Kangana Ranaut’s Tejas Movie Review: Indian Air Force (IAF) deserves better

Language: Hindi

Director: Sarvesh Mewara

Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Varun Mitra, Ashish Vidyarthi, Anshul Chauhan

Unlike Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Kangana Ranaut’s Tejas is not based on a real character. The movie takes time to pick up and it actually does in the second half and that too gradually. Kangana’s performance is gripping and she has mastered the tough drills of an air force officer with perfection.

Tejas clearly shows right from the beginning, that those who are brave enough to disregard rules can do well in life. Not just that, if you are sure of your abilities, you really don’t need to toe what your seniors have to say to be successful in a mission. Abiding by the rules can probably help in your promotions and being a ‘yes man’ is a diplomatic play, but to succeed in a mission you just need to follow your heart and be thorough in your subject. And be so good at your work, that your seniors will bow down and say, ‘This is the man’ and in the case of Tejas movie, ‘This is the woman’. When Tejas prepares herself for the first solo trial sortie, she just doesn’t see the runway, but the path that will fly her up to serve the nation.

As the film pickups, we see Tejas (Kangana Ranaut) goes on a mission to recue an Indian spy. Again she was not the first choice, though it was she who was able to track down the location of the spy, who happened to be her academy friend. When she was rejected from this mission on the grounds of being a woman considering it was a dangerous terrain, she didn’t give up. She fought for it and was able to convince her seniors and the mission was named ‘Mission Tejas’.

Tejas is every woman’s story, who struggles every single day to prove her worth. Tejas (Kangana Ranaut) is not only a brilliant fighter pilot, but a true patriotic officer who has mastered the skills of detecting clues which even the Indian intelligence agencies were unable to catch. The film shows Pakistani army officials to be extremely foolish, which gets a little unrealistic.

The film has all the Bollywood masala required for a successful theatrical release, but in a much toned down manner. Nobody can ignore the presence of Kangana on screen. Brilliant at her craft and a dedicated actress, she knows her work well. And not just Kangana, Tejas’s co-pilot Afia played by Anshul Chauhan needs a mention too. She brings out the fun side of her character when the film is moving towards a serious turn.

Now, what didn’t work for the film is that it lacked research and fine technicalities. When you are attempting a movie on Indian armed forces, one needs to be slightly more careful. Most of the fighter plane drills and the air- fight visuals looked like a poorly made video game. And that’s when I felt like calling out, ‘Come on Bollywood Indian Air Force deserves more’!

The film tried to touch upon too many things including the Mumbai terrorist attack. An air combat thriller could have been more engaging, had the makers not lost focus. Another thing, I understand that the filmmaker was obsessed in giving Kangana the centre stage, but the other actors like Varun Mitra, Ashish Vidyarthi and Anshul Chauhan could have been given more screen time. They are brilliant craftsmen too, but not enough justice was done to their craft by giving them not enough meat to their characters and very limited screen time.

Rating: 3 out of 5

WATCH Tejas trailer here:

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