Opening with a spellbinding air stunt by Squadron Leader Shamsher Pathania (Hrithik Roshan) that instantly impresses Squadron Leader Minal Rathore (Deepika Padukone), Fighter is a compelling watch right up-to the first half.
With a mesmerizing air-combat sequence that is preceded with some awesome air maneuvers by the Airforce Pilots, Siddharth Anand’s directorial venture comes up to the mark in the beginning. Anil Kapoor as the Group Captain Rocky is entrusted with the task of keeping the best of India’s airforce pilots to their fighting best.
Fighter promises excellent production values and captivating thrills in the sky. It definitely deserves appreciation for the effort to showcase the Indian Airforce as equally comparable to its counterparts of the west. Though the filmmaker makes it clear in it’s disclaimer in the beginning that the film is a work of fiction, there are several indirect references to the instances of the recent past like the Balakot strikes and the likes.
The film ignites the pride in you with the display of Indian Airforce’s capabilities and it’s might, that are second to none. After building up much expectations in the first half, the narration slows the momentum with doses of Naari Shakti mentions and literary an ‘over-dose’ of patriotism that becomes repetitive.
What promised to be a start-to-end thrilling film of an Indianized version of Top Gun or a Mission Impossible, turns out to have a mediocre second half of emotions, family bonding, nationalism and a vehicle of propaganda of Women-power. Wait…. the end is yet to come with a never ending one-to-one fist fight and unimaginable display of fighting stamina which used to be a part of the Bollywood flicks a decade or two ago. The fight between Hrithik and the antagonist Rishab Sawhney is just overly stretched that is tiring to view.
Anil Kapoor is the best performer in this action flick, Hrithik Roshan’s performance just passes the average yardstick and Deepika Padukone’s character doesn’t match up to Rocky and Patty’s efforts.
A tiring watch of a running time of 166 minutes with at least 20 minutes that could have been chopped to make it truly an interesting watch throughout. Be ready for an illogical decision by Rocky brushing aside the Airforce protocols and declaring that he doesn’t care for any Court Martial as he decides to plunge himself into the war zone (evokes giggles) to eliminate the enemy.
Cast of Fighter:
Hrithik Roshan as Squadron Leader Shamsher Pathania (Patty)
Deepika Padukone as Squadron Leader Minal Rathore (Minnie)
Anil Kapoor as Group Captain Rakesh Jai Singh (Rocky)
Karan Singh Grover as Squadron Leader Sartaj Gill (Taj)
Akshay Oberoi as Squadron Leader Basheer Khan
Rishabh Sawhney as Azhar Akhtar
Sanjeeda Sheikh as Saanchi Gill, Taj’s wife
Ashutosh Rana as Abhijeet Rathore (Minnie’s father)
Geeta Agrawal as Usha Rathore (Minnie’s mother)
Talat Aziz as Patty’s father
Sharib Hashmi as Wing Commander Varthaman
Sanjeev Jaiswal as Majeed Khan
Baveen Singh as Squadron Leader Sukhdeep Singh (Sukhi)
Mahesh Shetty as Squadron Leader Rajan Unnithan (Unni)
Seerat Mast as Squadron Leader Naina Jai Singh (NJ) and Patty’s ex-fiancée
Credits of Fighter:
Production companies – Viacom18 Studios, Marflix Pictures
Directed by Siddharth Anand
Story by Ramon Chibb, Siddharth Anand
Screenplay by Ramon Chibb
Dialogues – Hussain Dalal, Abbas Dalal
Produced by Mamta Anand, Ajit Andhare, Anku Pande, Ramon Chibb, Kevin Vaz
Cinematography – Satchith Paulose
Edited by Aarif Sheikh
Music – Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara
Songs – Vishal–Shekhar