Ali Abbas Zafar: Initially Tiger Zinda Hai Wasn’t A Sequel To Ek Tha Tiger

Today, filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar invited all the Media persons for a special preview of the trailer of Tiger Zinda Hai before the whole world views it. Talking about my personal experience, I was awestruck when I saw the first screening of Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif’s Tiger Zinda Hai trailer.

Soon after we saw the trailer, we caught up with Ali for a quick short interaction where he revealed some unusual things from the film. Ali, who has also successfully made a film like Sultan, said that Tiger Zinda Hai wasn’t a sequel to Ek Tha Tiger earlier. He said, “I had assisted Kabir so I have an elder-younger brother equation with him, same with salman. But when I wrote the film, it wasn’t like a sequel. I first wrote the story and felt it’s worth telling. I thought since it’s about two agents and we already had a film about two agents with Salman and Katrina, so I thought how to merge these two in this story so that that it becomes a story of two characters which people already know. They (Salman and Katrina) thought the same when they heard the story, they were very excited too. Aditya Chopra liked it and then we decided to take ahead the Tiger franchise.”

Speaking about the pressure he has, Ali said that there’s an added baggage on him since his last with Salman was a huge blockbuster. “There’s a lot of pressure. Obviously it’s such a big film with Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. It’s a big franchise and I did Sultan with Salman, so there’s an added baggage. I have tried to tell a story because from the trailer you can prominently understand that film has a strong story, based on a true event. What happens before and after it is what the film is all about. But yes there’s definitely a lot of pressure and I hope this Christmas will make all of us really happy,” he said.

One of the journalists asked him about his equation with Salman (Sultan) and Katrina (Mere Brother Ki Dulhan) as it’s their second collaboration together respectively. He said that they still share the same equation and it’s a good relationship. He said, “Equation is the same. Somewhere it’s a good relationship. We have worked together very well. He is such a big superstar and there is a certain way people like to present him, perceive him. I think somewhere between him and me, we have the understanding that I kind of look at him in the way that people want to look at him as- the quintessential hero. He is not a superman, he is real yet at same time he can do what we want him to do.“

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Talking about Katrina and how she and Salman reacted to the story, he added, “Katrina is a very close friend and Salman, of course, I worked with him in Sultan. But it wasn’t difficult because both of them reacted strongly to the film’s story. I think the way the cinema is shaping up, we are moving towards realism, we want to tell stories that are real, stories that we have heard. So, when I told both of them about the rescue mission and what happened to those nurses in those days, they got excited. It is a completely fictional account, it’s a fictional film that we have written around that event.”

Ali further stated that TZH is more about action whereas Ek Tha Tiger was all about romance. “It’s very different from the first part. The first one was romantic, whereas this one is about a mission. In Ek Tha Tiger, you saw them as lovers, here you’ll see them as agents. The action is more real and gritty. We have spoken about relevant things in today’s times which are affecting us,” he said.

Since we all know that the Kick actor has some major nerve problem and TZH is all about action. Ali was questioned if it was difficult to shoot with Salman in such a low temperature, he quipped and concluded, “I will only say that the kind of abuses he has given me, I can’t say it in public (laughs). (Jokes aside) No, but Salman always tells me, ‘You push me too much. You did the same in Sultan.’ You will realise the intensity, when you see the film.”