“We are proud to present Tiger Zinda Hai to Innsbruck and its inhabitants. The premiere will take place at the Metropol cinema in Innsbruck on June 5,” informed Andreas Reiter, Marketing Manager of Innsbruck Tourism Board in an exclusive conversation with Faridoon Shahryar. The song ‘Dil Diya Gallan’ from Tiger Zinda Hai was entirely shot in Innsbruck in Austria and the dangerous action sequence involving the wolves and Salman Khan was also shot here.
A Tiger Zinda Hai Bollywood Tour has been introduced for the Tourists visiting this famous Tourist city in the Alps. This Tour is on the lines of the famous Sound of Music Tour that’s a special attraction in Salzburg (another important tourist attraction in Austria). “The aim of the tour is to visit all the locations where Tiger Zinda Hai was shot. Imperial Palace, Nordkette mountain, then we go to Parksmar where the Wolves scene was shot apart from the breakfast scene,” Andreas said. The house that you saw where Salman and Katrina are having their breakfast in ‘Dil Diya Gallan’ is now being called as Tiger House.
It is twisty and wacky! That’s what the posters of Mental Hai Kya clearly indicated. Followed by the release of the dark yet quirky posters of Kangana Ranaut and Rajkummar Rao from the film, here is another bit of news that will leave you surprised! Amyra Dastur plays the love interest of Rajkummar.
Fans of the film Queen were happy to see the lead pair of the film return in Mental Hai Kya, albeit in a different avatar. But now, it seems amongst the many twists, one is that his romantic interest lies in Amyra. Whether it later falls on Kangana or no, is something only the makers can answer as of now.
However, what we do know is that even though Amyra is not the leading lady of the film, her character is supposed to be quite crucial in the film. Sources close to the actress said, “The story was so intriguing that she [Amyra] said yes to the film right away. All her three films have been announced back to back this year putting her into the list of busiest actors of Bollywood. Amyra slowly and steadily is carving her own path which will surely take her places.”
Speaking on Amyra, we saw the actress last seen in the Saif Ali Khan, Kunal Roy Kapur starrer Kaalakaandi earlier this year. Another film in the pipeline is Leena Yadav’s Rajma Chawal where she plays the rebellious love interest of Rishi Kapoor’s on-screen son. The actress has already completed the shoot of the same.
Recently it was announced that she will be playing the love interest of Ali Fazal in the remake of Telugu super hit film Prasthanam, titled as Prasthaanam in Hindi remake alongside Sanjay Dutt.
As for Mental Hai Kya, the film produced by Ekta Kapoor in association with Shailesh R Singh. It marks the Bollywood directorial debut of Prakash Kovelamudi.
The festive season and the year-end is around the corner and it’s usually a time when a big, event film hits the theatres. This year it’s the turn of Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer TIGER ZINDA HAI and it has a lot of factors going in its favour. Apart from being the sequel of the blockbuster EK THA TIGER [2012], the film boasts of an excellent star cast, slick, action-packed trailer and chartbuster music. So does the year end on a high with TIGER ZINDA HAI? Or does the film disappoint? Let’s analyse.
TIGER ZINDA HAI is the story of an Indian and Pakistani spy coming together for a greater cause. Tiger (Salman Khan) and Zoya (Katrina Kaif) escape from the clutches of ISI and RAW and then they start living an idyllic life somewhere in the snow-covered ranges of Europe. Meanwhile in Ikrit, Iraq, Abu Usman (Sajjad Delafrooz) emerges as the head of ISC which turns into the world’s richest and the most dangerous terrorist organization. The Americans are angry and they launch an attack on Abu and his convoy, and it injures Abu. At the same time, a group of 40 nurses – 25 Indian and 15 Pakistani – are heading to the hospital where they work. Abu’s men force the nurses to take an injured Abu with them for immediate treatment. They also take over the hospital and keep the nurses as hostage. The Americans then decide to launch an airstrike on the hospital within 7 days. Hence, the Indians have just a week to rescue the nurses. Infiltrating into the high security ISC region is next to impossible. The senior officer of RAW, Shenoy (Girish Karnad) suggests that Tiger should be called in as he’s the only one who can successfully complete this mission. Tiger is found and he takes up the job. How Tiger manages to infiltrate the ISC area and rescue the nurses forms the rest of the film.
TIGER ZINDA HAI begins on an engaging note with the sequence of James Forward (Tyler Gowardhan). It very well establishes the terror unleashed by Abu Usman. Tiger’s entry as expected is clapworthy and will be greeted with seetis and taalis. The entire wolf sequence is akin to international standards and it truly makes you feel that Hindi cinema has indeed come of age. An unexpected bit in the film is of the marital problems faced by Tiger and Zoya. Of course, the fun enhances once Tiger reaches Iraq and makes a plan to get to the hospital. The introduction of Firdaus (Paresh Rawal) adds to the fun. The market sequence before the intermission point is quite extended but also highly entertaining. The fun continues in the second half but the pace drops a bit here. Also, the film gets a bit unconvincing which could have been avoided. Tiger and his team didn’t seem that injured that they had to be rushed to the hospital – they could have been easily treated in the refinery itself. Perhaps the makers should have shown them extremely wounded maybe. Moreover, the manner in which Zoya and Firdous convince the Americans to side with them and also Zoya commanding the Americans is difficult to digest. The narrative gets scattered in the middle, however the film picks pace in the last 30 minutes. But thankfully, the positive outweigh the negatives easily. The climax is again quite lengthy but it’s brilliantly done and gives audiences their money’s worth.
Neelesh Misra and Ali Abbas Zafar’s story is a great blend of emotions, action, romance, humour and also patriotism. At the same time, it serves as a nice, organic sequel to EK THA TIGER and that’s definitely praiseworthy. Ali Abbas Zafar’s screenplay is highly engaging. Ali Abbas Zafar’s dialogues are simple but highly effective. The English dialogues are used at a lot of places but again, these are simple ones and the scenes are scripted and directed in such a way that even if one doesn’t understand English well or reads the subtitles, one can still comprehend what’s going on. Ali Abbas Zafar’s direction has a mass appeal and at the same time, he ensures that the film looks like a class product. He establishes the world and characters in no time and gets going with the story instantly. The romantic bit between Tiger and Zoya is also well depicted. One of the most interesting aspects is the entire India-Pakistan angle and it’s sure to leave audiences smiling and even in tears at some places. A very brilliant message of peace is given in this flick and that’s sure to be appreciated!
Tiger Zinda Hai has several strengths: An engaging storyline as well as an enthralling screenplay that’s powered with clap-trap dialogue.
Vishal-Shekhar’s music is melodious and well woven into the script. ‘Dil Diyan Gallan’ is very sweet and endearing. ‘Tera Noor’ is the best picturized song of the film and it’s great that such a song is used in such a contrasting situation. ‘Swag Se Swagat’ is a chartbuster and played in the end credits. ‘Zinda Hai’ and ‘Daata Tu’ are missing from the film but no complaints! Julius Packiam’s background score is dramatic and exhilarating and raises the tempo of the film.
Marcin Laskawiec’s cinematography is captivating and gives the film an international feel. Rameshwar S Bhagat’s editing is simple and at places, slick. Tom Struthers’s action is not too gory and would be loved by the masses. Rajnish Hedao’s production design is very authentic. Same goes for YFX’s VFX (Yash Raj Films‘ VFX department) – it will serve as a benchmark for Indian films from now on! Alvira Khan Agnihotri, Ashley Rebello and Leepakshi Ellawadi’s costumes are also quite real and very well researched.
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. Get ready for the Tsunami at the Box Office.
