Tiger Zinda Hai

I was someone who really enjoyed Ek Tha Tiger mainly because of the fact that it stayed close to being a pure action film rather than the conventional Indian way of making it a masala with every emotion. It had all the elements but that film directed by Kabir Khan was more like a Jason Bourne kind of agent oriented film. With the new film Tiger Zinda Hai, director Ali Abbas Zafar makes it a complete masala film which goes back to making Salman Khan the center of everything. Based on the same idea which was used in the Malayalam film Take Off earlier this year, Tiger Zinda Hai is passable mainly because of its stylized action.

So after 8 years being out of action Tiger is now settled in an undisclosed place in Europe with his wife Zoya and his son. And in the present day India needs his help in Iraq as 40 nurses were taken hostage by ISC. A reluctant Tiger ultimately offers to help his motherland and the action filled rescue mission is what Tiger Zinda Hai all about.

For someone like me who has seen Take Off, a more realistic and thrilling approach towards the same theme; Tiger Zinda Hai looked way too filmy. Dramatizations are of course the liberty of the creator. But when they try to push it in to those cheesy levels of India Pakistan comradery and Rambo like action sequences, some of the key emotions get lost in the chaos. The plot here looks too simplistic. The film happens in a world there are no diplomatic level limitations. Only tussle one get to see here is the action which is happening on a back to back basis.

Salman Khan is in his typical style and delivers dialogues in his signature style. As usual the emphasis is on the looks and physical stunts. Katrina Kaif was really good in all those action sequences. It was good to see Paresh Rawal in an important role after a while. Sajjad Delfrooz was a convincing antagonist. Angad Bedi, Sudeep, Kumud Mishra, Girish Karnad are the other major actors in this film.

Ali Abbas Zafar who was able to give us an emotionally vulnerable Salman Khan in Sultan tries to make Tiger Zinda Hai an emotional one too. But instead of focusing on the more significant pain and conflicts, he was focusing more on the hero thus ending up in clichéd situations that reduces the novelty factor. It is not at all a bad thing to spread love between India and Pakistan, but saying it on the face feels so artificial. The flag scene sentiments were just not working for me. The attire of this film is fabulous and that’s where the film scores. It looks authentic in terms of cinematography, cuts and production design. The action is excessive but it was executed neatly. Background score was good while the music wasn’t that catchy.

Tiger Zinda Hai is overblown heroism all the way. It was expected to be like that as it was Tiger. But I expected a little more freshness from the man who delivered Sultan. What if Rambo helped Sameera to get to Manoj along with her colleagues? That’s Tiger Zinda Hai for you.

Rating: 2.5/5