Film: Tigers
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Satyadeep Misra, Adil Hussain, Geetanjali Thapa, Supriya Pathak, Vinod Nagpal, Danny Huston, Maryam d’Abo, Heino Ferch, Khalil Abdalla
Director: Danis Tanovic
Rating: * * *
This Hindi-English language film based on a true story, by Oscar winner Danis Tanovic (No Man’s Land), is a ‘small man against the big bad world’ set-up, swivelling around a Pakistani salesman, Ayan (Emraan Hashmi), working for a large multinational corporation (Lasta), who uncovers a secret that could well put his life and those of his loved ones at risk.
The narrative opens with the US senator Edward Kennedy taking on a baby formula MNC representative for refusing to take responsibility for the deaths of infants in the developing world (1978). That seed is well-sewn and looking back to that period you realise that this film links to the true story of Pakistani salesman Syed Aamir Raza Hussain who took on his former employer, Nestle for that very same reason. His courageous challenge against the system was perilous to say the least.
Tanovic then moves forward in time to 2006 where we see a group of people, including a producer (Danny Huston), a lawyer and a director, on a Skype call with Ayan, discussing legalities regarding the making a film on his life story. It’s a device meant to give us an insight into the troubles a filmmaker can get into for daring to make an expose about an erring multinational giant.
The story by Tanovic and Andy Paterson is quite justified in doing that given the troubles the filmmakers had in releasing this film. The device continues to be in use yanking us back and forth in time with Ayan telling his story and the filmmakers interrupting him with pertinent questions regarding his intent. The exchange while not entirely smooth-sailing or comfortable, inevitably leads to empathetic involvement for the makers as well as the audience.
This film had it’s premier screening four years ago at The Toronto International Film Festival and it’s a real pity that it did not find any takers for a big screen release ever since. Given its ‘true story’ base, Tanovic’s film strives to create a realistic ambience for the telling – and it’s pretty gritty and credible. The characters have a believable bent and their actions stay within the ambit of plausibility. This is a very human story with Ayan feeling the pain of fighting a battle that he may not win. Tanovic never holds his punches. The scenes depicting babies in the throes of death are terribly upsetting.
The narrative marries documentary footage with traditional shot making and the result is pretty much hard-hitting. Emraan’s Ayan is imminently convincing, Satyadeep Mishra, Geetanjali Thapa, Supriya Pathak, Vinod Nagpal, Adil Hussain and the assorted International cast have their insightful moments. Even the fairly minimalistic background score lends incendiary value to the enigmatic shot-taking by Erol Zubcevic. This is a worthy watch!
from Movie Reviews – Free Press Journal | Latest India News, Live Updates, Breaking news from Mumbai https://ift.tt/2Qes44L