The Hindi film industry is experiencing commercial turbulence, as seen with the recently released films Fighter and Sky Force. Despite high expectations and extensive promotion, Fighter underperformed significantly at the box office. Sky Force, while attempting a sober depiction of military events from 1965, still reflects a budget-conscious production and a generic storytelling framework. Akshay Kumar performs admirably in a well-suited military role, but the overall execution reveals a struggle to resonate with audiences, particularly in terms of character development and thematic depth surrounding patriotism and sacrifice.
For Republic day in 2024, we got Fighter, a glossy all-star flypast that aped Top Gun: Maverick with added flagwaving; despite a considerable promotional push, it divebombed at the box office.
While avoiding complete crash-and-burn, directors Abhishek Anil Kapur and Sandeep Kewlani are but tinkering within an increasingly resistible framework.
The obvious lesson is how these filmed military parades perk up whenever their characters travel off-base.
But the character still wants a medal pinned to his chest, and the movie still ends by insisting dying for your country is an honourable sacrifice, not suicide.
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