One of the most anticipated Hindi language movies of 2024, Fighter, was released on January 25, coinciding with India’s Republic Day in IMAX 3D. The movie was produced and directed by Siddharth Anand through Marflix Pictures and released by Prime Focus Studios and Paramount Pictures in the United States.
The film stars Hrithik Roshan as Squadron Leader Shamsher “Patty” Pathania, Deepika Padukone as Squadron Leader Minal “Minni” Rathore, and Anil Kapoor as Group Captain Rakesh “Rocky” Jaisingh in the lead roles.
Vishal Dadlani and Sheykhar Ravjiani composed the original motion picture soundtrack through the music label T-Series Music. Ankit Balhara and Sanchit Balhara composed and produced the original background music.
Siddharth Anand and Ramon Chibb wrote the story of Fighter during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in 2020. The filming of Fighter took place between November 14, 2022, and October 30, 2023, in most parts of India, Switzerland, Georgia, and Sardinia, Italy.
Many people on the internet referred to Fighter as a Bollywood inspiration or knock-off for Top Gun (1986) and Top Gun: Maverick (2022). However, the film partially fictionalizes the actual events of the 2019 Pulwama attack, the 2019 Balakot airstrike, and the 2019 India-Pakistan border skirmishes.
The Story
In 2018, Azhar Akhtar (Rishabh Ravinder Sawhney), a most wanted terrorist from an organization called Jaish and affiliated with the Pakistan army, planned to target an Air Force Base and the Indian Air Force in Srinagar, Kashmir, India.
In 2019, Group Captain Rocky and several squadron leaders formed a group called the Air Dragons to become skilled fighter pilots. However, on February 14, Azhar Akhtar organized a vehicular suicide bomb attack with an affiliated terrorist to kill innocent Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers in Pulwama, India.
After much deliberation, the Indian government vows to get revenge against the terrorist forces. As part of the mission, the squadron leaders fly their jets from different Indian cities to airstrike Azhar’s terrorist training camp in Balakot, Pakistan, where he stored his weapons. The Indian Army believed that it was a successful mission. After that, Azhar (who survived the airstrike) decided with the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) to declare war on the Indian Air Force and the Pakistan Air Force around the LOC (Line of Control).
During the war, it was first unexpected for the Air Dragons that Pakistan Air Force pilots would come to destroy the Srinagar Air Force Base. Rocky gave orders to his squadron leaders. Two of the Air Dragons squadron leaders, Sartaj “Taj” Gill (Karan Singh Grover) and Basheer “Bash” Khan (Akshay Oberoi), were hit in Pakistan during the war.
Hrithik Roshan as Squadron Leader Shamsher “Patty” Pathania in Fighter movie still.
Hrithik Roshan flew on a Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet for 12 days during the production of Fighter.
Patty was suspended from the Air Dragons team for his negligence; he was sent to the Air Force Academy in Hyderabad, India, as a flying instructor.
A month later, Patty came back to Srinagar. At the same time, Taj and Bash were supposed to arrive from Pakistan, yet suddenly, Bash died from being tortured brutally by Azhar. In the aftermath of Bash’s death, Air Dragons secretly brought Garud Commando Force soldiers by disabling their locations from Pakistan’s radars; they came to rescue Taj and destroy Azhar’s new camp.
Again, Azhar survived and unstoppably attacked most of Taj’s rescuers with the Jaish. Meanwhile, the Air Dragons had difficulty when another war with Pakistan Air Force pilots occurred, losing their way to save Taj. Suddenly, one of the Air Dragons squadron leaders, Sukhdeep “Sukhi” Singh (Banveen Singh), came to the camp to help the soldiers. However, Azhar brutally injured him and urged him to say ‘Jai Hind,’ meaning “Victory to India” in English.
So Patty and Rocky decided to save Sukhi after Patty got a new chance to help the Air Dragons. Once Patty came to Azhar’s destroyed camp, he stopped Azhar from harming Sukhi, and they fought. Lastly, Patty stops Azhar with a seatbelt on a jeep, and Azhar falls into an open shed with explosives.
The Indian Air Force celebrated Patty’s victory and proved he succeeded in a mission after all his past failures.
Why see Fighter in IMAX 3D?
Fighter had the chance to get an IMAX 3D release in selected IMAX auditoriums across the world.
Fighter is a patriotic action story of aviators who save their country and people from the external dangers of terrorism. It is the first Bollywood aerial action movie, despite the Indian and the Pakistan Air Forces.
When enjoying the film in IMAX 3D with glasses, flying fighter jets are seen more extensively and are better captured as the director intended. During scenes with fighter jets, gunshots, missiles, and other explosive material, the seats in the IMAX auditorium rumble in action.
The songs in the movie, like Sher Khul Gaye, Ishq Jaisa Kuchh (the mid-credits scene), Heer Asmaani, Dil Banaane Waaleya, and Bekaar Dil, allow the audience to enjoy the music through IMAX’s 12-channel Precision Sound system.
During the production of Fighter, director Anand confirmed that a sequel is in the works.
It is confirmed that Fighter will be available on Netflix by the end of March 2024.
