- Release Date: 25/01/2024
- Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Anil Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Rishabh Sawhney
- Director: Siddharth Anand
With brilliant aerial combat and influences reminiscent of 80’s Bollywood Masala films, Fighter transcends the label of a wannabe Top Gun rip-off
Let’s address the elephant in the room, to begin with. “Fighter” is not a wannabe “Top Gun” rip-off. While there are elements, dialogues, and scenes that feel awfully similar to “Top Gun” and a whole lot of other films, the story quickly becomes so Indianized and draws its establishing elements from one such horrifying piece of modern Indian history that it becomes impossible to call it a straightforward copy-and-paste job. Unlike many films of this genre, “Fighter” begins slow and concentrates a large chunk of its initial period on building relationships, camaraderie, and interpersonal drama between the characters that form the team of super pilots, if at all I may call them so. I was engaged in these moments, and the only thing that deterred my attention from an otherwise flamboyant depiction of camaraderie and a fast-blossoming romance were some of the cringe-worthy dialogues and unnecessary characters that were included just to meet specific diversity quotas.
The film takes a while before the first action set piece unfolds, and it is here that I realized how wonderfully thought-out and executed the aerial combat sequences were. I was watching the film on one of the largest screens of my town and in 3D, and hence any discrepancy would almost instantaneously find its way to me. Strangely enough, the visual representations of the dogfights and even the training portions of the group of fighter pilots felt unbelievably well done. Dare I say, I wouldn’t mind comparing these sequences with any top-of-the-line Hollywood production. The usage of sound and how the sound is designed around the aircrafts and integrated with the background score and the atmospheric elements contributed heavily to making the aircrafts feel organic and everything that they are shown doing believable and impressive.
The same can be said about the hand-to-hand combat and the gunfights that make up a large portion of the climax. Yes! No Indian hero is a true hero unless he roughs up the antagonist in a typical Bollywood ishtyle. Siddharth Anand, whose cinema sensibility draws heavily from Manmohan Desai-esque masala potboilers, couldn’t bring himself to not have Hrithik pummel the primary antagonist in a finale that would also give his hero ample chance to mouth those emotionally charged lines that were the staple of Bollywood patriotic films of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The action in these moments, no matter how over-the-top, unwarranted, and absolutely insane, was done with a lot of physicality and creativity and will give viewers enough chance to cheer for their heroes. What I loved about them was that I could feel the damage that was being done, and that is something that instantly enhanced the feel of the action for me. The manner of capturing these action setpieces and how they are edited also enhanced their overall impact.
There will be many who will question Siddharth Anand’s choice of having his characters ham dialogues and Shayari in the most inauspicious moments in the film, and they will be right. In Sid’s defence, the only thing that I can say is that his actors pulled off these dialogues through the moments with utter conviction and unabashed attitude that didn’t make them feel as bad as they could have under different circumstances. Sadly, that isn’t something that can be said about the enforced comedy of the film that felt absolutely cringe and bizarre. The only character who has some comic timing and whose rendition of the comedy didn’t feel like an absolute disaster was Karan Singh Grover. He has what can be called the best comic lines, and once he goes offscreen, everything else that is thrown at us in the name of comedy is nothing but unadulterated cringe and crass. If that was not enough, the film tries to infuse this unwanted comedy into some of the most serious moments, destroying these key moments in the process and bringing down the impact of the film along with its realism.
If you remember “Top Gun” and its immensely more popular sequel, “Maverick,” the antagonists mostly remained unnamed and faceless. In “Fighter,” we not only have a traditional huffing-puffing villain with a permanent red eye but also another ace pilot in the enemy country who is just as lethal as our hero, Shamsher Pathania aka Patty (Hrithik Roshan). These two pilots have a long overdue beef to settle, and settle they do in the most dramatic fashion. Their rivalry and enmity are built up quite well, and Patty is given enough reason to hate his enemies’ guts, owing to what he confesses to doing. This feeling quickly escalates and spills over to the audience who are waiting to see this man go down. The other villain, who is essentially an international terrorist, is weak but does his job well enough to not warrant any major complaints. The problem with this character is not so much in the performance of Rishabh Sawhneyas it is in the way the character is written. We never get to understand his genesis, and that creates a disconnect with the character, rendering him as just someone who is out there to destroy India, even though we do not know where his hatred comes from.
