The big Republic Day release, Fighter, starring Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, has failed to perform at the box office, as per expectations. The big drop on Monday sealed its fate. What shocked the industry was that it enjoyed a great word of mouth and yet, couldn’t be a success. Industry soon analysed that the film was too classy and didn’t appeal to the masses. Another factor that many believe went against the film was showing Pakistanis as the villains yet again. The anti-Pakistan sentiment was recently seen in films like Pathaan, Gadar 2, Tiger 3 and even in Sam Bahadur and Pippa. Did this factor go against Fighter?
The trade experts, however, felt this criticism was unfair. Film exhibitor and distributor Akshaye Rathi explained, “I don’t think it’s a question of overdose. While we are seeing a lot of it, the audience will turn up for anti-Pakistan films if the storytelling is engaging. The audience that is woke or bored of Pakistan bashing is the urban audience in India. And they are the ones that Fighter seems to have reached out to. Gadar 2, meanwhile, was a complete mass entertainer. It also had Pakistan bashing and yet, the audience turned up in huge numbers. But they didn’t come for Fighter in a big way.”
Trade analyst Atul Mohan said, “I guess it was shown too frequently. But then an overdose of anything can backfire. In Hollywood, people are tired of superhero films. In the case of Bollywood, we have seen a similar kind of plot in Uri. It was a very timely film. In that film, the emotion was very strong, especially the death of Mohit Raina’s character.”
Vishek Chauhan, owner of Roopbani Cinema in Purnia, Bihar, agreed saying, “I don’t think it’s wrong to show Pakistan (as an enemy). Pathaan, Gadar 2 and Uri were fantastic and hit the right chord. Hamare dushman toh wahi hai. We have fought wars with that country and even today, the fight goes on. The point is how you present it. Here, the villain looked clownish. He seemed nothing in front of Hrithik Roshan. More than the hero’s character, the villain’s character needs to be much stronger in commercial films. Sholay (1975) is remembered more for Gabbar than Jai and Veeru. The same applies to Mogambo in Mr India (1987). This factor put off people more than the anti-Pakistan element.”
Trade veteran Taran Adarsh also denounced this theory by proving that ‘anti-Pakistan’ Fighter attracted not just Indians but even Pakistanis in foreign territories. He said, “Fighter’s Tuesday is more than Monday collections in USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. Mind you, these territories have a large chunk of the Pakistani population. How do you explain the film’s success (in these regions)? It shows that the film has been accepted by those audiences.”
More Pages: Fighter Box Office Collection , Fighter Movie Review
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