The least one would expect from the first film of an intended franchise is freshness, if not exceptional originality. Let alone soaring to great heights, Fighter, an aerial action thriller directed and co-produced by Siddharth Anand (War, Pathaan), struggles to shake off its flat trajectory.

For the audience, if you aren’t a Hrithik Roshan fan or an inveterate admirer of Bollywood’s notion of a war film, the challenge is to fight off the overwhelming ennui that quickly sets in and takes the film down with it. But if the presence of Hrithik is enough inducement, Fighter might pass muster. But that is about it.

Twenty years ago,Hrithik Roshan was Captain Karan Shergill, a drifter who found his purpose in life by joining the Indian Army. Five years ago, he donned the garb of Major Kabir Dhaliwal, a secret agent gone rogue. Now, he is Squadron Leader Shamsher Pathania, a man quick to dive into tricky situations.

All of the aforementioned three are men of immense courage and confidence when the need to take the fight into the enemy camp arises. So, if you’ve seen one of them, the pilot that the lead actor plays in Fighter is just an addition to a tribe trapped in a rut.