Fighter is a 2024 Indian Hindi-language aerial action 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, while Karan Singh Grover, Akshay Oberoi and Rishabh Sawhney play supporting roles.

[7] The film is a fictionalized 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.

Group captain Rakesh "Rocky" Jai Singh is assigned to counter the threat and forms a team called "Air Dragons" consisting of skilled fighter pilots.

The team includes squadron leaders Shamsher "Patty" Pathania, Minal "Minni" Rathore, Sartaj "Taj" Gill, Basheer "Bash" Khan, Rajan "Unni" Unnithan, and Sukhdeep "Sukhi" Singh.

In response, the Indian Air Force, along with RAW agent Zareena Begum, plan a counterattack on Akhtar's base in Balakot.

He feels a bit of atonement after helping Neha and then onwards pays special focus on her training.

Sukhi tells Patty that Bash was brutally murdered by Akhtar and has imprisoned a badly injured Taj.

The team successfully infiltrates the enemy territory and Patty is able to rescue Taj and kill Akhtar.

Siddharth Anand narrated the idea of making a big-budget action thriller against the backdrop of fighter jets while shooting the film War (2019).

[26] Anand further retained most of his norm technicians including cinematographer Satchith Paulose, editor Aarif Sheikh, stunt choreographer SeYeong Oh, and action director Sunil Rodrigues.

[29] In September 2022, Roshan started taking workshops and had continued 12-week simulator training and learned the nuances of playing a fighter jet pilot.

In both these establishments he spent time with the officers, airmen and flight cadets to observe their demeanour and understand the way that they function.

[32] Real-life Indian Air Force personnel including officers and flight cadets have worked on the film.

[33] In January 2021, Deepika Padukone and Hrithik Roshan were officially announced as the leads marking their maiden film together.

[48] The team returned to Mumbai on 12 February, after filming at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, where a song and few action sequences choreographed by Sunil Rodrigues, were shot.

[54] The team also shot a 25-minute long climactic scene that includes an action sequence,[55] which reportedly took 120 hours (5 days) to shoot.

[56] For the next schedule, production designer Rajat Poddarr and his team built an expensive set that housed the interiors of an air force base, classrooms, and offices at Yash Raj Studios, in Mumbai.

[59] From 22 May, emotional scenes between Padukone and Roshan were shot in Chandivali, with only 20–30 extras to avoid the film's footage leaks online.

[63] In early September, a song featuring Roshan, Padukone, along with the entire cast, choreographed by the duo Bosco–Caesar, was shot at Yash Raj Studios.

[65] Principal photography wrapped by 30 October 2023 at Yash Raj Studios, with filming having lasted 87 working days.

[86] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

[90] Hindustan Times wrote "Watch Fighter for a pure paisa vasool experience, good looking performances and some gravity defying aerial action that won't give you a headache but leave you with a sense of pride.

[97] In May 2023, it was reported that production of the sequel film Fighter 2 would begin after Anand finished shooting Tiger vs Pathaan.