Hotel Mumbai

About the film

Hotel Mumbai is a 2018 action thriller film directed by Anthony Maras and co-written by Maras and John Collee. An Indian-Australian-American co-production, it is inspired by the 2009 documentary Surviving Mumbai about the 2008 Mumbai attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in India. The film stars Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi, Anupam Kher, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Jason Isaacs, Suhail Nayyar, Nagesh Bhosle, and Natasha Liu Bordizzo.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2018 and had its Australian premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival on 10 October 2018. The film was released in Australia and the United States on 14 and 22 March 2019, respectively, and in India on 29 November 2019.

Plot

On 26 November 2008, waiter Arjun reports for work at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, India, under head chef Hemant Oberoi. The day's guests include British-Iranian heiress Zahra Kashani and her American husband David, with their infant son Cameron and his nanny Sally, as well as ex-Spetznaz operative Vasili.

That night, terrorists from the Lashkar-e-Taiba organization, under the command of "the Bull", launch a coordinated assault against 12 locations across Mumbai, including the hotel. As the local police are not properly trained or equipped to handle the attack, they are forced to wait for reinforcements from New Delhi. In the ensuing chaos, Arjun, David, Zahra and Vasili are trapped in the hotel restaurant with several other guests while Sally remains with Cameron in their hotel room. A woman fleeing from the terrorists enters the hotel room, and Sally hides with Cameron in a closet as the terrorists shoot the woman and then leave.

Hearing of Sally's close encounter, David manages to sneak past the terrorists and successfully reach Sally and Cameron. Meanwhile, Arjun escorts the other guests to the Chambers Lounge, an exclusive club hidden within the hotel, where they hope to remain safe. David, Sally and Cameron attempt to regroup with the others, but David is captured and bound by the terrorists while Sally and Cameron are trapped inside a closet.

Production

On 11 February 2016, it was announced that Dev Patel and Armie Hammer had been cast in the film, along with actors Nazanin Boniadi, Teresa Palmer, and Suhail Nayyar, while Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Anupam Kher were in negotiations; Palmer and Coster-Waldau ultimately were not involved. John Collee and Anthony Maras wrote the screenplay, which Maras directed, while Basil Iwanyk produced the film through Thunder Road Pictures along with Jomon Thomas from Xeitgeist, Arclight Films' Gary Hamilton and Mike Gabrawy, Electric Pictures' Andrew Ogilvie, and Adelaide-based producer Julie Ryan.

In June, Tilda Cobham-Hervey joined the cast after Teresa Palmer pulled out early into her second pregnancy, and in August, Jason Isaacs was cast. On 7 September 2016, Natasha Liu Bordizzo joined the film to play Bree, a tourist caught in the attack.

In August 2016, principal photography on the film began in the Adelaide Film studios, run by the South Australian Film Corporation. Filming continued in India in early 2017.

Release

In May 2016, the Weinstein Company acquired US and UK distribution rights to the film. However, in April 2018, it was announced that the Weinstein Company would no longer distribute the film. In August 2018, Bleecker Street and ShivHans Pictures acquired US distribution rights to the film.

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2018. It was theatrically released in Australia on 14 March 2019, by Icon Film Distribution, and the United States on 22 March 2019. It was scheduled for a United Kingdom release in September 2019, by Sky Cinema and NowTV. Sky Cinema promoting it as a "Sky Cinema Original" in the United Kingdom.

The movie was pulled from cinemas in New Zealand due to the Christchurch mosque shootings on 15 March 2019, with showings suspended until 28 March.

Reception

Hotel Mumbai has grossed $9.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $11.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $21.2 million.

The film opened in four theaters in the US, on 22 March, and expanded to 924 on 29 March, grossing $3.1 million in that second weekend.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 76% based on 215 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Its depiction of real-life horror will strike some as exploitative, but Hotel Mumbai remains a well-made dramatization of tragic events." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film an overall positive score of 77% and a 50% "definite recommend".

Key details