Siddharth Anand and Hrithik Roshan have collaborated yet again, and this time it's a huge step up from their previous collaboration War. This time in 'Fighter', the director actor duo tells us the story of fighter pilot Shamsher Pathania's (Hrithik Roshan) squad Air Dragons, who take on the Pakistani fighter jets after the Pulwama attack on February 14, 2019. Fighter also stars Deepika Padukone as Minal Rathore Anil Kapoor as Rakesh Jai Singh Karan Singh Grover as Sartaj Gill and Akshay Oberoi as Basheer Khan. The film is produced by Siddharth Anand's Marflix productions.
What works
There have been very few action films that emphasises on aerial action. While Hollywood made the first Top Gun film in the 80's, the Indian film industry has never tried it's hand on the same. Fighter can be termed as the first proper aerial action thriller film of India with a terrific execution. The story and screenplay by Siddharth Anand and Ramon Chibb draws it's inspiration from the Pulwama Attacks and Balakot air strikes of 2019 and is very well crafted. The screenplay sets it's tone nicely and gradually moves towards the core plot of the film. The making of the squad 'Air Dragons' is shown with very good detailing. The growing bond between the different people, joking among themselves and discovering a new found friendship is very well shown.
The direction has been equally good. The call signs of every squadron leader, their interaction, their in flight operations and other aspects of The Indian Air Force have been very well designed. Siddharth Anand doesn't over explain every detail of the film inspite of knowing the fact that people may have limited knowledge about how things work in Air Force. This helps the film being organic and not a syllabus complying lecture about fighter planes. The character designs have been very good indeed. Shamsher Pathania played by Hrithik Roshan is a very layered character. He is all about style and swag but deep down, he has emotions and his own share of failures. Deepika Padukone's character Minal Rathore is a fighter pilot who has joined Air Force against her father's wishes. The tables turn during the second half of the film and it's presented nicely. The emotions and drama that this film has is really applaud worthy. Hrithik's backstory of his fiancee, his equation with Anil Kapoor and Deepika's portions with her parents are really commendable. Even, Karan Singh Grover and Akshay Oberoi have been given equal space in the film. Their relation with their family is well crafted too. In fact, the emotions shown after the Pulwama attacks is just awesome. Some referencing have been used (similar to Anand's last film Pathaan) which is great. The dialogues are very well written. Some of the punchlines work really well and do not sound immature.
The performances are great in the film. Hrithik Roshan shines as Shamsher Pathania and so does Anil Kapoor. Deepika Padukone acts subtly, and that adds to the urban nature of the film. The chemistry between Hrithik and Deepika is good, but not upto the expectations. It maybe because Siddharth Anand intentionally kept the chemistry toned down to remain true to the plot. If it were a very sizzling chemistry as we expected, all the emotional elements and backstories in the plot would hold no value. Nonetheless, the chemistry is good; Although toned down, Hrithik-Deepika sizzle quite well !
Talking about the technical aspects, the bgm by Sanchit and Ankit Balhara is upbeat and energetic. The intense version of Vande Maataram, whenever it plays on screen is fantastic. The music by Vishal Shekhar is good. All the songs have not been included in the film, and that's nice as it doesn't hamper the screenplay. The vfx department has done a stupendous job here. Not a single scene seems fake and one cannot identify the cgi effects. It all seems so natural and organic. The aerial action especially looks fantastic on screen. Satchith Paulose has again done a good job as the cinematographer. The aerial action has been shot very well, the handheld camera work is nice. The final hand to hand combat could've been a little less shaky although.
The action choreography is brilliant. The aerial combat is too good. To achieve all those stunts using cgi ain't no joke, but it all seems so fine here. In fact, the climax action sequence is a hand to hand combat, probably to meet audience's needs. The entire action department doesn't dissappoint at all, and is the main highlight of the film.
What doesn't work
Siddharth Anand has not been able to write a menacing villain for any of his films (Pathaan being the only exception). Fighter is no different. Rishabh Sawhney plays the villain Azhar Akhtar, the head of a terrorist organisation. Although he performs good is almost all the aspects, it's the average writing of his character that let's him down. He looks menacing, does menacing job, but somehow doesn't feel menacing. He has done well in the film, but would've probably done better with better writing.
Conclusion
Fighter opens an entire genre for action films in India. We can expect more of aerial action from upcoming big budget action films, which will be amazing. Fighter is not just an entertaining action thriller film. Rather, it's a detailed action drama film that has a terrific execution. Fighter, although not a mass movie, has several mass and high moments which provides no nonsense entertainment. The film is very patriotic, but not jingoistic at all. This is where Fighter wins as a film. The mass audience, especially the single screen audience however may not completely relate with the film because of it's urban nature. Although there are several aspects which cater to the mass audience, the makers should not expect a repeat viewing from the mass people. Films like these deserve good collections at the box office as that will encourage the makers to keep on experimenting in the action genre. This film is a must watch in the theatres to witness what Indian films are capable of.
Recommendation
8/10
