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Presents PRODUCTION NOTES All publicity materials can be downloaded at www.vvsfilmsmedia.com Username: media Password: vvsmedia1 PUBLICITY CONTACT Claire Peace-McConnell Head of Publicity and Promotions VVS Films [email protected] 416.929.8887 ext. 404 2 OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS A gripping true story of humanity and heroism, HOTEL MUMBAI vividly recounts the 2008 siege of the famed Taj Hotel by a group of terrorists in Mumbai, India. Among the dedicated hotel staff is the renowned chef Hemant Oberoi (Anupam Kher) and a waiter (Academy Award-Nominee Dev Patel, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, LION) who choose to risk their lives to protect their guests. As the world watches on, a desperate couple (Armie Hammer, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, ON THE BASIS OF SEX and Nazanin Boniadi, “Counterpart,” “Homeland”) is forced to make unthinkable sacrifices to protect their newborn child. LONG SYNOPSIS In November 2008, jihadists from Pakistan staged a series of devastating terror attacks across Mumbai, hurling India’s most populous city into utter chaos. During the three-day standoff, these gunmen seized the legendary Taj Mahal Palace Hotel with over 500 guests and employees trapped inside. A searing, immersive cinematic experience, HOTEL MUMBAI focuses on the events that transpired at the legendary Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, targeted as the pre-eminent symbol of Indian progress and diversity. In the thick of the maelstrom, people from many different countries, cultures, creeds and social classes must find a way to organize and escape in the face of constant peril. Among the hotel staff is renowned chef Hemant Oberoi (Anupam Kher) and a gentle Sikh waiter (Dev Patel), who risk everything to protect their guests. And as the world media watches on, a desperate couple (Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi) make unthinkable sacrifices to defend their newborn child, while a steely Russian millionaire (Jason Isaacs) seems only interested in protecting himself. HOTEL MUMBAI draws audiences into the epicenter of the attack and highlights ordinary people from all walks of life whose responses to this nightmarish scenario reveal the courage and resilience 3 that unite us when we need it most. In gripping, realistic detail, the film speaks to the humanity that shines from within the tragedy. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified seven individuals who have been charged for their role in planning the attack. A $5 million reward is available for information leading to their arrest. Information can be provided at tips.fbi.gov or rewardsforjustice.net 4 ABOUT THE PRODUCTION With more than twenty million residents, Mumbai is one of the largest and most culturally diverse cities in the world. Mumbai is India’s financial and entertainment capital, home to both the stock exchange and Bollywood. Pulsating with life, color and activity, it is a place of both extreme wealth and abject poverty. And as with many of the world’s most thriving metropolises, therein lies its power. And its vulnerability. For three days and nights in 2008—from November 26 to 29—Mumbai was a city under siege. Arriving from Pakistan via a hijacked fishing vessel, a squad of young jihadists rained terror upon the population with a coordinated series of shooting and bombing attacks. With local police forces stretched thin, terrified locals and tourists scampered for refuge as Mumbai went up in flames. By the time the carnage ended, more than 170 people from over a dozen countries had been killed. Targets around the city included a popular restaurant, a train station, a hospital, a movie theater, three hotels, and a Jewish community center. Mumbai had been permanently shaken. In India, the tragic events are known simply by the date they began: 26/11. Ten years later, Greek-Australian filmmaker Anthony Maras can still recall his initial reaction to the wave of horror as it was breaking on television across the world. “Obviously I was heartbroken over the violence and loss of life,” he says. “But at first I only knew the Mumbai attacks as a series of burning buildings on a TV screen. Then as I watched interviews with survivors, an entirely new dimension of these events opened up for me.” Maras was particularly moved by the stories of the guests and staff of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Opened in 1903, the Taj is a landmark, five-star hotel, famous around the world for its architecture and luxury, and host to countless politicians, business leaders, statesmen and celebrities. Due to its prominence, the Taj was specifically chosen by the terrorists. “Here was this historic, seven story monument to India’s progress and diversity,” says Maras, “and it became a war zone.” So unthinkable was the notion that the Taj could ever be a place of danger, that people in the streets of Mumbai instinctively