'Fighter' was released in theatres today in Hindi. If NDTV rated it 2.5 stars, India Today gave it a glowing 4-star rating. Times of India made do with a 3.5-star rating.
When the film's trailer was out, it was compared to the Hollywood classic 'Top Gun'. "The trailer for 'Fighter' really under-sold the movie, made it look like a 'Top Gun' rip-off. It's not. The full movie onscreen is so much better, the aerial fights (even the CGI ones) are mounted really well, Kashmir looks gorgeous, the new villain is superb," wrote Anupam Gupta.
A reviewer opined that the film, despite an excellent cast, struggles to soar to great heights. "The aerial action thriller directed and co-produced by Siddharth Anand ('War', 'Pathaan'), struggles to shake off its flat trajectory," wrote the critic. The reviewer at Indian Express critiqued the film's so-called hyper-nationalistic streak. "This is one of those films that you wish that the desire to get the easy claps, with dialogues like ‘baap kaun hai’, and ‘har galli will become Indian Occupied Pakistan’, could have been kept at bay," she wrote.
The Hindu opined that 'Fighter' is visually stunning but emotionally stunted.
