Tiger Zinda Hai

Tiger Zinda Hai (transl. 'Tiger is alive') is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films. It is a sequel to Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and the second instalment in the YRF Spy Universe. The film stars Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif who reprise their roles from the predecessor. Five years after the events of Ek Tha Tiger, Tiger and Zoya find themselves pulled out of hiding to save nurses held hostage by the ISC, a terrorist organisation based in Iraq.

A sequel was conceived following the success of Ek Tha Tiger, but faced several delays after Kabir Khan, who scripted and helmed the prequel, refused to return for a sequel. Zafar was subsequently hired as the writer and director; Misra, who had written the script for Ek Tha Tiger alongside Khan, contributed to the story, which is inspired from the 2014 abduction of Indian nurses by ISIL. Filming took place in Abu Dhabi, Austria, Greece, and Morocco. Made on a budget of ₹1.3 billion (US$19.96 million), it was one of the most expensive Hindi films ever made at time of its release.

Tiger Zinda Hai was theatrically released worldwide on 22 December 2017, to positive reviews from critics.

Similar to its predecessor, the film set numerous box-office records during its theatrical run, grossing over ₹5.65 billion (US$86.76 million) worldwide, becoming the third highest-grossing Indian film of 2017. At the 63rd Filmfare Awards, the film won for Best Action.

Plot

In 2017, almost 5 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 Nazar, now married with a son Junior, who lives 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 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 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 Nazar Jung, 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 Captain Namit Khanna, a RAW agent who is a bomb disposal expert
• Paresh Pahuja as Major Azaan Akbar, a sniper for RAW (from the Ghatak Force)
• Anant Vidhaat Sharma as Karan Rao, Shenoy's assistant in RAW
• Gavie Chahal as Captain Abrar Sheikh, an ISI agent
• Danish Bhatt as Captain Javed Baig, an ISI agent
• Anupriya Goenka as Poorna, 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 Ali, Tiger's adopted son from Iraq
• Ivan Sylvester Rodrigues as Ambassador of India to Iraq
• Siddhartha Basu as Indian External Affairs Minister
• Tyler Gowardhan as James Forward
• Levi Avelino as Pedro
• Steve Lorrigan as Adam Kerry, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

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 ₹120−130 crore ($18.43 million).

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. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 64% of 14 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10.

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."