Siddharth Anand calls comparision of Fighter with Top Gun 'social media' chatter, says, 'negativity gets a lot of traction'

Siddharth Anand and Hrithik Roshan

Siddharth Anand's directorial 'Fighter' starring Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone hit the theaters on January 25. While the opening weekend saw a good collection for the film at the box office, the film began to see a downward trend from the first Monday. The film was released exactly a year after the release of the blockbuster film 'Pathaan,' which starred Shah Rukh Khan. Unfortunately for Anand, 'Fighter' did not recreate the magic of 'Pathaan' at the box office.

Now, in an interview with Gallata Plus, director Siddharth Anand has shared his thoughts on the film being compared to 'Top Gun.' The director shared that they have taken inspiration from films but according to him, anything that you do now is considered a cheap copy of Hollywood movies. He said, "Yes, we have had instances of taking inspiration blatantly from other films. Anything that you do now is (considered) a cheap copy of it (Hollywood movies). We as an audience have lost respect for our films, which I feel is very sad. Because 'Fighter' is about fighter jets, the instant analogy was that it's 'Top Gun.' I think eventually when you saw the trailer, you realize that there is nothing to do with 'Top Gun.'"

The filmmaker added, "But the only reference point is 'Top Gun,' so they'll say that ‘oh they have copied 'Top Gun.'' It's all social media chatter, which is really out there to put your work down, and negativity gets a lot of traction."

The director who has films like 'War' and 'Pathaan' to his credit shared that people seek attention, and for that, they make negative remarks. "So you want to do that (seek attention on social media using negativity) so that people like, repost your comments or comment on it. It creates chatter because if you say something good, it never gets traction or any sort of comments. Negativity gets you attention. So the easiest thing is to put somebody else's work down," said the filmmaker.

Besides Hrithik and Deepika, the film also stars Anil Kapoor, Karan Singh Grover, Akshay Oberoi, and Sanjeeda Shaikh in pivotal roles. The film opened to Rs 24 crore on day 1. On its first Monday, the film collected Rs 7 crore.