Siddharth Anand opens up on Pakistani actors calling out Fighter trailer

Since its release last week the Fighter trailer has dominated the online discourse primarily for the blatantly jingoistic tone in its certain dialogues But director Siddharth Anand would like the audience to not jump the gun and wait till tomorrow when the Hrithik RoshanDeepika Padukone starrer hits the screens to draw any conclusion about the filmFighter also starring Anil Kapoor tells the story of a group of Indian Air Force IAF officers that unite for a special mission Going by the trailer the film has references to the 2611 terrorist attacks the 2019 Pulwama attack and the 2019 Balakot airstrikeItrsquos not just the Indian audience but also that of the neighbouring country including Pakistani celebrities Hania Aamir and Adnan Siddiqui who took offence at the trailer that featured a scene with Roshanrsquos character aggressively telling a Pakistani terrorist ldquoIf India starts replying to your attacks then every corner of your country will turn into India Occupied PakistanrdquoDuring a group interview here on Tuesday Siddharth was asked his reaction to Pakistani artistsrsquo dubbing the trailer lsquoantiPakrsquo Arguing that the portions in the trailer were being viewed out of context the director said he was happy people were talking about those lines and scenes as he had intended them to doldquoSome things that you are talking about that may have offended them I would want them to see the film and see the context in which what has happened and what has been said and then react This is out of context because in a trailer you put some lines if I play out the full story in it why will you come to the theatre I will raise some questions and to find answers to them you will come to the theatres Thatrsquos what this has done it has serviced exactly that motive In a way I am happy it has done that made people inquisitive Come to the theatre it will answer all your questions you will understand the context of it the emotion behind it and you will be satisfied Everyone will understand what we are sayingrdquo he saidSidharth then stressed the point that the aerial actioner stood for the sentiment that the fight is against terrorism not a particular country ldquoThe primary thing I want to reiterate and what has been said in the film is that our war is not against a country it is against terrorism That is what Fighter stands for It is a fight against terrorism not against a particular country That is emphasised throughout the filmrdquo he saidIn a follow up Midday asked the director if triggering the audience through a trailer was a new way of marketing a film and how he would justify incorporating phrases like lsquoIndia occupied Pakistanrsquo while claiming the film to be antiterrorism not against a countryTo which Siddharth said he would call Fighter ldquomore nationalistic than jingoistic The filmmaker also mentioned that he didnrsquot want the film to get attached to any controversy hence it was important that people reacted to it after watching itldquoObviously there are certain things that are being viewed out of context Jingoism is a matter of perspective I call it nationalistic These lines in the context of a film are being told to a terrorist that donrsquot keep pushing ushellip Like I said please watch the film otherwise this can spur unnecessary controversy which the goal of the film isnrsquot It is a happy Indian film Bharat ki picture hai yeh and I would not want it to get any other attention other than the fact that it is a patriotic filmrdquo he said