Might Have Scrapped ‘War’ If Tiger Said No: Dir Siddharth Anand

Tiger plays a soldier who has to hunt down a senior agent gone rogue, played by Hrithik Roshan.

Tiger Shroff and Hrithik Roshan go head to head in War.

(Photo Courtesy: Yash Raj Films)

Director Siddharth Anand says despite having Hrithik Roshan on board in his upcoming action drama War, he would not have moved ahead with the project had Tiger Shroff said no to the film. Siddharth, who worked with Hrithik on 2014 action film Bang Bang!, said he wrote the two lead parts keeping in mind the two actors.

"The first choice was Hrithik because we share a great equation. Post Bang Bang!, I've been writing something for him. Fortunately for me, he loved the script. I knew, if Hrithik is in the film, the protege can be no one else but Tiger," Siddharth told PTI. He added,

“If Tiger hadn’t done the film, it would be tough for me to make this film. I may have just scrapped the idea to rewrite something else. There is nobody who could replace Tiger in the film,”

Siddharth Anand, Director

War chronicles the story of an Indian soldier, Khalid (Tiger), who is assigned to eliminate a senior agent and his mentor Kabir (Hrithik) as he has gone rogue.

Siddharth said he was inspired by several spy thriller that he read while travelling post Bang Bang! when he was travelling.

The film is being touted as one of the biggest action films in Bollywood, and Siddharth brought four action directors on board to make sure they pulled it off. “The challenge was to showcase elements which don't give a feeling of deja vu,” he said. “We brought in four action directors and gave them four set pieces. So they could push themselves and bring in their take. Which was also kind of competitive because they knew someone else is doing the other job. That worked out very well for the film,” he explained.

War, which also features Vaani Kapoor in a pivotal role, is scheduled to release on 2 October.

(With inputs from PTI)