Diksha Sundriyal
Starring Dev Patel and Armie Hammer, ‘Hotel Mumbai‘ tells the story of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, particularly focusing on the Taj Hotel attack. The story begins on a normal day at the hotel, where new guests are welcomed while the staff meticulously ensure everything is perfect for them. This sense of calm is broken when terrorists barge in and start shooting at guests and staff alike. The narrative unfolds from different perspectives, one of which includes a newlywed couple, Zohra and David. They arrive at the hotel with their newborn baby, Cameron, who is left in the care of their live-in nanny, Sally, while they leave for dinner. When the terrorists arrive, the couple has to make some hard choices to ensure their survival, as well as that of their baby. Their story is made more harrowing by the fact that they reflect the fear that the real guests felt back then. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Zohra and David are Inspired by Several Real-Life Guests at the Taj
In telling the true story of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, director Anthony Maras wanted to take the real experiences of the survivors into account without having to compromise on their privacy. So, while the chain of events is real, the characters were given a fictional twist. The characters of Zohra and David were created solely for the film, but the director was inspired by two real couples who survived that tragic experience. When the terrorists arrive, Zohra and David are in the restaurant section of the hotel, separated from their baby, who is in the room with his nanny. To ensure that one of them gets to the baby, they decide to split up.
This is a difficult decision that one of the couples had to make that day, as they believed that splitting up would increase the chance of at least one of them making it out alive and returning to their kids. Another harrowing scene in the movie is when Zohra and David are found by the terrorists and are held hostage at gunpoint. This happened with a couple who found themselves at the mercy of the terrorists who seemed hell-bent on killing everyone. One of the more surprising scenes of the film is when Zohra says a prayer in Persian, making the terrorist realise that she, too, is Muslim, and this small act saves her life. Reportedly, this incident, too, is borrowed from reality.
When a Muslim woman found herself staring down the barrel of a gun, she started saying a prayer while also adopting a confrontational stance, which she believes may have saved her life because the terrorist decided not to shoot her. The filmmakers talked to several other survivors of the attacks and melded the different details of their experiences into the fictional characters who present a more cohesive narrative for the film. In doing so, they wanted to honor the courage of the survivors while also paying respect to the memories of the ones who passed away that day.
Nazanin Boniadi Used Personal Details to Enrich the Character of Zohra
While the writers had done exhaustive research to create these characters, the actors delved into research of their own to understand the fear and bravery of the people who went through the traumatic ordeal of the attacks. Actress Nazanin Boniadi, who plays Zohra, revealed that she and the other actors watched ‘Surviving Mumbai,’ the 2009 documentary that focuses on the attacks. She mentioned that hearing the stories of the people in the documentary informed a lot of her performance. She also brought her own personal experience to give more layers to the character. In one of the scenes, Zohra talks to her mother in Persian, which leads another woman to question if she is with the terrorists.
Boniadi, who is of Iranian descent and speaks Persian, like the movie’s character, stated that she has experienced similar acts of racism in real life, so she understood what the other woman’s accusation would have made Zohra feel like. In the scene, Zohra is seen speaking to her mother, and the actress on the other end of the line is actually Boniadi’s mother, which added another layer of emotion and heart to the scene. At the same time, Maras tried to keep the actors separated, preventing the ones playing guests and staff from interacting with the ones playing terrorists, so that the two groups could maintain the air of unfamiliarity and the fear that breeds from it.
The presentation of characters like Zohra and David was also supposed to highlight the class differences between the guests and the staff, and how each acts in a different manner, depending on where their priorities and loyalties lie. At the end of the day, the actors wished that the story show how, despite all the differences, people come together to brave a storm and survive. Boniadi pointed out that “bullets don’t discriminate,” no matter what part of the world or what religion or social class a person comes from. She expressed that the gratefulness she feels towards her life and loved ones after working on the film, and hopes that the story focuses on “the resilience of the human spirit,” rather than the hate propagated by fear and extremism.
Read More: Hotel Mumbai: Is Arjun Based on a Real Taj Mahal Palace Waiter?
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