On this day 11 years ago, the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks ended with Operation Black Tornado that culminated in the death of attackers at the Taj Hotel and "Hotel Mumbai" director Anthony Maras believes people tend to come together in the face of tragedies like these.
The Australian filmmaker said it was a great opportunity for him to delve deep into the emotions of the people of Mumbai who could see a ray of hope even in the darkest of situations.
"One of the frequent things that you would hear people say in the aftermath of the attacks is 'Mumbai is one, India is one'. It got people together. I think there's something in the human psychology, where we deeply bond when something terrible has happened," Maras told PTI in an interview.
The director said during his research he was amazed how the 2008 attacks came as a moment of realisation for many survivors.
"What was interesting about the attacks was that among a lot of the people who survived among the guests of the Taj had very profound self-realisation.
"After having gone through this, a wealthy hedge-fund banker in America gave up his job and started charities and NGOs to promote tolerance, understanding and education," he added.
More From This Section
Maras said the fact that the staff of The Taj Mahal Palace hotel managed to reopen it just two years after the attacks showed that they emerged even stronger post the horrendous incident.
"What you find when you see the movie, one of the most profound sequences is the footage of coverage of the reopening of the Taj two years later. They had people come from all across the world as well as all the surviving staff.
"The message was 'we will not be cowed by this, we're stronger together'. It's amazing that people can find the positive, even in the darkest of situations."
"The thing that struck me and really made me want to tell the story was this idea that you had all of these people from different walks of life, various races, religions, interesting social-economic backgrounds, put aside their differences and supported one another."