Fighter Movie Review: Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone's Aerial Actioner Gets Grounded By Its Generic Storytelling Beats (LatestLY Exclusive)

Fighter Movie Review: If you plan to seek out that one true love, look for that kind of spark which Siddharth Anand's camera ignites for Hrithik Roshan. Living up to the adage 'beauty or art is in the eye of the beholder', Anand's frames somehow manage to make an already dashing star like Hrithik Roshan look even more dashing. Just see how he managed that with Bang Bang and War, and now Fighter - their latest endeavour -  also living up to the trend, with the added benefit of seeing the star in an Air Force uniform. It's when jingoism and some very generic war-drama storytelling - with some infusion of propaganda - come to play is where the spell is broken for Fighter. Fighter Movie Review: Netizens are in Awe of Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone's Patriotic Aerial Actioner.

What's Fighter About?

Inspired by real-life events surrounding the Pulwama terrorist attack, the Indian Air Force's retaliation, and the capture of Flight Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, Fighter takes liberal liberties to weave a somewhat humdrum tale of redemption. Shamsher Pathania (Hrithik Roshan), Codename Patty, is touted as the best fighter pilot in the IAF. Despite his prowess, his presence in the Srinagar unit is unwelcome by his commanding officer, Rakesh Jai Singh, aka Rocky (Anil Kapoor).

You see, Patty is what we get if Top Gun's Maverick is just about to enter a mid-life crisis; he is a daredevil pilot who can perform unbelievable aerial stunts but allegedly doesn't care much for the safety of his co-pilots. In the past, his one such daredevilry act caused a crucial causality, which still haunts Patty and has also driven a wedge between him and Rocky.

Watch the Trailer of Fighter:

Apart from Patty and Rocky, the unit includes Taj (Karan Singh Grover), Bash (Akshay Oberoi), and Minni (Deepika Padukone), a rescue pilot. The initial portions are about the unit bonding, Minni competing with the camera to catch Patty's attention and succeeding at that. However, the enemy is close by, with a dangerous mastermind, Azhar Akhtar (Rishabh Sawhney), waiting to strike at the right moment. He uses local brainwashed militants to carry out the Pulwama blast. IAF retaliates in style, the Pakistani AF does a sneak attack; but in trying to get back at them, Patty's unit loses two pilots, and the blame falls on him. Fighter then delves into how he redeems himself while bringing down the enemies.

Where Fighter Soars High

The aerial stunt sequences, a highlight of Sidharth Anand's film, are well-executed, though lacking the meticulousness of Top Gun: Maverick, an unfortunate comparison Fighter simply cannot avoid, and for valid reasons. Apart from a couple of scenes, I found the dogfight sequences to be well-done and engaging enough, though my fave scene was actually the training exercise one where we are first introduced to Patty's daredevilry, but also his foolhardiness. However, the aerial fight scene in the climax could have been better conceptualised, going from Top Gun to, well, eh, Beast. The land combat scenes in the finale, however, are a major disappointment with shaky cam and shakier editing playing spoilsport.

While Hrithik fans may hate the Top Gun comparisons, I have to say Fighter does best when it veers close to both the Top Gun films. I also believe that Siddharth Anand himself enjoys the comparisons (not just with Top Gun) and even plays around with the influences, like the scene where leather jacket-wearing Patty and Minni go on bike rides. One of the film's few nicer moments has Patty guiding a rookie pilot to safety and finding redemption in that moment. It reminded me of a scene in a similar context in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Anand perhaps even underlines the parallel by naming the pilot, NJ. Geddit, geddit?

Where Fighter Gets Grounded...

However, Fighter falters when delving into Indo-Pak rivalry and jingoistic chest-thumping. It attempts to emulate Uri: The Surgical Strike but lacks the necessary 'josh.' With a minister saying lines like '50 saal mein kuch nahi kar paaye par ab hum aise nahi baithenge', you just know which side the film wants to lean to, but for Fighter to make that kind of impact on its targeted fanbase like Uri did, the movie has to go all way out or don't go there at all. The middle approach tempers down the impact, even if it tries to compensate for that by having Patty go all Tara Singh on the villain. The dialogue needed to play a crucial part here, like with Uri, but Fighter has some very ordinary lines even when it goes all out (Hussain Dalal, not you again!). The finale swings between bombastic and ludicrous; at one point, I even assumed the film would show how our fighter jets entered enemy territory, taking 'benefit' of 'cloud cover'. Instead, we get an IAF pilot tricking their surveillance with some bad Russian. Oh well...

What's more, the whole political angle even hampers the character arcs and even ignores some crucial plot points. In one scene, the villain growls about going on an all-out jung with India, but the film never bothers with that plot point. In fact, I really don't know what the antagonist was aiming to do in the second half. Patty was ideally supposed to have a great equation with Taj, just like Maverick has with Goose in Top Gun, but even though Fighter doesn't exactly take the route of the Tom Cruise film, that was needed to give more dramatic weight to Patty's redemption, especially in the finale. Which is not the case here. This is despite the fact the film is nearly three hours long. Fighter: Hrithik Roshan-Deepika Padukone Starrer Now BANNED in UAE Following Release Restrictions in Other Gulf Countries - Advantage For Mohanlal's Malaikottai Vaaliban?

What's Up, Deepika?

For the matter, even the romantic track between Patty and Minni feels dispirited. Fighter brings two good-looking stars and expects them to create chemistry on their own. The trailer had promised major sparks to fly between Hrithik and Deepika in the film, and I had wondered then why no one had thought of pairing them before. But after watching the movie, I just couldn't find one scene where they even singed a single frame, forget setting the screen on fire. Their one kiss feels chaste and awkward, and "Ishq Jaisa Kuch" song is bundled with the end-credits. Fighter: Deepika Padukone Dispels Rumours of Fallout As She Joins Hrithik Roshan and Anil Kapoor To Promote Siddharth Anand’s Film (Watch Video).

I want to believe it also has something to do with how weakly Deepika's character was written while wondering what attracted the actress to her role. Her whole thing was wanting to prove herself in an arena dominated by men, even if it meant going against her sexist father's wishes. Even if you forget Udaan and Gunjan Saxena existed before this movie, the arc doesn't give her anything important to do, and even her one solo moment is triggered by the intervention of Patty, who solves her problem with just one monologue. So much about proving herself in the world of men.

A Hrithik Roshan Show, Out and Out!

As for Hrithik, Fighter is his show, and the superstar does justice to most of the scenes. There was one emotional scene with Sanjeeda Sheikh's character where I felt his performance wavered towards how he acted in tear-jerking scenes in Koi Mil Gaya, but otherwise, he is just great. Anil Kapoor is serviceable; he is good in the scenes where he needs to establish his authority but is otherwise hampered by the reductive scope of his character. Karan Singh Grover and Akshay Oberoi have crucial roles but not enough screen time to make a good impact. Rishabh Sawhney is okay as the perfunctory antagonist whose intentions and motivations are simply muddled.

Final Thoughts on Fighter

While benefitting from Hrithik Roshan's imposing screen presence and aerial fight scenes, Fighter lacks the chutzpah that Siddharth Anand's earlier films, like Pathaan and even, to some extent, War, had. Most of the film is bogged down by the generic beats that come with attempting an India-Pakistan rivalry narrative, and Fighter just couldn't strike that right balance between a Top Gun-redemption tale and going the Uri way.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 25, 2024 01:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).