When Sami’s job falls through, he takes a low-end position and joins with a gang of oddball friends in hopes of convincing his childhood sweetheart that he’s far more successful than he truly is…or perhaps ever could be. Set in the 1970s, The Tiger Hunter is the story of Sami Malik, a young Indian man who travels to America to become an engineer in order to impress his childhood crush and live up to the legacy of his father-a legendary tiger hunter-back home. We just need to support ourselves, and each other… and people will learn who we are. I think it was a lesson for me, that I’ve since embraced - nobody will respect us, until we respect ourselves. And it is being distributed by a major distributor in a huge release across the country, and audiences have loved it.
#Trailer for the tiger hunter full
Fast forward years of struggle later, and it’s such a wakeup call to see that my first feature is full of South Asians, and it’s inspired by the stories of my immigrant parents and those of dozens of immigrants I interviewed.
![trailer for the tiger hunter trailer for the tiger hunter](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjUyMDMzMmQtOWEzNi00ZDMzLWE2NmYtNzFjNjc3NTljZDZmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTc5MDI5NjE@._V1_.jpg)
I felt like for me to be validated as a director, I needed to make stories about other cultures.
![trailer for the tiger hunter trailer for the tiger hunter](https://teaser-trailer.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Tiger-Hunter-movie-1.jpg)
I think in some ways I felt the way a lot of minority kids do - that my culture, my identity… weren’t as valid or important as those of others. And starting out, even though that was my goal, the stories I was telling never really reflected my identity. I pursued a career in media and entertainment, because I wanted to educate people, about people.
![trailer for the tiger hunter trailer for the tiger hunter](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Wfq25XFzcUY/hqdefault.jpg)
With The Tiger Hunter opening nationwide September 22nd, director Lena Khan speaks about its immigrant story, how her own identity and experience as a first-generation Indian-American shaped its creation, and why we should support it at the box office this coming weekend.