Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone’s ‘Fighter’ begins 2nd Schedule

It looks like celebrated action director Siddharth Anand cannot stay behind the action for long. In a recent interview, on the mammoth success of Pathaan, Anand remarked that it is a “once-in-a-lifetime” achievement, and he shall cherish it all he can. Now, only 10 days after Pathaan’s release, the director has headed to Kashmir to resume the shoot of Fighter, his ambitious aerial action thriller. Leading duo of Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone reached the valley on Monday, in time to begin the film’s 2nd schedule starting tuesday.

Over the next six days, the director, along with cinematographer Satchith Paulose and action director Sunil Rodrigues, would film high octane action sequences as well as few song portions. “Siddharth has chosen various locations, including the Dal Lake, and parts of Srinagar and Pahalgam, for the stint. The team is expected to take a quick break before flying out to Hyderabad for the third schedule,” says a source.

According to reports, Siddharth will shoot the early stages of the fil where it shows how Hrithik’ s character goes from being an ordinary lad to shaping into one of the best fighter pilots at the IAF Academy. Akshay Oberoi and Karan Singh Grover will play his batch-mates. Originally, it was supposed to be a fortnightly schedule, but now, it has been reduced to less than a week. Certain portions that were to be initially shot at the IAF Academy will now be done on a set in Mumbai.” Anil Kapoor is slated to join the unit in March.

Due to security issues, few areas of the IAF Academy are restricted to the public. To achieve authenticity, production designer Rajat Poddarr will build a set reflecting the interiors of the institute. Elaborate sets of an airport, and hangars will be built. Another set-up will be created to film a graduation party scene that sees Hrithik and his batch-mates being presented with the Wings. Siddharth intends to wrap up the principal shoot by April, after which the VFX work on the January 2024 release will begin.