The shortest review of Fighter would be “Top Gun Maverick, the Siddharth Anand Re-make”. I don’t want to say if Maverick made by Bollywood, because Bollywood has come such a long way in telling so many more stories than the only-pop cinema genre.
Fighter is the story of Patty (Hrithik), the alpha leader and his group of fighter pilots, enrolled into the Kashmir order to fight cross-border militancy and terrorism. Under their Commanding Officer Rocky (who else these days but Anil Kapoor), they train, party, fight, lament losses of fellow soldiers, fall in love, get their hearts broken, but most of all win multiple battles against Pak militants, with full on adrenaline pumping patriotic action sequences, and in style. Loosely tracing the real life events linked to Pulwama and Balakot in 2019 (once again curiously in an election year), the film celebrates the brave fighters our of Air Force, and the intertwining of their personal back stories and emotions, as they fight the enemies outside threatening their homeland, while also fighting the demons inside and in their own homes. Expectedly ending in the grand climax of the final battle, that destroys the bad guys, delivering the revenge for the lives we’ve lost, as well as a big win for our country.
Perfectly timed release on Jan 26th when all of our collective patriotism is at its peak, the movie hits the spot in pressing all the right buttons of the audience. It is as predictable as it can be, as cliched as it can be, and as old school Bollywood as it can be, and yet Siddharth Anand, as always, has us eating from the palm of his hands. We feel the national flag rising inside of us every time a terrorist insults India. We feel the rush every time an Indian soldier beats the shit out of the bad guys. We feel the loss when our brave soldiers die valiantly at the hands of the enemy. We even tear up when Minni's (Deepika) parents realize how regressively patriarchal they have been in estranging themselves from their one and only daughter due to her choice of becoming a pilot, instead of ‘settling down’.
Call us suckers and you would be right.
And Siddharth Anand knows it and plays us completely.
The one thing we do deeply lament though, once again, is the lack of real agency in the women characters. On the face of it, the film shows strong women fighting for their country, despite all resistance from their families and society. But scratch one level, and they are all waiting for a night in shining armour to rescue them physically or emotionally. Sanchi, a fighter pilot equal in every way to her co-pilot husband Taj, just becomes an emotional prop waiting for Patty to rescue her husband. Chopper pilot Enjay, Patty's now matryred fiance, the shadow in his past and a large part of Rocky's angst against Patty, is all anchored on how Patty doesn't save her. And finally and perhaps the most disappointing is Minni, as the lead female actor, who despite all the feminism in her character, becomes a second fiddle assistant fighter or a lover, desperately seeking her prince. All of this, again becomes a humble reminder on how far we still have to go as a society.
However, the action and the special effects are as good as any Hollywood film. The shots are gorgeous as are all the actors. The music is classic Vishal-Sekhar fare and plays a good companion to the overall feel of the film. And, refreshingly, there is no major intellectual pursuit or point the film is trying to make. What’s not to like.
Overall, A good, fun, action-packed thrill ride, with dollops of patriotic fervour that is the norm of the hour anyway. Enjoy it. Why not.
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