Overall, the third film in the Tiger Franchise did not get appreciation and financial success compared to the first two parts. Let’s look at aspects that possibly went wrong.  

First, here’s a brief look at aspects that contributed to trouble:

1. Kabir Khan’s shoes do not fit Maneesh Sharma
2. Writer Neelesh Mishra’s approach is journalistic, while Shridhar Raghavan (Tiger-3) writes like a dreamer

Replacing the director

You might think, why in the world did Aditya Chopra decide to bring in a different director?  Well, there can be several reasons behind any producer’s decision to change the film’s director. Availability, creativity differences, commercial performance, or director’s fees are some of the common ones.

At times, film studios feel they need a new director with fresh ideas to revitalize the franchise. This happens when the producer plans to make a sequel several years after the release of the first film. Sometimes, producers are forced to bring another individual as the original director is unavailable due to other commitments.

In most cases, the director hikes his fees for the studio after the first film’s success. He or she may also seek a share in profits as a part of compensation for work. So, studies bring another director. YRF had to bring Ali Abbas Zafar to direct Tiger 2 (Tiger Zinda Hai). Kabir Khan, the director of Tiger 1, was seeking more in terms of compensation from YRF. He was also allegedly seeking executive production rights. 

Secondly, the studio may prefer to bring someone else if the original director’s commercial performance at the box office is not impressive anymore. Lastly, the change can also be done at the suggestion of lead actors. For example, the producers of Race 3 were asked to replace director duo Abbas Mustaan with Remo D’Souza by Salman Khan.

Maneesh Sharma’s failure to embrace Kabir Khan’s style of filmmaking

The new director brings a fresh vision and perspective to the sequel. The person must be capable enough to reinvigorate the audience’s interest towards the franchise. The director should have a proven track record for making films in similar genres. He or she should keep the essence of the original film intact and give his or her unique touch. Further, the person should clearly understand the source material and the associated intellectual property.

Maneesh Sharma

Assigning the responsibility to the wrong director can result in disappointment. To illustrate, Maneesh Sharma who directed romantic comedies like Band Baaja Baaraat, Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl, and Shuddh Desi Romance, failed to achieve success with action thrillers like Fan. Later, he got the opportunity to direct Tiger 3 and failed yet again. 

If the first part had great cinematography and VFX, the new director’s job would become even more difficult. While Kabir Khan filmed most action sequences at real locations and kept VFX use to a minimum, Maneesh Sharma completed most action sequences in front of the green screen.
Equally importantly, it was director Kabir Khan’s idea to bring in a genius like Conrad E. Palmisano to work on action. Salman’s fans were bedazzled to see him as Tiger.

It is not untrue to say that Sharma lacked a vision to execute action scenes in the third part. The audience was upset. The film’s VFX became a laughing stock, and producers did not make the expected box office profit.

The new director needs to understand the style, tone and expectations of the audience from the film. If he fails to do so, we end up with movies like Race 3, Tiger 3, and Dabangg 3.

Overall quality of the story and screenplay

The story and quality of the screenplay have a key role in the success of any film. The same is the rule for sequels to a hit movie.

The story acts as a guiding star for the director, actors, and other crew members. No matter how good the director and actors are, it is impossible to create an impactful movie in the absence of a good story and screenplay.

Yet again, the Tiger franchise serves as a great example when it comes to the significance of the story. Neelesh Mishra and Kabir Khan co-wrote EK Tha Tiger (1). Kabir Khan visited Kabul (Afghanistan) in 2001 and got the opportunity to meet several intelligence officials from various countries. Further, Neelesh Mishra had shared the script with his friends who were serving as intelligence officers. They were asked to point out anything that seemed unreal in the story. The overall approach in terms of story, research was journalistic. And this helped ensure all the facts were correct. Mishra followed a similar approach while developing the story for Tiger Zinda Hai (2) with Ali Abbas Zafar. 

On the other hand, the writer of Tiger 3, Shridhar Raghavan, probably wrote the stuff while inside an office cubicle. The approach was not realistic. Audiences found it hard to digest that an R&AW agent would risk his life to save Pakistan’s prime minister and democracy.

If you wish to see Salman with director Kabir Khan, then you’ll be pleased to know there’s good news on the horizon. Kabir recently approached Salman with a script for a film tentatively titled Babbar Sher.

Numbers for your reference:

Tiger 1 (Ek Tha Tiger) was made with a budget of Rs 75 crores and it earned around ₹320 crores worldwide. Next, Tiger Zinda Hai (Tiger 2) had a budget of Rs 130 crore and made Rs 565 crore globally. Further, an estimated budget of Rs 300 crore was spent on Tiger 3. But, it hardly somehow managed to cross the Rs 500 crore worldwide mark. 

(Marathi version of this column, written by the same author, was published in Prabhat Daily) 

Also published simultaneously on Medium

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By: Nitten Gokhaley 

nittengokhaley24@gmail.com

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