flocked to the hotel for protection once the attacks began. “The Taj will 5 keep us safe” was the initial response of many survivors of the siege. During the grueling, days-long fight for survival, hotel guests and staff were shot at, bombed and hunted through corridors, suites, ballrooms, and restaurants. “It’s easy to be be overwhelmed by the horror of what occurred at the Taj,” says Maras. “But when you take a closer look, a different perspective emerges. There were over five hundred people caught up in the Taj Hotel siege. That all but 32 survived is a near miracle. Of the fatalities, half were staff members who had remained to protect their guests. That’s a testament to the extraordinary heroism, ingenuity and self-sacrifice of both staff members and guests alike.” Maras remains awestruck by the many examples of bravery to emerge from the attacks: “Taj kitchen workers stuffed baking trays under their shirts, makeshift bulletproof vests, as they shielded patrons from machine-gun fire. Guests lowered fellow travelers out of windows using ropes made of knotted bed sheets. Some Taj staff members led others through hidden corridors to safety outside, only to re-enter the hotel and look for more people to save.” Inspired by the courage and selflessness displayed amid such a tsunami of violence, Maras was determined to tell their stories on film. Mapping Out the Story Though Hotel Mumbai marks his feature directorial debut, Maras is no stranger to working behind the camera, having helmed numerous award winning short films. His 2011 short THE PALACE, about a family struggling to survive the 1974 invasion of Cyprus, premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and went on to win more than 20 international film awards including two Australian Academy (AACTA) Awards. Its subject matter resonated because of his own family’s history as refugees from war-torn Greece—and also touched upon themes that would later drive his passion to make Hotel Mumbai. “The Palace resonated with me as in many ways, it mirrored the struggles my own family went through before fleeing for safety and a new life in Australia,” he says. “I was deeply affected by these stories of people in abject peril pulling together to try and get through.” 6 Along with his co-screenwriter John Collee (MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD), Maras spent a year intensely researching the Mumbai attacks. They interviewed numerous survivors, police officers, hotel guests and staff. They spoke to families of those who perished, some in person, others by phone or Skype video chat. They studied recordings of intercepted phone calls between the terrorists and their handlers, read court case transcripts, and absorbed reams of newspaper accounts and hundreds of hours of television coverage and survivor interviews. Yet the core of the film didn’t reveal itself until Maras and Collee stepped into the Taj itself, where they stayed for a month while workshopping the story. “That was critical for both of us,” says Maras. “You can't do it by remote control. You've gotta be in there, experiencing that world and walking those corridors. Also we were able to interview a whole lot of people who worked or still work at the hotel, even after having lived through all the attacks.” Chief among the interview subjects was Hemant Oberoi, one of India’s foremost chefs, who has cooked for luminaries from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to Barack Obama and Princess Diana. Chef Oberoi (played by Anupam Kher) was present in the Taj during those fateful days and made crucial decisions to protect his staff and guests which ultimately saved dozens if not hundreds of lives. He was understandably hesitant upon hearing that a film of the events was going to be made. “We lost a lot of lives and so many families were affected,” Chef Oberoi explains, “and people can sometimes be insensitive to that. But Anthony Maras came down to my office and I was surprised because he had a lot of information already about the hotel and he carefully explained the stories he hoped to tell. He wanted to hear my memories of the events—but also he wanted to know about how we rebuilt the hotel so quickly.” Indeed, in the aftermath, there’s this astonishing fact: Three weeks following the attacks, Chef Oberoi and his team reopened the first of his restaurants inside the bombed out hotel. “The signal was strong and clear,” says Maras. “They were saying, ‘We will not be cowed. We refuse to live in fear. We refuse to mistrust others different from ourselves. Arm in arm, we will strive on forward together.’” 7 Chef Oberoi adds, “We just needed to tell all these terrorist organizations that we are not deterred by these things. We will bounce back as fast as possible. Because that is what we do.” Now 64, Chef Oberoi has retired from the Taj but keeps very busy with a new namesake restaurant in Mumbai, plus ventures in Singapore, New Delhi and San Diego, and appearances on his own TV cooking show.