Fighter

Can't remember the last time I watched a Bollywood movie that focused solely on Indian Air Force. This Siddharth Anand's film surely falls in that category.

India's best combat aviators join forces to form Air Dragons at Srinagar Airbase in attempt to deny their notorious neighbor Pakistan who along with a terrorist group are planning yet another attack on Indian military bases.

Visual effects in this movie are above Bollywood standards with scenes of Sukhoi and Dhruv flying are treat to watch.

Casting team too did their part as one cannot think of anyone better than Hrithik and Deepika leading a pack of Aviators.

Surely a must watch that too in theater.

Great interval episode which lasted about 30 minutes. Great aviation scenes. Very rarely we see such scenes in Indian movies. Hrithik's screen presence is as usual great. He suited the part. As far as the authentic Indian Navy's portrayal on to the screen is concerned, they did their best. That's all is what I can think about what worked for me in the movie.

Everything else is just decently packed and never impressed me in any sorts. The story itself is thin and predictable. A lot more writing is needed to make a solid movie. The love track was meh. Unnecessary and stretched. No proper character arc for Anil Kapoor. He hates Hrithik, dances with him, again hates him, and again loves him.

Nothing really happened in the first hour of the first half and the first 30 minutes of the second half. Whatever happened in the last 45 minutes was boring / predictable/ rushed.

I left the theatre with a bit of disappointment. One would expect more from this combo, especially with Sid after War and Pathaan. Not a bad movie either.

Till interval it resonated as if it's a story based on pulwama attack. However, after interval movie went in different direction and lost the control. Few things I don't understand -

1. Why love story and all? Was it required? Unwanted bollywood masala.

2. When pakistan fully imposed no fly zone and you guys shown that india used passenger plane as proxy to enter enemy airspace, what about the chopper's? How did they enter no fly zone without proxy? Such a big blunder in script.

3. Even after air strike twice the terrorist doesn't die... Come on, be practical. Is that possible.. You have shown terrorists are more powerful and trained that Indian Army.

4. Anil Kapoor, who was best pilot whole movie was sitting back and screaming at last..

Such a bad script.. Waste direction.

Bollywood is waste... I had high hopes..

I am surprised a crew as stellar as this would come together for something as average as this. It contains so, so many cliché plots, over dramatization that really does not fit the narration directions. I watch every Hrithik movie because he is a fantastic actor. This was pretty average barring some great action scenes in the better half of the movie.

*May contain mild spoilers below*

The plot's centric towards an over abused topic in the industry unfortunately and relies solely on action scenes and the fitting of multiple repeated storylines to fit into one narration. It is hopefully fairly easy for everyone to guess what happens next in pretty much every scene.

It's like you've heard these 20 songs for a long time and someone released a new song with rhythms borrowed from all of them together to fit into one song with a normal average length. Is the problem that it borrows ideas from multiple narrations or is it the fact that each one of those narrations itself is mainstream meaning it would be borrowed already?

First half has superb dog fight sequences but whose effects are marred by unnecessary songs, irritating characters and a villain who evokes laughter with his Tere Naam look. Hrithik is part time fighter pilot and part time planner of Balakot strikes, who has RAW level info, which he just divulges in front of top officers, probably for great appraisals.

If you have seen Animal and felt that its second half was pointless, this second half is set to lower the bar even further. There is unnecessary drama and futile attempts at reviving nationalist sentiments.

We were among the 12 persons in the matinee show here, at Gurgaon. I remember watching Pathaan by the same director, in a matinee show 10 days after its release and the hall was buzzing.

This will stream on Netflix by Feb end. Should be seen in the safety of your room, where it can be fast-forwarded at will.