Tejas Review - This Hardcore Jingoistic Tale Of Tejas Gill Doesn't Shine Bright

Tejas Review Movie Talkies

Tejas Review: Sarvesh Mevara teams up with Kangana Ranaut for a patriotic aerial action drama, "Tejas". Based on the fictional character of the female pilot and wing commander of the IAF (Indian Air Force), the film takes you into the life of Tejas Gill, right from her personal details, love life, parents, and air force training to the most important mission of her career. The fever of jingoism is taking over Bollywood, especially something that makes 'vs. Pakistan' term, and Tejas just happens to be one of them, coming and going like nobody cared.Tejas Gill (Kangana Ranaut) is a young girl who wants to become a pilot and serve the nation. She joins the IAF and impresses everyone with her skills and performance. Tejas falls in love with a singer, Ekveer (Varun Mitra), and just when everything is going right for Tejas and her family, an attack by terrorists (26/11) takes away everything. She loses her parents and boyfriend, but that doesn't stop her from fulfilling her duties to the nation. Instead, she becomes more passionate, as the battle is personal for her now. As one of their officers is captured by a terrorist group in Pakistan, Tejas comes on board for a rescue mission that's very difficult, even for any male IAF officer. Will she be able to pull it off?Mevara has written a heroic story about Tejas Gill that has no screenplay, literally. As a film, Tejas struggles to keep you hooked as the situations look scattered. Moreover, the idea of forced jingoism and heroic gesture to the female lead bombs all possibilities of realistic sense as well as emotional connect. In many scenes, you won't believe what has happened and how. Was there any need to use Ram Mandir's reference? Was there a need for hard-core jingoism in every move and dialogue by the main character? Tejas fails to connect the dots that are needed to create excitement for an aerial action flick. After a while, you lose all your interest, despite having so much respect for soldiers and your country. That, in my opinion, is the biggest fault in the film.This is Kangana Ranaut's attempt at making herself a massy female superstar. Right from the entry scenes, hard-hitting dialogues, and her attitude, you can sense she wants to be a female version of what we call a mass hero. To make that simple for you, it's like she is trying to do what Salman Khan did in Dabangg or Sunny Deol did in Gadar. Somewhere, that makes the actor Kangana Ranaut fall down. We saw her give memorable performances a decade ago; that Kangana is missing nowadays. Varun Mitra looks handsome and does a decent job as Tejas's boyfriend. Anshula Chauhan is promising. She brings a few laughs too—actually, the only laughs. Aashish Vidyarthi brings in his experience for a role that doesn't count much; Rio Kapadia has done well, and so has Mohan Agashe in a cameo, which has a lot of importance here in the film. Archana Mittal, Mohit Chauhan, Rohid Khan, Mushtaq Kak, Sunit Tandon, and the rest of the supporting cast are strictly okay.Tejas may be a low-budget film, but it doesn't look bad on the screen, at least for the controlled budget it has. The VFX work doesn't offer much, including aerial action sequences, while the cinematography is below par. The music is indeed bad. It causes a few naps because of wrong timing and inattentive tunes. Jaan Da works on some level because of Arijit Singh. Sarvesh Mevara had a strong subject in hand, which can be called a mix of patriotism, jingoism, and feminism. But sadly, the mixture isn't tasty enough. The right amount of ingredients and perfect ratio could have made it well-shaken juice, but what we get is something that's even more tasteless than water. A bright subject like Tejas needed a better script and a wider vision. Unfortunately, both are missing here. It's not a big deal for me that Tejas fails as a film, but it fails as a great messenger, and that hurts me more than anything else about the film. The sacrifices and bravery of soldiers deserved a better film, if not us audiences.