Hrithik, Deepika's 'Fighter' to be made on a budget of ₹250 cr: Reports

Mumbai: On his birthday, Hrithik Roshan announced his third collaboration (after Bang Bang and War) with Siddharth Anand, Fighter, which pairs him alongside Deepika Padukone for the first time. The announcement created a lot of anticipation around the film –due to hints given in the announcement video around the film’s premise, that revolves around the fighter jets, coupled with the first time pairing for Hrithik and Deepika. Pinkvilla has got some exclusive details around the film’s plot, shoot schedule and budget.

“Siddharth and Hrithik have been planning to make Fighter for a while now, in-fact it’s a subject they were supposed to collaborate on before War. It’s a big scale areal action thriller, with Hrithik playing the character of an air force pilot for the first time in his career. Sid has envisioned the story on a massive scale, with areal fight scenes, chases and a lot more, backed with a story line with undercurrent of nationalism, romance and emotions,” revealed a source close to the development, adding further that while it marks Sid’s debut as a producer, a studio partner is expected to  come on board soon.

“Sid is planning to make it on a budget of Rs 250 crore, thereby making it one of the costliest and biggest action films to have come out of Bollywood. The Hindi film industry has not seen big scale action thriller against the backdrop of Indian Airforce for a while now, and that’s exactly the space that Hrithik and Sid are trying to explore,” the source added. Deepika’s character sketch has been kept under wraps for now.

Sid is currently shooting for the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Pathan, and even that features Deepika Padukone as the female lead with John Abraham as the antagonist. The director had recently air-dashed to the US to shoot some templates for Pathan, which will eventually be canned against the green screen at Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai. The next schedule of Pathan begins in a fortnight in Abu Dhabi, and the entire cast is expected to be a part of this marathon schedule. Sid aims to wrap up Pathan by June 2021 and get it ready for a Diwali release and begin shooting for Fighter from December for a September 30, 2022 opening at the box-office.