Let's take a look at Siddharth Anand's Fighter, which is presently showing in theaters and stars Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone in pivotal parts. Anything from movie collections to movie collections themselves tends to be a little unsettling and frightening. As a critic for movies, you try not to think about it until you see a film like Fighter and realize just how fully Hindi cinema has been monetized. Pathan, Jawan, or even Barbie might have the entirely fictitious "Box Office Achievement" as the pitch mark.Everything there is to know about Fighter has been revealed in the trailer.
I don't fabricate anything; the story is authentic as it gets. That's not always a bad thing. A trailer's design and structure can nevertheless wow you even though it gives away the major plot ideas.I call the space where Fighter is present the Formless Film Field. A dimension where arcs, travels, acts, conflict, and structure float around before wispily dissipating, shrouded in a light mist. In this simpler, parallel world, there's little difference between what makes an Instagram loop and a film, especially ones created for our ever-diminishing attention span. In this universe, stories might not matter much as long as they occupy as much space as popular culture permits.
In The Formless Film Field, there's an unsettling amount of movie stars drooling over each other, pretending to provide you with amazing pleasure, but in the end, they're just interested in the cartoonish money symbols floating over their viewers' heads. Occasionally, an Atlee starring Jawan comes along, and by remaining in this genre, they manage to write a narrative with some depth in the three seconds we are willing to give anything visual these days. But "franchises" are primarily found in the nebulous film business. Special zones are designated for writers of the cop universe, action movie sequel think tanks.
Hrithik Roshan portrays Shamsher Pathania, also known as Patty, while Deepika Padukone plays Minal Rathore, Minni. They are a part of the Dragon Squad, which is headed by Anil Kapoor as Rocky, along with several other individuals. Rocky exhibits displeasure as his default emotion from the opening to the closing scenes. I miss the days when Anil Kapoor's role in the Race films was the only thing that could be stated negatively about the flawless and visually stunning actor. Over the last few months, that has changed. Siddharth Anand and co-writer Ramon Chhib attempt to lend the characters a tinge of realism.
Outside of their work relationship, Patty is plagued with angst from an unfulfilled love story, Minal's father disapproves of her overachieving daughter for no apparent reason, and Rocky harbors resentment at her. The screenplay for this, as far as I could find, is the first feature film written by TV producer and army veteran Ramon Chhib. .The character development, however, is entirely irrelevant because everyone must work together as a team in order for India to triumph and danger is approaching.
One may infer it is the story of a classic hero who must overcome great challenges in order to beat the evil guys, if not an underdog story, then at least one in which the good guys are unfairly disadvantaged. Even when Pakistan makes bad decisions, Bollywood's jingoistic and hyper-nationalist cinema of 2024 doesn't fully accept that Pakistan is to blame. Based on a real story, the Indian Air Force complained about the movie's unfavorable portrayal of their institution in a letter to the Censor Board more than 4 years ago.
That means that in an all-male attack group, a woman's main responsibilities are to pilot a helicopter in a single scene, dance to three songs from the Pathan redux, and fall in love with the lead actor. Everyone wants to feel comfortable, and there is no room for compromise—that is, unless they are Pakistanis. In this film, men who fly green fighter jets with in-built speakers chant so loudly, "Janaab, jaayaz, jung," that it might almost be painted as a battle cry on the side of those planes. Fighter doesn't care if Pakistani moviegoers who enjoy Hindi cinema never again see a Hrithik Roshan film. And there's the evil superlord Azhar Akhtar, who is the closest thing in name to Muslim Musalman, I believe. The character Luke Kenny from Rock On is remarkably similar to Rishabh Sawhney's Azhar.
We find out from the very first scene that Azhar is the mastermind behind a number of major bomb blasts that have occurred all around the world. Considering his impressive biographical background, he ought to be given total control over the war decisions made by the Pakistani army. Neither we nor him are questioned. The only thing you can hope for this guy is that his snarls and grimaces will eventually cause him to pass away.
Do not misinterpret; that combatant IS asking for blood. The film's dialogue writer, Hussain Dalal, and possibly auxiliary dialogue writer Biswapati Sarkar heroically try to draw attention to the film's ki Islamophobic nahi hai. "Jai Hind" is sung frequently, but Patty's claim to Kashmir is challenged when she cries "Maalik Hum Hain" and then goes on to warn a "India Occupied Pakistan" after saying "There should be no civilian casualties," "kyunki hamaari jung desh se nahi aatankwaadiyon se hai." "Rules se zyada zaroori jeet hai sir," says one person, while "ab jung hogi" is said by another. But before participants begin battling fiercely once more, editor Arif Sheikh quickly and recklessly cuts away to a hyper-sexy song scene one day before our Republic Day, lest the proceedings turn too propaganda-adjacent. Except for Hrithik and Deepika, who never stop working. We return to our regular programming after the artistic break with lines like "Unhe sabak sikhaana hai toh unki bhasha mein jawaab dena hoga," which reminds us of the way sentiments are reflected in Hindi cinema.
I began to question if I was the only one. Is it just me, or is reading national and worldwide news about the status of the world, wars, deaths, damage, and overall helplessness making me so tired that this reaction—or rather, the lack of one—occurs? It's kind of amazing that they used real jets and tarmacs to bring this to life. So I tried to look away from the flashy rhetoric for a bit. The movie Fighter is the outcome of the motion picture business being totally commercialized, meaning that everyone involved is driven only by the desire to gain money from the film. As they say in the film world, "Fighter is nothing more than business." Or, if that's not enough, head to a movie theater. It starts by praising our present minister for information and broadcasting by name, so at least there won't be any letters to the censor board this time.
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