Fighter (2024 film)

Fighter is a 2024 Indian Hindi-language action-thriller film directed by Siddharth Anand, based on a story he wrote with Ramon Chibb. Produced by Viacom18 Studios and Marflix Pictures, it stars Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone, and Anil Kapoor in lead roles, while Karan Singh Grover, Akshay Oberoi, Rishabh Sawhney, and Sanjeeda Sheikh appear in supporting roles. It is the first installment in a planned aerial action franchise. The film was widely believed to have been influenced by the American film Top Gun: Maverick (2022). though Anand has denied this.

The film was announced on 10 January 2021, marking Anand's production debut and his third collaboration with Roshan after Bang Bang! (2014) and War (2019). The pre-production was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic. Filming began in November 2022 at locations such as Assam, Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir and Mumbai. Real life Indian Air Force personnel worked in the film, which wrapped in October 2023. The film is a retelling of a series of military events occurring between India and Pakistan in 2019, including the 2019 Pulwama attack, 2019 Balakot airstrike and 2019 India–Pakistan border skirmishes. The film's soundtrack album composed by Vishal–Shekhar consists of five songs. Satchith Paulose serves as the film's cinematographer. The visual effects are handled by DNEG.

Fighter was originally scheduled for a theatrical release on 30 September 2022 but production delays caused the release date to slip to 25 January 2024, coinciding with the Republic Day weekend. It received mixed-to-positive reviews, and grossed ₹344.46 crore (US$41 million) worldwide to rank as the eighth highest-grossing Indian film of 2024 and fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of 2024.