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State of the art tech, exciting action sequences, swaggering young heroes … it’s no surprise that the world’s new superpowers have fallen for blockbuster air force films. But can they be anything more than military propaganda?In an era of rising global tension, there are a few status symbols the self-respecting global superpower can’t do without. Nuclear weapons? Sure. A space programme? Natch. But the latest geopolitical must-have is superficially more niche: a supersonic, hyper-nationalistic blockbuster air force film. There wasn’t a soul on the planet who failed to notice the media sonic boom as Tom Cruise passed overhead with Top Gun: Maverick in May 2022, while its Chinese counterpart Born to Fly came out a year later. And this month India gets in on the game with its own flyboy extravaganza Fighter, starring Hrithik Roshan, whose quiff alone qualifies as some kind of national monument.In the surest sign of its geopolitical decline, Russia has yet to make one. But China and India are on the up, propelled by rulers with autocratic bents who want the full soft-power furnishings. The US went through a similar jingoistic spurt in the 1980s, wallpapered by a set of militaristic movie hits: the original Top Gun, the second and third Rambo films, Commando, Red Dawn and more. China has been flexing its cinematic muscles for a decade now, with actioners such as the Wolf Warrior franchise and Operation Red Sea, not to mention a raft of historic films with patriotic overtones. Narendra Modi’s India has been less able to manhandle its film industry into line, with sporadic bellicose output like the Pakistan-cuffing Baaghi 2 and Uri: The Surgical Strike. But Fighter, released for the country’s 75th Republic Day and featuring Roshan emerging from a chopper with a billowing Tiraṅgā, as the Indian tricolour is known, in tow, suggest pressure may be mounting. Continue reading...