Tiger Zinda Hai

Tiger Zinda Hai is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar based on a story by Zafar and Neelesh Misra. It is produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films. The film is a sequel to Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and is the second instalment in the YRF Spy Universe. The film stars Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif reprising their roles from the predecessor. The film takes place place after the events of Ek Tha Tiger in which Tiger and Zoya come out of hiding to save nurses held hostage by a terrorist organisation called ISC in Iraq.
A sequel was conceived following the success of the Ek Tha Tiger, however faced a number of delays after the writer and director of the first film Kabir Khan refused to return for a sequel. Zafar was subsequently hired as the writer and director. The story is inspired from the 2014 abduction of Indian nurses by ISIL. Production begun for the film in 2016, and filming was concluded by 2017. Filming locations include Abu Dhabi, Austria, Greece, and Morocco. Made on a budget of , the film was one of the most expensive Hindi films ever made at time of its release.
Tiger Zinda Hai was theatrically released worldwide by Yash Raj Films on 22 December 2017.
The film received positive reviews from critics.
Similar to its predecessor, the film set numerous box-office records during its theatrical run, grossing over worldwide, becoming the 14th highest-grossing Indian film. It also set the record for highest opening weekend for a Hindi-language film, with . At the 63rd Filmfare Awards, the film won for Best Action.
Plot
In November 2017, 8 years after the events of Ek Tha Tiger, an American journalist is killed by the ISC, a terrorist organisation, in Iraq, while attempting to report their recent activities to the CIA. During a rally in Ikrit, their leader, Abu Usman, is shot by the Iraqi Army and is taken to the local hospital, which also serves as a training center for Indian and Pakistani nurses. Usman orders a heightened ISC presence around him for security, causing the CIA to prepare an airstrike on the hospital. During this, Maria, an Indian nurse, secretly calls the Indian Ambassador to Iraq and informs him about Indian and Pakistani nurses being held hostage; the CIA tells RAW chief Shenoy that he has seven days to rescue the nurses before the airstrike is ordered.
Avinash Singh "Tiger" Rathore and Zoya Humaimi-Rathore, now married with a son Junior, live in hiding in Innsbruck. Shenoy and Karan Rao, a RAW agent, locate and inform Tiger and Zoya about the hostages. Despite initial reluctance, Tiger accepts after Zoya's insistence. Tiger goes to Syria with his select team of RAW agents: Azaan, an expert sniper, Namit, a bomb disposal expert and a hacker named Rakesh. They travel to Iraq and pose themselves as illegal migrant workers for an oil refinery run by Tohbaan, an Indian sympathiser to the ISC and Amir Baghdawi, Usman's second-in-command. Tiger meets his handler named Pawan in Ikrit to gather supplies, but they are forced to rescue Hassan, a child suicide bomber sent by Usman.
Pawan is shot by the ISC in the ensuing fallout and Tiger narrowly escapes with the unexpected arrival of Zoya. The couple decides that ISI and RAW should work together to save the nurses. Later that night, Tiger and his team set a controlled explosion in the refinery and fake burns so they are taken to the hospital. Tiger learns that Tohbaan is actually Firdaus, an undercover RAW agent, tasked by Shenoy to spy on Tiger and his team. Tiger and Zoya agree to simultaneous, coordinated attacks against the ISC. Zoya goes undercover and is eventually recruited by Baghdawi, who keeps female slaves. On the day of the airstrike, Zoya manages to kill Baghdawi. At the hospital, Rakesh poisons food the migrant workers are tasked to cook for the ISC.
Tiger's crew eventually succeeds in eliminating the majority of the ISC armies, but Azaan dies in the conflict. Tiger finds Zoya captured by Usman in the boiler room and surrenders. Tiger is initially tortured but stabs Usman (who manages to escape) and tries to free Zoya while the nurses are rescued by RAW and ISI. Firdaus eventually kills Usman as the hospital is blown up in the American airstrike. A year later (2018), on 15 August, Shenoy is called by Tiger from Greece. Having adopted Hassan, Tiger informs him that his family has returned to hiding, knowing that RAW and ISI would not leave them in peace. However, Tiger assures Shenoy that he will be there to serve his country.