“Fighter” is an unusually emotional film that surprised me on numerous occasions with its heartfelt rendering and execution of emotional moments that anchored on clichéd elements but still felt disarming. Mini (Deepika Padukone) plays an ace helicopter pilot who has had to endure the wrath of her parents to be in the Air Force. How her relationship with her parents is dealt with and the wonderful payoff that it builds up to towards the end of the film was one of the emotional highs for me in the film. The scene where Deepika finds a moment of calm and peace with her parents before diving into a roaring volcano of violence and war was a beautiful moment that got me emotional for a few seconds.
The relationship between Patty and his commanding officer Rocky (Anil Kapoor) is another extremely well-realised element of the film. The chemistry between the two feels real, and so does the tension, which not only elevates the impact of the scenes that the two share but also quadruples the emotional and dramatic power of which way the relationship between the two goes in the end. I have to admit that Anil Kapoor is getting better with every film and is probably in the best phase of his acting career. There are scenes where he overtakes Hrithik Roshan in terms of performance and screen presence. The depiction of camaraderie between Hrithik and Karan Singh Grover was also proficiently done.
The blossoming romance between Deepika and Hrithik is beautiful to look at. They are not just two of the best-looking people in Bollywood but also have an electric screen presence. Throughout the film, they know what is brewing between them, but Hrithik cannot bring himself to do what is needed to take the relationship to the next level. They constantly keep trying to kiss but are always violently disturbed by terrifying circumstances. When the kiss finally happens in the film, everything has been set right in their respective lives, and they deserve each other by virtue of all that life has put them through. The romance not only felt honourable but also hard-earned, which, in my opinion, is the best kind.
Dear Reader,
Every day, our team at EastMojo travels through rain, rough roads, and remote hills to bring you stories that matter – stories from your town, your people, your Northeast.
We do this because we believe in truthful, independent journalism. No big corporate backing, no government pressure – just honest reporting by local journalists who live and breathe the same air you do.
But to keep doing this work, we need you. Your small contribution helps us pay our reporters fairly, reach places others ignore, and keep asking the tough questions.
If you believe the Northeast deserves its own fearless voice, stand with us.
Support independent journalism. Be a Member.
Thank you,
Karma Paljor
Editor-in-Chief, eastmojo.com
“Fighter” is 2 hours and 46 minutes long. It didn’t need to be that long. There were at least two songs that could be chopped and one of these songs that felt extremely jarring as the film transitioned from a serious moment in the story directly to that song, which felt ill-placed. The comedy needed to be done away with completely. Some of the unnecessary characters, like the Sikh stereotype, needed to be chopped. The film would have gained heavily had it had a more serious tone. Siddharth Anand also needed to do a whole lot more research to give the characters, situations, and everything else about the Air Force and the terrorism elements of the film a lot more character, realism, and gusto. There needed to be more information, and they didn’t need to simplify everything for the dumbest person in the theatre. They should have trusted their audience to make the effort to decipher things that may not have been served to them on a platter. The climactic fight sequence needed to be toned down. Had Siddharth Anand concentrated more on infusing realism in the execution, he would have actually made the characters a lot more heroic and laudable, and that would have transformed his film into a whole new beast.
“Fighter” exceeded my expectations by a mile, delivering an experience at least 10 times superior to Siddharth Anand’s previous blockbuster, “Pathaan”. The flawless execution of computer-generated imagery and aerial fight sequences is nothing short of cinematic brilliance. The performances from the key players hit all the right emotional notes, immersing the audience in the story. The film boasts a wicked background score that is destined to find a spot in many playlists. As the credits roll, “Fighter” leaves a lingering, satisfying taste—one far beyond what I could have anticipated from a film of this nature.
Rating: 3/5 (3 out of 5 Stars)
The views expressed in this article are that of the reviewer and do not reflect EastMojo’s position.
Also Read | ‘The Beekeeper’: A rollercoaster of clichés, surprises and wish-fulfilment