Hrithik Roshan & Deepika Padukone In A Still From Fighter (Picture Credit: Facebook)
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Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone in a film. O…M…Geeee. This was the initial reaction on social media when it was announced that finally, after years of manifestation, the two superstars were coming together for an action film. Hrithik and DP both played Indian Air Force officers in the much-awaited film that was helmed by Siddharth Anand.
Interestingly, this was the second continuous film for DP with Sid, while the director had great working chemistry with Hrithik since they worked together in Bang Bang and War! But then, despite having all the boxes ticked for a perfect blockbuster, what went wrong with the HR-DP film, and how did it crash-landed?
Right before Fighter’s release, there were speculations that Deepika Padukone was not very happy with the film. Well, if she was, she had all the right looking at her chopped part in the film. After the film’s release, Siddharth Anand made a tone-deaf statement about 90% of Indians not flying in airplanes, and, therefore, they couldn’t connect to the film.
While Fighter, underperforming at the box office, was a heartbreaking start for Hindi films this year, here are actually some basic reasons that it couldn’t fight like War, roar like Pathaan, or fly like Fighter should have flown!
1. India – Pak angle is passé
The India VS Pakistan angle is probably now a cliche and one of the most abused and overused angles in Hindi films. Recently, Tiger 3 tried playing upon the same emotion, and it did not work. Very intelligently, Pathaan, despite using the angle as a subplot, did not put both the countries against each other on the focus, and that worked brilliantly for Siddharth Anand then. A clue that he should have definitely taken for Fighter.
2. Aerial Action – Not The Flavor?
It seems like aerial action isn’t the flavor for the Indian masses. While it is something that might attract urban audiences, it is a big no for the majority of the masses. On the other hand, Pathaan depended on world-class action, and while some of it was also aerial action, major stunts from the film had the actor grounded (pun intended).
3. Hrithik Roshan’s Raised Bar With War
Hrithik raised the bar for himself very high for action films with his Spy Universe film War, which was also helmed by Siddharth Anand. So, anything less than War is highly unacceptable by the fans now. The same happened with Fighter. Whoever has watched the film would agree that it could not stand on the same pedestal as War despite the similarities in the blueprints of both films.
4. The promotional strategy
It could be seen that the makers underplayed their promotions. Despite having so much to offer, Fighter missed a chance to reach a wider audience. A film on the courage and valor of the Indian Air Force was publicized as Hrithik & DP‘s first film. Their chemistry was kept as the major highlight of the film’s teaser, trailer, and songs as well. The result could have been much better if an aggressive promotional strategy had been implemented.
5. The Musical Push
Pathaan created a lot of waves with its music. The whole USP depended a lot on the two super crazy viral songs – Jhoome Jo Pathaan and Besharam Rang. However, despite trying to create ripples through Sher Khul Gaye and Heer Aasmaani, Fighter could not match the level of hysteria the music of Pathaan created.
