Real-life planes, military bases and meeting rooms were used during the shoot of Fighter as the makers wanted to be as authentic as possible in their portrayal of the Indian Air Force, filmmaker Siddharth Anand said in a behind-the-scenes video dropped on Tuesday.

Production banner Marflix Pictures shared the video on Instagram ahead of the movie’s release on January 25. “Hundreds of people, thousands of storyboards, and years of hard work. Taking you behind the lens of the action,” they wrote in the caption.

Siddharth, who collaborated with Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone for the film, said the mission was to make an ‘authentic’ film on the Air Force. “We used real planes, real choppers, real bases, real meeting rooms, real tarmacs, and real hangars,” he added.

The Pathaan director also said Fighter’s production involved “an insane amount of prep by hundreds of people” and that the process took “years” and “thousands of storyboards”.

Producer Ramon Chibb mentioned that Siddharth was a “stickler for detail” and wanted everything to be “real”. “We made a career graph of every officer in the film,” he said, adding that the director also made sure that their Air Force uniforms were perfect.

Talking about the preparations that went into the making of the film, Siddharth said they specifically put emphasis on the way the Air Force officers communicated with each other, the manoeuvres of fighter planes and the military training of all on-screen officers.

“The whole approach of detailing and the performances and the pitching of the film is very mainstream but very real. These kinds of films have longer legs and longer longevity,” said Anil Kapoor, who plays Squadron Commander Rocky in the film.

Deepika, who plays Squadron leader Minni, talked about the wholesome appeal of Fighter. “There’s patriotism, entertainment, drama and romance. I believe that it’s just a wholesome entertainer,” she said.

Fighter, touted as “a love letter to the skies”, showcases daring jet stunts and intense aerial action scenes. “Fighter will surprise you with its emotions, with its patriotism. It's going to be a ride that is going to have its highs and take you through its lows, it's going to be like a heartbeat,” Siddharth signed off as he spoke about the journey of the film.

Also starring Akshay Oberoi and Karan Singh Grover, Fighter is coming out exactly one year after the release of the director’s last release, Pathaan.