It comes as no surprise that Fighter is a Hrithik Roshan (air) show. But unlike War (2019), it doesn’t preach at the altar of the Greek God. The film presents Hrithik with a character that is vulnerable and fallible. The actor plays the hero with a restrained conviction. The villains, on the other hand, are again a bunch of ‘janab’ uttering Pakistanis. Roshan Sawhney, as the mastermind, with one red eye and a cigar between his lips, has only the style and not the substance of a Bond villain. The Pak representation isn’t unnecessarily vile but is ludicrously cliched. They are portrayed as the deceivers, the backstabbers, while the Indian Defence Forces maintain the stance of being disciplined and righteous. “We are not like them,” barks Anil, when Karan’s Taj expresses a need for aggressive retaliation.Fighter seems to constantly undergo a tug-of-war between being patriotic and going full-blown jingoistic. Through its nationalist diatribes, it wants to attract the attention of the lowest common denominator but is unable to let go of its moral stance. At several instances the film clarifies that the country is fighting terrorism and not its unfriendly neighbour. But by the climax, the gloves are off as Patty punches the antagonist’s head with needless threats. “Kashmir is ours, you occupied it.” Ah damn, here we go again.Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone, Anil Kapoor, Karan Singh Grover, Akshay Oberoi, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Ashutosh Rana, Sharib Hashmi, Geeta AgrawalDirected by: Siddharth Anand Rating: 3/5 stars(This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)
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