The last time Hrithik Roshan was in Kashmir, about two decades ago, he was re-enacting a version of the Kargil war in Farhan Akhtar’s Lakshya (2004). Criticised for its turgid second-half, Akhtar’s film had a scene whose significance I didn’t quite fully gauge while watching it for the first time as a 13-year-old, but one I’ve gone back to in the later years. Someone ponders about the futility of war, and then someone rebukes them for their corny, Utopian views. The world is after all, not a perfect place. Also, who can fix human nature? Even though it’s not the most seamless portion of the film, thinking about that scene during Siddharth Anand’s Fighter made me nostalgic.Those were simpler times. It was Pakistan who was the enemy even then – I vaguely remember dialogues ending with janaab (good sir) – but it wasn’t anywhere as cartoonish as this. In 2004, Roshan played a young man coming of age. In 2024, Roshan seems to have submitted to the pressures of stardom in a country where few things make sense. After resisting for a decade, Hrithik Roshan’s chiselled jawline – which could shred cheese – has been co-opted for the national cause. Roshan, who at one point was known to be obsessive about his image, refraining from doing/saying anything that might hurt his perfectly curated image, has sadly crossed over to the other side. Roshan spends the better part of the climactic showdown with the mastermind terrorist (Rishabh Sawhney) – telling him the many meanings of ‘Jai Hind’ and making simplistic, pernicious claims about how Pakistan occupied Kashmir belongs to India. “Maalik hum hai!” (We own Kashmir!) he snarls, something that will no doubt be circulated as a clip via WhatsApp in the near future. And to think of a time, when a sincere version of the actor hobbled to a peak, hoisted the tricolour and sat on his knees while saluting it. It used to mean something. In Anand’s latest, Roshan appears with the tricolour from the chopper, and waves it at an Indian military convoy, which has death written all over it. A still from Fighter.Not surprisingly, a few scenes later, the convoy is bombed – like in Pulwama. What’s supposed to be a tragic moment, becomes unexpectedly funny when director Anand rushes against time to ‘humanise’ the soldiers sitting in the bus in less than a minute. One takes out a laddoo, one abruptly talks about his mother and sister, and another one is on a video call with his wife and child. Manufacturing empathy for the simple-minded, gullible viewer in the laziest way possible.Siddharth Anand’s Fighter features the greatest hits of everything that’s been terrible about the war film in the last decade. Long-haired terrorists hissing like snakes, Pakistani army bumbling like they’re on an episode of Yes Minister, local Kashmiri youth carrying knives and stones in their palms, politicians blaming earlier governments for their sane temperament and talking about a ‘mooh tod jawab’ for the neighbours, the skull-cap wearing parent of a slain soldier talking about how ‘watan’ (nation) is one of the most important things for a believer, and soldiers fantasising about the tricolour as a ‘kafan’ (shroud) for their martyred bodies. Above all, A-list star power to legitimise all this.Patty or Shamsher Pathania (Roshan) is Pete Mitchell (Tom Cruise in the Top Gun movies), seen through a saffron lens. He’s confident, cocky, and hated by his superiors. He’s a part of a Top Gun-esque outfit for the Indian Air Force (IAF) which comprises the best. Patty is accompanied by fighter jet pilots – Taj or Sartaj Gill (Karan Singh Grover), Bash or Basheer Khan (an easy-to-watch Akshay Oberoi), who says something about reaching ‘jannat’ in his first scene, which you know is bad foreshadowing. Minni or Minal Rathore (Deepika Padukone) and a token Sikh character Sukhi (Banveen Singh) – who becomes the comic relief and punching bag, as the script naturally demands – are the chopper pilots entrusted with rescuing soldiers, pilots from distressed regions. Their commanding officer is Rocky or Rakesh Jaisingh (Anil Kapoor) – showcasing great poise and tension in his scenes with Roshan, even though his character’s reason for hating Patty is not strong enough.Anand, who made a number of surprising choices in last year’s Pathaan, barely even tries to be subversive here. The result is a series of morally-bankrupt decisions to pander to the same audience as the ones who turned up in large numbers for The Kashmir Files or The Kerala Story. The group’s “bonding exercises” at the start of the film look like H&M commercials, just given how everyone’s dressed their best. While Roshan’s later scenes seem like Old Spice commercials, given how Roshan’s exquisite jawline is the most visible thing even in dramatic scenes.A still from Fighter.Everything is seen for its aesthetic value in Fighter – the green palette to showcase a scene taking place on the other side of the L.O.C, provided the audience already hadn’t guessed it with the generous use of words like kaafir, mushaira, janaaza, mujahideen, inteqaam etc. Anand also turns to Urdu shayari to communicate his soldier’s love for the nation. There’s a track about Minni’s father being displeased about his daughter’s decision to become a part of the IAF, which results in a surprisingly moving scene featuring Ashutosh Rana – whose silences alone speak paragraphs — and Geeta Agrawal, recently seen in 12th Fail, able to convey years’ worth of hurt with a single quiver in her voice. Also featuring Padukone, who can cry at a moment’s notice, ensures that the scene is a tear-jerker. But it soon becomes clear, Anand isn’t interested in any ‘progressive’ messaging. He’s only interested in how some will perceive the film for that piece of messaging.It’s more than apparent that Anand wants to do his version of the Top Gun movies here, which, despite their problems are fun to watch because of their sports movie quality. Even in the 2022 sequel Tom Gun: Maverick, the geo-politics is as vague as possible. I wish Anand had stuck with that quality of the Tom Cruise-starrers. Unfortunately, in Fighter, Anand may have unwittingly laid the foundation of a new genre in Hindi movies – the fantasy of Bharat. Anand’s film concludes with celebration, lovers getting over their hesitation and kissing, long-sworn enemies apologising to each other, and most importantly, the victory of the coolest armed forces belonging to the only Vishwaguru in this world. Restraint is for losers. Meanwhile, 2004’s Hrithik Roshan weeps looking at all this.