Tejas review: Kangana Ranaut’s Air Force drama is a crash burn that never takes off

In the last few years, there has been an increase in films showcasing the bravery of men and women who fought for the nation. Patriotism is an inherent part of these movies.

When done well, they make for a good watch. For example, Aditya Dhar’s Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019) was a well-made action film that made you root for Vicky Kaushal’s Major Vihaan Singh in spite of the jingoistic tone.

Similarly, Sharan Sharma’s Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (2020) was an engaging flick about one of the first women to fly in a combat zone.

Tejas shares its DNA with both these films. The Uri hangover is reminiscent both in the treatment and the dialogues.

However, Tejas will not recreate the success of the former. Here’s why:

Synopsis

Tejas Gill (Kangana Ranaut) is a highly outspoken Air Force officer. The film doesn’t waste any time in showing how she is someone who follows her heart more than the instructions given to her.

In the opening scene, Tejas is seen saving one of her seniors, thus putting both her life and career at risk.

An enquiry is set up against Tejas and her co-pilot Afiya (Anshul Chauhan) as they enter a risky tribal area to save the officer. From here, a lot of back and forth happens.

There are tedious flashbacks about how Tejas Gill was named after an Air Force plane, her bond with her family, and her love story with singer Ekveer (Varun Mitra).

The flashback portions end up with Tejas losing all of them during a terroristic attack.

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Operation Tejas

The second half primarily focuses on “Operation Tejas” where both the women officers have to rescue an Indian spy who was their batch mate. This is a risky covert operation.

What makes the scenario highly laughable is the Indian Air Force is hugely dependent on these two, making it look like there are no other competent officers!

Most of the Pakistani characters have been painted with stereotypical brushes. The terrorists are jihadi-sprouting men, and the generals are bumbling idiots who can be easily fooled.

A major issue with Tejas is that the director takes a long time to get to the meat of the story. The entire first half is devoted to character-building. But all those flashbacks only end up testing the viewers’ patience.

Tejas’ love story with Ekveer, in particular, has no head or tail. All the while, Varun Mitra only gives a wide grin and looks at Tejas adorably.

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Performances

The only actor who makes a solid impression in Tejas is Anshul Chauhan as the co-pilot.

Writer-director Sarvesh Mewara fleshes out Afiya well with some interesting quirks. She makes the best use of it. Her comic timing in the lighter bits brings much-needed respite.

Apart from her performance, the second half of Tejas is slightly better with some well-choreographed stunts and also the cinematography by Hari K Vedantam.

Kangana Ranaut’s physical agility comes in handy, too.

Another big problem with the film is how Tejas has been written and performed.

On many occasions, Kangana Ranaut comes across as a robot with her stiff dialogue delivery. The voice modulation is absent. It is an absolute one-tone character and performance.

As viewers, we wonder what happened to the three-time National Award winner!

In the climax, Tejas gives a long speech about the sacrifices of the Indian soldiers and how they go unnoticed by the general public. This monologue doesn’t feel heartfelt in any way. It resembles a rant that the actress has been indulging in real life.

The VFX is another terrible aspect of Tejas. The aircraft reminds the viewers of the toy planes.

Shashwat Sachadev’s music is good, but the problem lies in the placement of the songs.

Final take

To sum it up, Tejas tries to be a female version of Uri: The Surgical Strike, but Sarvesh Mewara fails to make the audience feel the josh.

Watch this film only if you are a diehard fan of Kangana Ranaut.

(Views expressed here are personal.)