A 1986 movie that gave a pilot a second chance at redemption went viral around the globe. The standard for what an aerial action movie plane should look like was established by Tom Cruise’s Top Gun. Up until Cruise’s return in a reimagined version of the franchise in 2022, numerous attempts were made to replicate the formula, but nothing ever came close to the original. Fighter, directed by Siddharth Anand, uses a few themes from Top Gun to set the stage for a fast-moving tale of bravery, patriotism, and honoring the avian heroes who defend our nation. The fact that the cast is led by two attractive actors, Hritik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, doesn’t hurt either.
If Rajkumar Hirani is the king of feel-good movies and nobody can top Karan Johar’s family dramas, then Siddarth Anand has made a name for himself with his extravagant, attractive masala entertainers. That writing has adopted a patriotic tone with Fighter. There’s a formula that is followed each time a movie deals with Kashmir and the Indo-Pakistan dispute. Following the lead, Siddharth Anand injects plenty of glitz-adrenaline action sequences and patriotic music, such as Vande Mataram and Jai Hind, into the mix. In this film, Anand has a way of introducing his men.
Whether it’s the chic opening sequence of SRK in Pathaan or Hritik Roshan’s earlier screen appearances in Bang Bang and even War, However, he tries something new in Fighter. He gives a great opening scene to Deepika Paduckone’s character Minni before introducing the main character, Hrittik Roshan’s Patty. The big action scenes aren’t rushed by the director because of the film’s scope. He introduces us to the Air Force pilots for the majority of the first part. Under the leadership of Anil Kapoor’s Rocky, Rakesh Jaisingh, the Air Dragons are made up of Deepika Padukone’s Minni, Rithik Roshan’s Patty, Karan Singh Grover’s Taj, and Akshay Oberoi’s Bash.
The Pulwama attack and the events that preceded and followed it are central to the story. Fighter’s plot revolves around the filmmaker’s recent discovery of how to craft a genuine potboiler that incorporates patriotic sentiments. The true hero of Fighter is found in the action sequence. Anand avoids drawing any parallels to Top Gun by coming up with a unique color scheme for the key shots. The right amount of action and emotion is presented in the first half, but the second half flatters and then picks up right before the juicy climax. The pairing of Hritik and Deepika is a brilliant and successful move.
Fighter feels a little entangled in its own web of trying to balance being commercially viable with maintaining the integrity of its sentimental appeal, in contrast to Pathaan’s free spirit. After a while, the scenes where Patty plays word games or teaches us how to love the country start to grow old.
