SAY WHAT? Salman Khan's Tiger Zinda Hai Turns Abu Dhabi To Iraq!
Here's some dope from YRF's Tiger Zinda Hai. Director Ali Abbas Zafar recreated the war-torn country, Iraq, to shoot his realistic action thriller in Abu Dhabi...
Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer Tiger Zinda Hai
lives up to its promise of a larger than life action thriller in every manner.
To do justice to the espionage drama, the film is based in Iraq for its most
crucial chapter focussing on the real-life hostage case involving 46 Indian
nurses in Iraq.
Salman Khan
On An ATV In For Tiger Zinda Hai
Since shooting in Iraq comes with huge difficulties, this
Yash Raj Films production left no stones unturned to recreate Iraq in Abu
Dhabi.
Throwing some light on this recreation, director Ali
Abbas Zafar says, “When you go to shoot a film that has larger than life scale
like Tiger Zinda Hai, you have to look at many factors. The film’s shoot is
important. So is the hospitality - hotels for crew members, on ground technical
crew and suitable film equipment become key deciding factors. Abu Dhabi offered
all of these and more. We decided to recreate Iraq here as it was the perfect
location for all these reasons.”
Team Tiger Zinda Hai Recreates Iraq In Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi has been home to significant Hollywood
productions, including Rogue One. Its location, amidst sand dunes and vast
stretches of desert lands proves to be an advantage in creating a certain
texture on-screen.
Zafar and the team of Tiger Zinda Hai capitalised on this
aspect, turning disadvantages to their advantage. He says, “On certain days, when
the heat got really tough to work in, we have shot in temperatures as high as
50 degrees Celsius. But the benefits and incredible support of the government,
and its armed forces were unmatched. The army and air force provided us with
tanks, choppers, trucks etc for key action sequences. That actually became a
trigger to shoot the film here," explains the enthusiastic director.
Zafar further adds, "The set that we’ve built here
is actually the biggest one built by any Indian film on foreign land. At any
given point, we had over a 100 workers constructing, dismantling or adding to
different parts of this set.” 
Team Tiger Zinda Hai Recreates Iraq In Abu Dhabi
The crew of Tiger Zinda Hai shot for 40 days
continuously. The geographical challenge and near impossible conditions add up
to make the film look close to reality.
With so much heat, sweat, dust and passion spent on
making this mega flick, we hope fans enjoy the experience just as much.
