Fighter - 10 years too late!

 Fighter - Hindi - Action/Drama/160 mins - Netflix

If there is one movie which probably did complete justice to Hrithik Roshan's action / king of cool persona, that was "War". Hrithik never looked better, looked (and was made to behave his age), emotions were minimal, swagger was maximal (who can ever his entry scene, i bet it would have made many heart beats racing). No surprise, it was directed by Siddharth Anand, who also brought the new action image for SRK in "Pathan". Now, neither are flawless movies (War had a decent plot and surprise element, Pathan was the SRK reinvention and DP,JA on screen).

While i didnt have any significant expectations with "Fighter", it was a definite disappointment and here is why

• The plot (built around the Balakot incidents) is as hold as the hills, we have to stop with the bashing of our neighbor (pick a new enemy please!). 
• The dialogue  really competes with the modern classic Brahmastra 😆-   all the "spotless" English to the absolutely mental " Dikhana hi baap kaun hai" , "hamare peech missile chode hai" (where did the english go?), to even more "India Occupied ..."...oh gosh🤦
• I think they went way over budget  or perhaps the insecurity of the lead actor to not have a competing and strong villain - you get a rookie (who is passable) actor doing the job  - you know now the credit John Abraham should get for doing his bit in Pathan!.
• I think the only surprise was the double agent being not so double..(i dont even know who that guy was!!). - someone just keeps walking in and out of military briefing meetings in a burkha!
• While DP and Anil Kapoor look the part and the swagger and all - AK is reduced to mostly bellowing (you can actually see the spit fly as well 😆.
• DP's dances / costumes and the settings surroundings make you wonder if you are watching "Ghungroo" from War or "Besharam Rang" from Pathan.
• Hrithik Roshan absolutely looks the part (he dresses in all the formal outfits that you probably know an aviator does?) and does a decent job - Watch out for the " his trembling face  crying" moment also!!"
• The only good part (credit where due) was the aerial scenes/vfx did not look tacky and were quite well done - definitely did not look like borrowed video game stuff . Also, yes - until the last quarter of the movie - the support actors also get good parts.

In short - while it is a decent masala action movie - this would have been way better in 2014 than in 2024!