Tigers (2014 film)

Tigers
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDanis Tanović
Written byDialogues:
Screenplay byDanis Tanović
Andy Paterson
Story byDanis Tanović
Produced byPrashita Chaudhary
Kshitij Chaudhary
Guneet Monga
Anurag Kashyap
Cedomir Kolar
Marc Baschet
Andy Paterson
Meraj Shaikh(Supervising Producer)
Cat Villiers[1]
StarringEmraan Hashmi
Khalid Abdalla
Geetanjali
Supriya Pathak
CinematographyErol Zubcevic
Edited byPrerna Saigal
Music byJAM8
Production
companies
Sikhya Entertainment
A.S.A.P. Films
Distributed byZEE5
Release dates
  • 8 September 2014 (2014-09-08) (Toronto)
  • 21 November 2018 (2018-11-21)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi

Tigers (initially titled White Lies)[2] is a 2014 Indian drama film directed by Danis Tanović, and produced as a joint production between Cinema Time, French production company ASAP Films and Sikhya Entertainment.

The film is inspired by an episode in Pakistan during the 1990s, a repetition of the Nestlé baby milk scandal in 1970s that occurred in developing countries. A Pakistani salesman named Syed Aamir Raza Hussain became a whistle-blower against his former employer Nestlé; in 1999, two years after he left Nestlé, Hussain released a report in association with the non-profit organisation International Baby Food Action Network, in which he alleged that Nestlé was encouraging doctors to push its infant formula products over breastfeeding.[3]

The film features Emraan Hashmi in the leading role as Ayan, based on Hussain, a pharmaceutical representative in Pakistan who discovers his new company's baby formula has killed hundreds of children, after which he begins a lone and dangerous battle against the company.[4] The film began filming in 2013 in Punjab, India, and had its premiere in September 2014 at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.[5][6]

The film faced multiple delays during its initial release. After Tanovic decided to fictionalise Raza's battle, he renamed Nestlé as Lasta in the film and cast Hashmi after watching Shanghai (2012). Tigers was publicly released on the streaming platform ZEE5 on 21 November 2018.[7][8][9]

  1. ^ "Tigers". TIFF. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  2. ^ "Emraan Hashmi's international debut Tigers to premiere at Toronto". Bollywood Hungama News Network. 23 August 2014. Archived from the original on 24 August 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  3. ^ Nathan, Archana (22 November 2018). "In Emraan Hashmi's 'Tigers', a fight against a corporation that took 12 years to hit the screens". Scroll.in. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  4. ^ "If I stop taking risks, I will eventually crumble: Emraan Hashmi - Times of India". The Times of India. 28 June 2013.
  5. ^ "Emraan Hashmi: Right time to release 'Tigers' – Times of India". Times of India. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  6. ^ "Does Justice System Work in Pakistan? Prime Time with Anis Farooqui @TAG TV". YouTube. 29 December 2017.
  7. ^ "First look poster of Emraan Hashmi's TIGERS released".
  8. ^ "Emraan Hashmi's Tigers, directed by Oscar-winner Danis Tanovic, to have digital premiere on 21 November".
  9. ^ "Emraan Hashmi's Tigers to premiere on ZEE5".