Academy Award-winning director, Danis Tanovic did in-depth research before bringing the film to the fore. The movie comprises real footage besides being shot in locations like Punjab to keep the authenticity alive. Danis Tanovic says, `We used some footage from the 1989 Australian ABC documentary in the scenes where Maggi and Faiz (characters from the film) are watching on television, but we sent our own team to film in hospitals in Pakistan in 2013.`
When Danis heard the story for the first time, he was aware of its existence but was unaware that the problem was persistent. `Going to Pakistan for the first time was shocking. We wandered into hospitals and talked to doctors who couldn't have possibly known we were coming. Everywhere we went it was the same story: the tactics change but the babies still die. Aamir's (salesman) story seemed to me to be a great way to understand how this operates on the ground`, says Danis.
He further added, `We actually decided that if they came back having been unable to find examples we should reconsider the relevance of the story. I wish that had been the case but, sadly, it was all too easy for them. The irony is that the last speech of the 1989 documentary is `let's hope we're not still reporting on this problem in 15 years' time. 25 years on and little has changed.`
Produced by Cinemorphic and Sikhya Entertainment, Tigers starring Emraan Hashmi will premiere on ZEE5 on 21st November, 2018.
The film also features prominent artists like Adil Hussain, Geetanjali, Danny Huston (Wonder Woman), Khalid Abdalla (The Kite Runner), Supriya Pathak, Satyadeep Misra, Maryam d'Abo (The Living Daylights) and Heino Ferch (Run Lola Run) among others.