I’ve sat with this movie for a bit, and I think it is more like Tiger 1 than I gave it credit for, in that it is a relationship story wrapped up in an action movie. Think of it as the Indian “Before Sunrise” series! With explosions.
Whole plot in two paragraphs:
Salman rescues his old friend Ranvir Shorey, but Ranvir is already dying, and before he dies he warns Salman that Kat is a double agent for a new terrorist group. Salman returns home to find his son sick with a virus and Kat the same as always, and finally manages to squash his doubts just in time to take another off the books mission in Russia, saving an informant from this same terrorist group. In the course of which he ends up fighting Kat herself! Who is working for the bad guys! Salman is captured and then Emraan Hashmi reveals that he has been slowly poisoning their son and Kat worked for him in order to save their son’s life. And he reveals his backstory, he was Kat’s friend and mentor, but then he went rogue and ordered an assisination of an Indian general against orders. Kat sneakily alerted the Indian spy group (not knowing that the man she was alerting would be HER FUTURE HUSBAND) which lead to Salman taking out the sniper aiming at the general WHO WAS EMRAAN’S PREGNANT GIRLFRIEND. Which is why Emraan really really hates both of them, and also thinks he should be running Pakistan because it would all be better if his plan had worked out. Salman immediately agrees to do whatever it takes to save his son and he and Kat go off on mission together to steal a suitcase. Salman calls in his old RAW buddy Kumud Mishra to help, and two young spies volunteer to join in because they hero worship Salman. Salman is captured in the course of the mission and Kat gives the suitcase thing to Emraan. Salman is handed over to the Pakistani government as a prisoner to be tortured and hung, and the Pakistani agents and Indian agents (some of the same people from Tiger 2! Continuity!) work together to track down Kat. INTERMISSION
Meanwhile, Shahrukh saves Salman from prison. They all reunite at the apartment in Islamabad where Kat and Salman’s adopted son (from Tiger 2) is now living. Kat and Salman tell them Emraan’s plan, to use Salman as a scape goat for a coo, kill the Prime Minister of Pakistan with the help of the army, and take her place as the new leader. The Salman and Kat team sneak into the capital compound and have a really very large number of fight scenes with the Evil Army People Etc. Along the way it is revealed that one of their group is a double agent, because his sister was the Dead Pregnant Girlfriend of Emraan and he ALSO hates Kat and Salman. Salman and Kat’s older adopted son ends up sacrificing himself to save them all, Salman defeats Emraan and Kat has a moment with him as he dies, and then they are hailed as heroes and go back to obscurity, reunited with their one remaining son. HAPPY ENDING SONG.
Two great things about this plot. First, it’s an old school Main Hoon Na style plot where the People of the two countries, and the Democratically Elected Leaders of the two countries, all want peace. It’s just the damaged crazy selfish rebels who do not. Second, it 100% puts personal relationships over idealogy. Why is Emraan bad? Because his girlfriend was killed. Why are Kat and Salman doing tricky things? Because their son is in danger. Why did that one guy end up being a double agent? Because his sister was killed. No one REALLY has a good reason for all this hatred of a whole community, it’s just petty personal BS that has been expanded until it feels bigger.
The most important moment to me is when Salman is captured and is learning that Kat turned double agent to save their son. Emraan is asking Salman to work for him too, and Kat is saying “no, please don’t make him” and also “he would never”. It’s a combination of her loving him so much that she doesn’t want to put him in the same terrible moral area she is, and believing that he will put his morals above personal feelings and rather die than help. And in response, Salman says “I’ll do whatever”. He loves his wife and son more than even Kat expected, does not care about patriotism or country or any of that.
That’s the thesis statement for the film. Love your family! Value the little things! It even goes back to when Emraan is sending his girlfriend out as an assassin. She offers, because she loves and believes in him, and he says “no” because she is pregnant, to which she says their unborn child should be proud to be part of doing such a Noble Mission. And that’s STUPID!!!! These two people made a stupid stupid decision, it lead to one of them being killed and the other arrested, and it all could have been avoided if they hadn’t bought into the Noble Mission and Patriotism stuff and instead said “you know, we’ve got a baby on the way, maybe we DON’T go crazy right now”.
Kat’s backstory is in this movie too, it’s a movie about her character more than Salman’s in terms of plot points, and her backstory fits perfectly with the “Zoya” we have come to know, the one who is fearless and strong and all those things, but also ready to follow love into the unknown. We see her raised in London by a schoolteacher father who she knows is also an ISI undercover agent. And then her Dad dies, blown up when she is a teenager. Emraan Hashmi shows up at the funeral and recruits her. We knew from the first movie that her father was dead, and she loved him, and it was to honor him that she joined ISI. But now we get to see it, and see how Emraan and the agency became her new family, and then how that family was taken away too when Emraan betrayed her JUST before she met Salman. It explains what was in her that let her take a leap and leave with Salman in an attempt to find love and a new family, and it explains what is in her now in this film as she lies and hides what she is doing from Salman to protect him, while also protecting their son. She’s all about family and loyalty and love, she lost it twice (her father’s death and Emraan’s betrayal) and she is not going to lose it again. Loyalty to a country comes far behind loyalty to your family.
Which isn’t to say the film doesn’t also support a bigger view. Kat and Salman really really want to stop Emraan! It’s not a patriotic thing though, it’s just about People. The people of Pakistan deserve peace and a good leader, so they will try to make that happen. Forget politics and borders, just do what needs to be done to save lives.
Wrapped up with all these nice messages, and fun action sequences, is the growth of the Salman-Katrina relationship. In Tiger 1, they fell completely in love to the point of insanity, running off together to live out a fantasy. In Tiger 2, we see them settled with a young child and big romantic gestures, but a lack of communication when Salman takes up his secret mission and expects Kat to stay behind. Now, they communicate so well no words are required. It’s hugs and talking about the kid and family time, and their other adopted son in Pakistan, and old stories that they both already know. Kat knows all about Ranvir Shorey and how sad Salman must be that he is dead. Salman knows about Emraan Hashmi and how he mentored Kat. When they are working together to steal the suitcase of whatever, they are a well-oiled machine, especially as they trick those working with them. Even when Salman thinks she might be a spy, he doesn’t confront her or have a fight it seems like more a matter of gathering evidence for his own satisfaction, he would never turn her in or break up their household. This couple is rock solid.
