CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Ek Tha Tiger

2012 film by Kabir Khan

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ2991452 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ek Tha Tiger (transl. There Was a Tiger) is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed and co-written by Kabir Khan. Produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films, it is the first installment in the YRF Spy Universe, and stars Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ranvir Shorey, Roshan Seth, Girish Karnad, and Gavie Chahal. In the film, RAW agent Tiger (Khan) is tasked with recovering information before it is gained by Pakistan, but is sidetracked after falling in love with Zoya (Kaif).

Ek Tha Tiger marks the third collaboration between Kabir Khan and Yash Raj Films, after he directed Kabul Express (2006) and New York (2009), and the first collaboration between Yash Raj Films and Salman Khan. The last film to be presented by founder and filmmaker Yash Chopra, it had a complicated production process, with delays, rewrites, and several cast members attached at various points. Principal photography began in August 2011 and lasted until July 2012, with filming locations including Dublin, Havana, Bangkok, Istanbul, and Delhi. The film's music was composed primarily by Sohail Sen, with the soundtrack's lead single and the film's theme song, "Mashallah", composed by Sajid-Wajid. Originally set for release in June 2012, the film was theatrically released worldwide by Yash Raj on 15 August 2012.

Ek Tha Tiger received generally positive reviews from critics. Ek Tha Tiger set numerous box-office records in its theatrical run, grossing ₹334.39 crore (US$62.58 million) worldwide.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ek Tha Tiger” as 2012 film by Kabir Khan. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2012, 2006, 2009, 2011—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2012-01-01. The account is most persuasive where Tiger, film and Kabir can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 2012 film by Kabir Khan. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2991452. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2012, 2006, 2009 and 2011.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ek Tha Tiger”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ek Tha Tiger primary sources, Ek Tha Tiger archive and Tiger research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ek Tha Tiger”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ek Tha Tiger” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.