When director Ali Abbas Zafar and Neelesh Mishra conceived the story of Tiger Zinda Hai, the former was certain of one aspect - his script demanded a villain who wasn't one-dimensional or exaggerated, as is the practice in Bollywood. We hear the director scouted for six months before he zeroed in on Iranian actor Sajjad Delafrooz to play the antagonist in the Salman Khan-starrer. Inspired by the real-life incident of 46 Indian nurses being taken hostage by the ISIS in 2014, the spy thriller sees Delafrooz play Abu Usman, the leader of the terrorist group that executes the hostage.

Salman Khan and Sajjad Delafrooz in Tiger Zinda Hai