Pakistan attacks an Indian CRPF convoy. Can a team of
skilled Indian Air Force personnel strike back and eliminate the terrorists
behind the dastardly act?
Touted as India’s answer to Top Gun, Fighter
is an action-thriller starring Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone, Anil Kapoor,
and others. Directed by Siddharth Anand, who gave us crafty action flicks like Bang
Bang, War and Pathaan, does Fighter go a notch up and live up
to the humongous expectations? After all, Pathaan was the first Bollywood movie
to enter the Rs. 500 crore club.
Set in the backdrop of the real-life Pulwama attack on
a CRPF convoy that rocked India in early 2019, followed by the Balakot
retaliation by the India Air Force, Fighter takes ample liberty to
fictionalise the events that shook the sub-continent. We have the Air Force
battling the Jaish-e-Mohammad (which claims responsibility for the attack on
the CRPF) and the Pakistani Army in a series of escalations that threaten to
blow out into a large-scale war between the two neighbours (that is not how the
real-life event played out, and to date, the actual perpetrators of the
terrorist attack have not been identified). Leading the team of avengers in the
Air Force are Group Captain Rakesh Jaisingh (Anil Kapoor), Squadron Leader
Shamsher Pathania ‘Patty’ (Hrithik Rishan), Helicopter Pilot Minnie Rathore
(Deepika Padukone), and other fighter pilots.
Fictionalising a serious real-life event for cinematic
liberties is the last of the movie’s drawbacks. Much more stark is the confused
positioning- Fighter does not know what it wants to be. Is it like Top
Gun, a film about the camaraderie and the travails of airmen? Or a glossy
action flick like Pathaan or a gritty one like Rambo or Commando?
The film gets quite violent, especially in the finale, which involves a
ground-rescue operation of captured hostages. However, the violence does not
appear realistic, and the torture scenes look out of place. So do the dogfight
scenes, which are supposed to be the film’s USP, which has been done using
less-than-decent VFX.
The character development front also leaves much to be
desired. Patty’s romantic backstory with his boss Jaisingh’s sister (which
ended in tragedy) and his forced romance with Minnie look cliched. Minnie’s
turbulent relationship with her father, played by the delectable Ausutosh Rana,
does evoke emotions but feels forced.
What about the acting and direction? The former isn’t
bad per se, especially from the three leads, but there is nothing remarkable to
write about. The director and the actors have all given much better stuff
before, both in and outside the action genre. And the villain? The actor in Fighter
is a poor caricature compared to the powerful performances by Tiger Shroff in War
(that was indeed the actor’s best work to date) and John Abraham in Pathaan.
Another disappointment is the music- both unnecessary romantic songs and patriotic
or motivational numbers. Who could have thought a film with the combined
talents of Siddharth Anand (Anjaana Anjani), Hrithik Roshan (Kaho Naa
Pyaar Hai) and Deepika Padukone (Om Shanti Om, Yeh Jawaani Hai
Deewani) will have such drab numbers?
It was Fighter a few months back. A week back, Bade
Miyaan Chotte Miyaan also met a similar reception by the critics. It is
time for Bollywood to stop making these derivatives of the YRF Spy Universe
films. Without YRF, the vulnerability clearly shows.
Rating: 2 Stars