Cast
Salman Khan as Avinash "Tiger" Singh Rathore / Manish Chandra (fake), a former RAW agent in hiding with his wife, Zoya
Katrina Kaif as Zoya Humaimi-Rathore, an ISI agent in hiding with her husband, Tiger
Sajjad Delafrooz as Abu Usman, the leader of the ISC, an Iraqi terrorist group
Girish Karnad as Ajit Shenoy, the chief of RAW
Paresh Rawal as Firdaus, an undercover RAW agent from Saharanpur, UP posing as an ISC sympathiser, Tohbaan
Kumud Mishra as Rakesh Prasad Chaurasia, a hacker for RAW
Angad Bedi as Namit Khanna, a RAW agent who is a bomb disposal expert
Paresh Pahuja as Maj. Azaan Akbar, a sniper for RAW
Anant Vidhaat Sharma as Karan Rao, Shenoy's assistant in RAW
Gavie Chahal as Captain Abrar, an ISI agent
Danish Bhatt as Captain Javed, an ISI agent
Anupriya Goenka as Poorna / Aditi Nahta, a hostage nurse
Neha Hinge as Maria, a hostage nurse
Kashmira Irani as Sana, a hostage nurse
Nawab Shah as Pawan, an undercover RAW agent and Tiger's handler in Iraq
Sal Yusuf as Amir Al-Baghdawi, an ISC member and Usman's second-in-command
Sartaaj Kakkar as Junior, Tiger and Zoya's son
Jineet Rath as Hassan, Tiger's adopted child from Iraq
Ivan Rodrigues as Ambassadors of India to Iraq
Siddhartha Basu as Indian External Affairs Minister
Production
Filming took place in Abu Dhabi, Austria, Greece and Morocco. The last song of the movie was shot in the Aegean island of Naxos, Greece in October 2017. Iranian actor Sajjad Delafrooz was roped in to play the role of Abu Usman, leader of terrorist organisation ISC. Sajjad Delafrooz had worked in the 2015 Hindi film Baby.
The film's budget was reportedly .
Marketing and release
The film's trailer was released on 6 November 2017. Within 24 hours, it broke many records for Hindi film trailers on YouTube, with more than 29 million views, 480 thousand likes and 250 thousand shares. On 11 November, it became the most liked film trailer on YouTube with 700 thousand likes, surpassing Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) then. The record was later surpassed by the trailer of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) with about 2 million likes.
The film was released on 22 December 2017 worldwide. The film received a U/A certificate from Central Board of Film Certification. Despite having a song featuring Pakistani singer Atif Aslam, the film has not been given No-Objection Certificate by Central Board of Film Censors in Pakistan, stating the reason as was said for Ek Tha Tiger that "The image of Pakistan and its law enforcement agencies" have been compromised.
Tiger Zinda Hai was in controversy on its release and faced protests from the Valmiki community, when Salman Khan allegedly made a casteist slur, where he compared his dancing skills to a sanitation worker, "or "bhangi" in a dance show. Shilpa Shetty also laughed along with him, and said that she also looked like one. Valmiki group is made up of a cluster of dalit communities — a few of whom are Bhangi, Mehtar, Chuhra, Lal Beghi and Halalkhor. Valmiki community filed a legal case against both actors for hurting their sentiments.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena also unsuccessfully protested urging Mumbai multiplexes to promote Marathi film Deva instead of Tiger Zinda Hai. Their leaders raised issue about the loss of screens to Marathi films like Deva and Ek Atrangi which released alongside.
Reception
Critical response
Tiger Zinda Hai opened to mostly positive reviews.
Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave 4.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "On the whole, TIGER ZINDA HAI is a high-octane masala entertainer that stays true to its genre and delivers what it promises: King-sized entertainment. At the box office, the audiences will give the film an epic ‘swagat’ as it is bound to entertain them thoroughly. This one is a SURE SHOT BLOCKBUSTER and nothing can stop it from setting new records." Umesh Punwani of Koimoi gave 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "Katrina Kaif is brilliant! She has very few dialogues, and no, that's not the reason she's good. Working amazingly well with her expressions, she has turned into an athlete for this one. Performing a few major action sequences, she is flawless."
Aarti Jhurani of The National gave 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "While logic is not a very important factor in Khan's films, emotions certainly are, and the director made sure to hit all the soft spots – from patriotism to Indo-Pakistan bonding to a multitude of cheesy dialogues – which is a smart move, and sure to bring in both Indian and Pakistani audiences." Lasyapriya Sundaram of The Times of India gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "The film is visually stunning in parts and Salman Khan plays Tiger with roaring confidence and dialogues packed with punch. Of course, his fans get a true-blue Salman Khan moment when he bares his torso." Rachit Gupta of Filmfare gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "It may look like a Hollywood action thriller, but at its heart, Tiger Zinda Hai is an unabashed masala movie. The heady mixture of an international looking action film and the regular tropes of Hindi cinema make it a pleasing watch."
