Behind-the-scenes images of the cast and crew of forthcoming Bollywood blockbuster ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ filming in Abu Dhabi have been released – including a shot of Indian icon Salman Khan riding a quad bike through the desert.
The film is also living up to its label of being the most anticipated Bollywood movie of the year after smashing viewing and social media records with its trailer.
‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ is set in Iraq for its most crucial chapter, which focuses on the real-life hostage case of 46 Indian nurses. Yash Raj Films and twofour54 left no stones unturned as they recreated Iraq in Abu Dhabi by building a 20,000 sq. metre set on the backlot in Khalifa Industrial Zone (KIZAD) as well as filming on location.
The behind-the-scenes images include a shot of Salman Khan driving a quad bike through the Liwa desert, where temperatures reached a scorching 50 degrees Celsius. Liwa is one of several locations used in the movie and has also featured in a number of other major productions, including ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’.
The film’s director, Ali Abbas Zafar, said: “Liwa has the highest sand dunes in the world. ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ required a certain scale of desert in the film and Liwa provided that.
“Temperatures were soaring and as we shot action sequences with a moving car here, the conditions were extremely challenging. But the unit stood by our vision, and the local crew at Abu Dhabi was also very supportive. We achieved that which we set out to do.”
The other images show Ali Abbas Zafar at the backlot, where he is discussing a scene with his crew on a set designed by Yash Raj Films to look like a conflict zone in Iraq.
A third image features Khan’s co-star Katrina Kaif with the director and members of the UAE Army, which provided a great deal of support for the film, including trucks, hardware, tanks, professional personnel and helicopters, much of which is seen in the movie.
Her Excellency Maryam Eid AlMheiri, CEO of the Media Zone Authority – Abu Dhabi and twofour54, said: “These new images are testimony to the incredible locations, facilities and talent that Abu Dhabi has to offer to filmmakers from around the world.
“Content creation is our primary focus at twofour54 so it is exciting to see the buzz that ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ – more than a month before it has even been released – is already creating among moviegoers.
“This is yet another milestone on Abu Dhabi’s journey to becoming the capital of content creators.”
The film’s high-octane trailer was released earlier this month and is making movie history. The trailer was viewed 29 million times on YouTube and Facebook in the first 24 hours, which Yash Raj Films said was an unprecedented figure for a Bollywood film.
The firm said the clip also broke the record for the most likes for an Indian movie trailer – more than 480,000 in 24 hours and the most tweets with over 650,000 tweets in the same time period.
The trailer currently has more than 41 million views on YouTube and nearly 16 million views on Facebook.
Ali Abbas Zafar said: “This is an extremely overwhelming moment for us. This is an extraordinary response to our trailer and I’m thrilled that audiences are showering so much love. We are delighted that we have been able to entertain the public with our content.”
‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ is Abu Dhabi’s longest feature film project to date. The film was shot over a 70 -day period with a 100-person production team from India, US, UK and the MENA region.
twofour54 and the Abu Dhabi Film Commission both played significant roles in facilitating the film’s production. Tiger Zinda Hai benefited from the Commission’s 30% rebate on production spend in the emirate, while twofour54’s Film and TV Services Division provided the production services.
Additionally, twofour54 arranged for three cameos in the film featuring local media figures from the Virgin Radio breakfast team – Kris Fade, Big Rossi, and Priti Malik. Kris Fade features in the trailer within the first few sequences.
Ali Abbas Zafar said: “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.”
‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ will be released in cinemas on December 22, 2017.