle social observation.
Her second film, Talaash: The Answer Lies Within (2012), was a psychological mystery thriller starring Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor. Co-written with Zoya Akhtar, it was a commercial and critical success and is regarded as a key example of genre filmmaking in mainstream Hindi cinema of its period.
In 2018, she directed Gold, a sports drama starring Akshay Kumar based on the journey of the Indian men's hockey team to its first Olympic gold medal as an independent nation at the 1948 London Games. The film was released around the country's Independence Day weekend.
Kagti has co-written screenplays with Zoya Akhtar for several Excel Entertainment productions, including Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and Dil Dhadakne Do (2015). The two have a long-standing creative partnership that extends across writing, production and direction.
Kagti and Akhtar founded Tiger Baby Films as a production banner focused on developing original content for film and streaming. Through Tiger Baby, Kagti co-created and produced Made in Heaven, an Amazon Prime Video series about two wedding planners in Delhi, the first season of which premiered in 2019 and the second in 2023. The show was noted for its examination of class, sexuality, caste and tradition within the urban Indian wedding industry.
In 2023 she directed Dahaad, a crime drama series for Amazon Prime Video, starring Sonakshi Sinha as a police officer in small-town Rajasthan investigating a series of disappearances. The series was co-created with Zoya Akhtar and premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival before its streaming release.
Kagti's work frequently engages with ensemble storytelling, urban Indian milieus and genre frameworks adapted to local social contexts. Recurring themes include relationships and marriage, gender, class hierarchy, and individual identity within institutional settings such as the police, the family or the wedding industry. Her collaborations with Zoya Akhtar have been credited with shaping a recognisable house style that combines mainstream production values with subjects often associated with independent cinema.
As one of the few women from north-east India to have established a sustained directorial career in Hindi cinema, Kagti is often cited in discussions on representation and authorship in Bollywood. Her co-stewardship of Tiger Baby Films has also positioned her as a producer-creator within India's expanding streaming sector, where she has helped develop long-form serialised drama with feature-quality production.