DNA (December 15, 2017)

When one has to recreate a traumatic real-life incident for cinema, one needs to ensure that audiences feel the same emotions that the real-life people endured while in a crisis situation. Inspired by true events, Tiger Zinda Hai is based on the 2014 operation that India pulled off to rescue 46 Indian nurses held captive by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq. Director Ali Abbas Zafar felt the actors that he has cast as nurses in the film should understand the emotional trauma that the 46 Indian nurses went through, for them to enact their roles from their hearts.

The director made sure his actors go through interviews, news clips, special programmes on the Indian nurses before the filming began so that they understand the psyche, the terror and the emotional roller-coaster they went through during their period of captivity.

Ali confirms saying, “This was most tricky and challenging. I wanted my actors to understand and feel for the nurses. They had to become the real-life characters and forget that they were just actors. Their role is so important that they can touch the hearts of the audiences.  I’m glad all of them understood how crucial their prep was for the film and for the scenes where audiences need to feel what they were going through during their ordeal.”