What if someone told you that the latest Salman Khan actioner can give you a ready reckoner on why democracy is better than dictatorship? Maneesh Sharma’s Tiger 3 is not just the popcorn-and-patriotism entertainer you always expected it to be, the latest Bhai film also expounds the idea that democracy needs to be protected against people who declare themselves to be the sole custodians of the country, making you hopeful for the future of Indian movies.
For many decades now, star-driven action films in India have been all about seeking revenge. It could be for the death of the hero’s beloved, or any other woman; it could be some childhood trauma that has scarred him for life and he is now looking for comeuppance; or, it could be all about seeking retribution for one’s country. The last one has been frequently revisited in our films and has appealed to the masses. The idea of patriotism, however, has changed a fair bit in our movies and in 2023, this was particularly evident. The year started with Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan where a Pakistani agent, played by Deepika Padukone, had the crowd cheering for her when she joined forces with SRK’s Indian agent to save humanity. A few months later, in Jawan, Shah Rukh gave a rousing monologue where he spoke directly to his fans about the importance of voting for the right candidate. The film did not shy away from taking shots at the corrupt troika of bureaucracy, politics and business. And the year ended with Salman Khan in Tiger 3 where his main mission was to save Pakistan from the evils of dictatorship.
Tiger 3 is an Indian film with an Indian hero at the center of its story but strangely enough, India has no stake in the story of this film. The many times when Tiger is asked as to why he cares about what’s happening in Pakistan, he comes up with a rather flimsy excuse, a reason he repeats many times in the film. It makes you wonder why Maneesh and Salman zeroed in on this subject for the third Tiger installment. In the film, the protagonist asks his crew, who are stand-ins for the audience, a question that immediately tells you about the central idea of this film. ‘Democracy or dictatorship?’ asks Tiger and his crew responds in unison, ‘democracy.’
Salman Khan in a still from Tiger 3.
It is a rather strong statement when one of the most successful movie producing studios in the country decides to make a film where a choice as simple as this, at least for Indians who have been living in a democracy for over 75 years, needs to be reminded to the audience. The makers actually had to spell out why the need to have fair elections is essential and why democracy is better than having a dictator, the villain of this story, who might pretend to have good intentions. They underline that complete control in the hands of one person can’t be good for the health of a nation.
Tiger 3 also makes you wonder why, despite being set in Pakistan where an Indian agent is saving their democracy, there is no sense of superiority from any of the Indian characters? Our extremely loud news channels like to compare the two nations often and even before watching one of those shrill shows, you can presume that it’s all going to be about how India is better than its neighbour in the west. Tiger 3 gets an opportunity to do this many times over, yet chooses to walk away from it. Salman doesn’t break into a monologue telling Pakistanis how they should learn from India and its democracy, and the film does not suggest that saving Pakistan’s democracy will benefit India in any way. Was it because the writers and director felt that there was no need for this level of pettiness, or because they wanted their audience to actually think about the importance of democracy in a rapidly changing society?
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By any measure, Tiger 3 is not a great film. The filmmaking is inept, the visual effects are laughable, the storytelling is convoluted and Salman can’t summon the charisma that makes his fans swoon, but, despite all of that, Tiger 3 makes a statement that many of its contemporaries would shy away from. Bollywood is often criticised for being apolitical or swaying the way political wind is blowing, but decades from now, when the cinema of 2023 is examined again, this sense of dissent from something as mainstream as Tiger 3 won’t go unnoticed.
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