Fighter is rising and shining in the overseas markets, but the response has been lukewarm in India. High expectations were shouldered on this Republic Day release led by Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone. The collections have been highly underwhelming since there was no competition at the box office. Scroll below as director Siddharth Anand breaks silence on the opening numbers.
Siddharth Anand is fresh from the success of Pathaan (2023). The film, marking Shah Rukh Khan‘s comeback in Bollywood, grossed a whopping 543.22 crores in India and garnered a hit verdict at the box office. He had previously delivered another success with Hrithik Roshan, War, which collected 319 crores in the domestic market. The opening should have been a blockbuster, but the promotional strategies were weak.
Siddharth Anand cites two reasons behind Fighter’s dull response
In an interview with Galatta Plus, Siddharth Anand listed two reasons behind the lukewarm response of Fighter. According to him, a big mistake was releasing the action film on a working day. The filmmaker confessed that his expectations were a little “unrealistic.”
Siddharth Anand also noted the genre may have been unrelatable for the audience. However, he did note that Fighter is a “huge leap for a filmmaker.
Director Siddharth Anand calls Fighter a “basic film”
He concluded, “There is a huge percentage of our country, I would say, 90 per cent, who have not flown in planes, who have not been to an airport, so how would they know what’s happening in the movie? This is my dissection. They felt this is a little alien. They didn’t understand what kind of exhilaration they are supposed to feel in the air action, so there is a certain initial disconnect. But once you enter the theatre, you realise this is such a basic film.”
More about Fighter
Fighter was released on January 25, 2024. The film stars a stellar cast, including Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone, Anil Kapoor, Abhishek Kapoor, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Karan Singh Grover, and Ashutosh Rana, among others.
It is backed by Viacom18 Studios and Marflix Pictures.
The action flick marks the third collaboration of Hrithik Roshan and Siddharth Anand after Bang Bang and War. They will soon be joining hands again for War 2.
Deepika Padukone has also reunited with the filmmaker after Pathaan’s blockbuster success.
