Ali Abbas Zafar’s last film Sultan was a huge hit and the audience have very high expectations from his next soon to be released Tiger Zinda Hai. Tiger Zinda Hai is a fictional film based on the rescue of 46 Indian nurses who were taken hostage by the Islamic State in Iraq in 2014.Ali who is very excited about the film, speaks to HFT about Tiger Salman, Katrina, working on the film and more.
Ali says that he chose the subject because it was a very inspiring story that was covered by some of the biggest channels. He wanted to show that we Indians are as big as any other big country to go and execute missions which we never thought of. “The film is very patriotic, it’s also a very human story. You will see many layers in the film,” says Ali.
Giving him the example of Deepika Padukone’s Padmavati and how reality based films has become a risk to make in the current scenario, we ask him if he he is worried about the same. Ali clarifies and says that though his film is based on the incident that took place in Iraq, his story is completely fictionalised.“As a filmmaker we can only create stuff and that is what gives us satisfaction. I created my own group of nurses, gave them my stories. Take for example the film Border which is a fictional story on war, but the war did take place same goes with Lakshya, LOC, and Gaddar which is made about partition. Sultan is a completely fictional film but looks like a real life character because I make them look like that.Similarly Lagaan, was a wonderfully made fictional film but those things did happen during the British rule. Also Hollywood films like Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, are based on real life incidents but they are all fictional films. But these films have managed to leave an impact on us,” says Ali. He also adds that incidents like the Padmavati one will not discourage filmmakers from making such films as “ We are an empowering film industry,” he adds.
Ali feels that by the end of the day, it should be an entertaining film, it should look real and the audience should come out enjoying the film.
The team researched for almost 3 to 6 months in Iraq, before making the film, informs Ali. Every small detail we paid attention to. “I spoke to people in Iraq, the people who were part of the operation etc. We cast people from Iraq because they had to look the role. Having said that it is a fictional piece but the incident did happen though we have fictionalised it,”adds Ali.
About working with Salman and Katrina, Ali says that It’s always been a great experience working with Salman. He adds, “Salman keeps pulling my leg, first movie we were trying to get used to each other, now we are more comfortable. I have pushed him hard and he keeps complaining about it. My film is more from the spy network point of view, even though the nurses do play an important role in it. The villain of the film is also an important character in my film.”
Speaking further about them Ali says, “Salman and Katrina working together has not affected the film, I could make a film of this budget only because they are in it. They are very careful of the characters they choose. They look for characters bigger than them,. With superstars, they believe that their characters should be bigger than them, take for example Chulbul Pandey, Bajrangi or Sultan and how people associate Salman with these characters.That happened because those characters became bigger than him as the people connected to these characters and felt it was their own life they were watching.”
About choosing to shoot Tiger Zinda Hai in Abu Dhabi, Ali said, “In Abu Dhabi, we got all the resources and support we needed to create American and Iraqi bases. Also, the faces of the local people matched our background. It had to feel and look authentic.”
There has been a Malayalam film called Take Off, which is based on the same Iraq incident so we ask him whether he is ready to face the comparisons, to which he confidently and promptly replies, “I have not seen the film, but I have heard it is brilliant. There will be a comparison between the two I am sure.But let me tell you that we are two very different films, they have stuck more close to the real incident whereas I have fictionalised it. It’s like the difference between Dangal and Sultan. While Dangal was a very real film based on wrestling and Sultan was a complete fictional film but the impact was created by both the films equally. My film is not political, it takes a very human stand.”
We ask him about how some people felt that the trailer of his previous film, Sultan was a little misleading as the film was different from the trailer and whether Tiger Zinda hai is going to be the same too. He said, “As a trailer my communication has to be very true, I show the basic story in the trailer. When we make a trailer of a film, we need to keep in mind the different sections of people who like watching different things, so we need to have something for all of them, so that they do not feel that there is nothing for them in the film.”
HFT Wishes the entire team of Tiger Zinda Hai all the best!
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