Entertainment / TIFF 2014 Interview: TIGERS

TIFF 2014 Interview: TIGERS

Entertainment Sep 15, 2014

by Swati Bhatt Vyas

Danis Tanovi?’s neat structuring and Emraan Hashmi’s potent portrayal in this based-on-fact-drama is a new breed of Indian cinema.

Premiered at TIFF this year, Tigers is based on the true story of Syed Aamir Raza; a salesman for, turned whistle blower, on a multinational pharmaceutical firm in Pakistan.??

Ayan (Emraan Hashmi), a pharmaceutical representative in Sailkot Pakistan, is devastated to discover an infant formula he’s been peddling has life threatening effects. So, he decides to fight against the corporate giants.?

“It’s an issue that every parent around the world can relate to, especially in third world countries where you have this issue, it’s not been corrected yet,” says Hashmi. “The mortality of kids has almost increased tenfold, its detrimental to kids,”

Tanovi?, a Bosnian director famed for No Man’s Land, explores “Pakistan’s fascination with Western drugs” in this hard hitting film.

Academy Award Winner Director Danis Tanovi? with ANOKHI's Blog Editor Swati Bhatt Vyas/ Aaranan Sooriyamoorthy

“For me, making movies is something that is very personal,” says Tanovi?. “For me, not always but most of the times it’s almost as a fight that I pull out. My idea [of making a film like this] is that we sit down and start discussing the problem because I don’t think they are keen to kill babies.”

On his debut, into world cinema with Tigers, Hashmi admits of being pleasantly surprised with his experience with Tanovi?: “It [my experience with Danis] was quite opposite to what I thought it would be, because I felt, he was an Academy Award winning director, someone who would be extremely controlling and have an attitude like, ‘It’s my way or the highway.’ I was in for a surprise. I think Danis left a lot to my interpretation, gave [me] my space, let me do my thing and obviously was there to guide me through it, but never really said, ‘Ok, this is the only way you can play the character. This is the only way I want it.’ He let me improvise and then corrected me where he needed.”??

ANOKHI's Blog Editor Swati Bhatt Vyas with Emraan Hashmi/ Reena Deon

After watching the movie, Raza, who is now a Canadian resident, says, "It is a very powerful film which showed things exactly how they happened. Emraan has done a great job."??

Known to be passionate about their own kind of cinema both Tanovi? and Hashmi bring a very unique sense of realism to the movie.

“I mean there’s a certain kind of film making, and film makers, that kind of excites me. And a kind of people that I want to work with. It has to have a sense of filmmaking. It has to be watchable, not boring,” says Hashmi, who has recently won a lot of critical acclaim for his real life portrayals. “It can’t document-ish. Something like this or Once Upon A Time in Mumbai, or The Dirty Picture that brings all those strengths into cinema, is the kind of filmmaking I believe in. It’s almost like battling mainstream Bollywood. There’s sort of Bollywood [films] and then there’s my kind of film that brings in the realist – not overdramatic, overplayed characters.”

Tanovi?, on the other hand, has always believed in movies that matter and makes sense of people as a whole: “I want to tell stories and I am ready to sacrifice a lot to go and do this, that’s my passion, that’s my life.” ??

The film goes beyond just telling a story for entertainment value, it has a clear intent to spark a discussion, a debate and ultimately be thought provoking which it succeeds in.

_{Featured Image courtesy of TIFF}

Swati Bhatt Vyas

Author

With a master’s in Journalism from Mumbai University, Swati published her first book as one of the youngest female self-help authors in India. Later in 2011, she penned her second book. Since then she has worked extensively in print, web & broadcast media in India & Canada. She c...

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TIFF 2014 Interview: TIGERS

by Swati Bhatt Vyas

Danis Tanovi?’s neat structuring and Emraan Hashmi’s potent portrayal in this based-on-fact-drama is a new breed of Indian cinema.

Swati Bhatt Vyas

COMMENTS

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