Emraan Hashmi defends Tiger 3 against criticism of being unpatriotic, says they consciously avoided jingoism: ‘It’s a progressive film’

Explaining the creative direction that the film goes in, Simran continued, “See, it’s all about saving humanity. She’s talking about ‘Is India ready to save humanity?’ and India is ready because Tiger is Indian. He’s already helping others, risking his family. Nazreen is not questioning India, she knows that India is ready. Woh unke taraf se toh jawaab nahi de sakti ki ‘Woh ready hai’. Woh indirectly bata rahi hai ki Pakistan ready hai.”

In a separate interview with Zoom Entertainment, Emraan was asked about the reaction to this aspect of the film. He said, “War always created more problems. And if you ask the people of a nation, they always want peace. Ultimately, a hero is somebody who rises above what the preconceived notion of patriotism is, and does things for the larger good. And that’s what the film projects the narrative as, and in that sense, it’s a very progressive film.”

Emraan said that Tiger 3 could’ve also joined the bandwagon of jingoistic cinema, but they made a conscious decision not to. “There are a dime a dozen films that are jingoistic, and have this pitch of bashing so-and-so country. We tried to do something that was right, otherwise we could’ve easily gone down that road. And then, the same people who are questioning the patriotism would’ve then said, ‘Yaar same cheez dikha di tumne‘. Ultimately, you do what you do, and the numbers speak for themselves.”

Directed by Maneesh Sharma, Tiger 3 is inching towards the Rs 300 crore global gross mark in less than a week of release. It’s the fifth overall installment in the YRF Spy Universe, which also includes the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan and the Hrithik Roshan vehicle War.