Rohit Bhatnagar of Deccan Chronicle gave 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Ali Abbas Zafar smoothly takes Ek Tha Tiger franchise ahead by telling a real story and inserting a whole lot of drama and thrill. The film also touches upon relationships between India and Pakistan but subtly. The biggest hiccup of the film is its length." Rajeev Masand of News 18 gave 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "The film has some thrilling action, while logic and subtlety are sacrificed at the altar of spectacle and sentiment. Katrina gets some terrific action moments, and she executes them well, but make no mistake, the heavy lifting here is left to Salman Khan, and he's clearly up for the challenge."
Richa Barua of Asianet News gave 4.5 out of 5 stars and states that the film "keeps you glued to the seats." Raja Sen of NDTV gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Tiger Zinda Hai breaks for intermission at a point when most self-respecting action films would have rushed into the climax. Long before the finish eventually rolled around, I found myself wishing Tiger would croak just so I could make it out alive." Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "It's better for the filmmakers to set a character trajectory that matches the star's current image rather than basking in the glory of the past." Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave 2.5 out of 5 stars stating that both Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif delivered fun with equal parts swag, silliness and schmaltz. Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Only once in a while, the film gives in and provides us with a killing which sobers us up, but very quickly it's back to the base, with Bhai taking over, and everyone including Nurse Poorna and Zoya making way for him. But you can see she enjoys kicking butt: you wish she had more to do." Anupama Chopra of Film Companion wrote, "Tiger Zinda Hai is fun in bits and spurts, but there isn’t enough buoyancy to make it a slam dunk."
Box office
India
Tiger Zinda Hai made a new non-holiday record in India as it collected 34.1crore nett on its first day. It went on to collect ₹35.30 crore nett gross on second day. The film recorded the second highest day of all time (after third day of Bahubali 2: The Conclusion's Hindi-dub) on its third day with nett of ₹45.53 crore and the highest ever for the Hindi film industry. With three day nett collections of over ₹1.14 billion, Tiger Zinda Hai had the second highest opening weekend of all time (after Bahubali 2: The Conclusion) and the highest opening weekend of all time in the Hindi film industry. Tiger Zinda Hai netted Rs 154 crore in its first four days in India.
Other territories
Tiger Zinda Hai grossed $2 million in two days, $450,000 on day one in US/Canada and around £150,000 in the UK. The film grossed $7 million in its opening weekend in overseas, including $2,535,825 in US/Canada. The film grossed 190crore worldwide in its opening weekend. In the United Kingdom, it grossed in 2017, making it the year's highest-grossing foreign-language film in the UK (above Baahubali 2 in second place).
As of 25 February 2018, the film has grossed US$87.32million (569crore) worldwide, including 434.82crore (US$67.11million) in India, and US$20.3million (128.9crore) overseas.
Music
The music of the film is composed by Vishal–Shekhar while lyrics are penned by Irshad Kamil. The background score is composed by Julius Packiam. The first song of the film is titled as Swag Se Swagat which is sung by Vishal Dadlani and Neha Bhasin and produced by Meghdeep Bose released on 19 November 2017. It has become the most-liked Bollywood song on YouTube and the fastest Bollywood song to cross 100million views on YouTube. The second song of the film, Dil Diyan Gallan, which is sung by Atif Aslam, was released by Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif at Big Boss Season 11 on 26 November 2017. The album was released on 7 December 2017 by YRF Music. The Arabic version of "Swag Se Swagat" was sung by Rabih Baroud and Brigitte Yaghi.
By 8 February 2018, the album had crossed 1billion streams on music streaming platforms. As of 13 April 2019, songs from the album have over 1.5billion views combined on YouTube, making it the most-streamed Bollywood soundtrack album on the platform.
Accolades
Sequel
The sequel titled Tiger 3 is scheduled to release on 12 November 2023 and is directed by Maneesh Sharma. Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif reprise their roles while Emraan Hashmi plays the antagonist. Aditya Chopra and Shridhar Raghavan have written the film. Salman Khan also reprised his role as Tiger in the 2023 film Pathaan.
Notes
References
External links
Tiger Zinda Hai at Bollywood Hungama
2010s Hindi-language films
2017 action thriller films
2017 films
India–Pakistan relations in popular culture
Films about the Research and Analysis Wing
2010s action adventure films
Indian action thriller films
2010s spy action films
Films shot in Austria
Films about terrorism in India
Yash Raj Films films
Indian action adventure films
Films about nuclear war and weapons
Films shot in Morocco
Films shot in Abu Dhabi
Films shot in Greece
Girls with guns films
Films directed by Ali Abbas Zafar
Film censorship in Pakistan
Film controversies in Pakistan
Films about Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Films about jihadism
Films set in Iraq
Films set in Baghdad
Indian spy thriller films
Iraq War films
Indian spy action films
Military of Pakistan in films
Films set in Austria
Films set in Greece
Indian Army in films
Films about the Central Intelligence Agency
Women spies in fiction