Written by Aditya Chopra and Shridhar Raghavan, Tiger 3 follows the story of Tiger and Zoya who face another challenge in the form of an enemy who brings with him two choices – either choose family or the country. Will Tiger find a way out? Now, if you are expecting something drastically different in the YRF Spy Universe then you aren’t getting served that. The story is pretty routine and it seemed like a mishmash between Pathaan, Badshah and other similar films on those lines. Yet, the presence of Tiger definitely makes you sit up and take notice of the proceedings. The screenplay standing at a shade above a 150 minutes isn’t entire smooth with the transitions as well while deftly threatening to completely scatter the proceedings. Yet, there are moments which are watchable that save the drama to a large extent. 

The drama opens with a flashback that briefly touches upon the early life of Zoya and her encounter with Aatish, who is the prime antagonist of the drama, after her father’s death. Soon, you are introduced to Tiger in grand fashion and he makes his way to a rescue mission that eventually acts as a catalyst for the drama to follow. I did like how the writer’s tied a thread from the first installment of the franchise, ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ with respect to one of the characters, to fuel the narrative ahead. A tense chase followed by a staggering revelation, nicely sets the tone of the drama to follow. But there are roadblocks along the way as well. 

The main issue that the proceeding suffers from is the lack of novelty in the writing. It is a little bit of the same stuff that you may have already watched previously, something that does add to the fatigue factor in the drama. But to be fair, the drama does move at a break neck pace that briefly diverts your attention from the predictability of it. There are plenty of moments, fairly engaging that do manage to draw your attention to the proceedings. A little context on the brief encounter between Aatish and Tiger as a part of a mini flashback, does add weightage to the drama while slowly raising the stakes as well. But if I were to look from an overview, tge beats of Tiger are similar to Pathaan in a rather uncanny manner of resemblance. This includes the interval block featuring a titillating Towel Sequence that felt out of place in a spy thriller, more gimmicky than otherwise. 

Yet, I was waiting for the Pathaan cameo that eventually takes place in the second half. And to be honest, watching SRK and Salman together onscreen was fun but it didn’t quite give me the same high that the duo had earlier in the year, when Tiger had entered the Pathaan-verse. The faltered staging of the action sequences coupled with some forced humour doesn’t quite give you the same kind of high. But things, although one-dimensional, are staged a little better in the second hour as compared to the first hour. There are several high moments including the elaborate rescue mission that may not have been perfect but it still had enough ingredients to keep you invested with some twists and turns that will catch you by surprise. And the end credit scene by Hrithik Roshan just sets the ball rolling for War 2 perfectly. Overall, the screenplay is decently penned that essentially suffers from its predictability while still held together by its characters.