Mazhar Farooqui’s investigative memoir The Maz Files heads to the screen

Mazhar Farooqui has spent three decades following trails into smuggling rings, financial frauds, trafficking networks, and shadow economies that span continents. Now, those investigations are moving from the page to the screen. Vistas Media Group has acquired the screen rights to The Maz Files: Scoops, Scams and Showdowns, the acclaimed memoir by the Dubai-based investigative journalist, with plans to develop it as an international investigative series grounded entirely in real events.

Currently in development, the series is conceived as a global crime thriller.

'The intent is not sensationalism, but to show how crime really operates, and what it takes to confront it'

“If someone were to bump me off, it would be difficult to determine who it was,” Farooqui said at a discussion in Delhi - an observation that demonstrates the persistent danger threading through the book.

Adapted from Farooqui’s three-decade career, The Maz Files documents some of the most complex investigations in contemporary journalism. His reporting has led to legal action against more than 250 criminals worldwide, exposing international fraud and financial crimes, smuggling and black-market economies, human trafficking and identity scams, cross-border crime syndicates, and large-scale financial rackets. The series also explores the psychological toll of long-term investigative work.

Makers say the acquisition arrives at a moment when audiences have shown a strong appetite for real-world crime stories. Recent successes such as Netflix’s Taskaree: The Smuggler’s Web have highlighted interest in enforcement-led narratives. Unlike procedural dramas, the series places a protagonist - a journalist - without immunity or official cover at its center.

Mazhar Farooqui said the collaboration appealed to him because of its restraint. “These stories were never written to entertain -they were written to expose truth,” he said. “The intent is not sensationalism, but to show how crime really operates, and what it takes to confront it.”

“The Maz Files is the kind of material that demands integrity and depth.”

The adaptation will be produced by Golden Ratio Films, India, the production and distribution arm of Vistas Media, which has built a reputation for premium, character-driven storytelling with international sensibilities. Its slate includes The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir starring Dhanush; Bhonsle, which earned Manoj Bajpayee a National Film Award; the science-fiction thriller JL50; the National Award-winning Marathi film Goshta Eka Paithanichi; and Ghamasaan, a real-life covert-operations thriller produced with Jio Studios. Internationally, Golden Ratio has co-produced Hollywood features including Son and The Featherweight with Appian Way.

“The Maz Files is the kind of material that demands integrity and depth,” said Piiyush Singh, co-founder of Vistas Media. “We’ve worked closely with Mazhar on research and development to ensure the series captures not just the crimes, but the courage behind uncovering them.”

The mix of danger and unpredictability runs throughout Farooqui’s career. Last year, during a discussion in Delhi, he recalled one of his scoops: an encounter in 2005 at Ibn Battuta Mall that led him to identify Michael Jackson disguised in an abaya- an incident that spiraled into an international headline and later inspired exaggerated retellings and film recreations.

Other episodes - from celebrity scoops to covert chases and unauthorised forays into high-profile residences - also feature in The Maz Files.Get the latest entertainment updates from the Times of India, along with the latest Hindi movies, upcoming Hindi movies in 2026 , and Telugu movies.”