Rating: 2.5 stars on 5
When a film is about a pilot in the Indian Air Force (IAF) then one can expect spades of patriotism and a thrilling story. Tejas, directed by Sarvesh Mewara and produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP Movies, stars Kangana Ranaut in the titular role of Tejas Gill.
At the outset, we meet Tejas Gill in a rescue mission where she defies the Commander’s orders and snatches a fellow IAF pilot from the jaws of death off an isolated island inhabited by ancient tribals. The director takes us back 18 years to show how she became the bold and courageous person she was today. Tejas is brilliant but is described as an ‘oddball’ who can bend the rules and successfully accomplish an impossible mission. But Tejas also has her share of romance and finds love in the form of singer Ekveer (Varun Gill).
The director gives us a woman who will go to any lengths to protect her nation and people and naturally, it is Tejas who puts her hand up to save an Indian spy from Islamic terrorists in Pakistan. You soon discover that Tejas is a master of many things which also means what you see is what you get – the director hasn’t given her a character arc and it makes Tejas boring and uninteresting. In fact, her co-pilot and colleague Afia (Anshul Chauhan) has more happening in her life!
The movie is all about Kangana Ranaut (as one would expect) but the story meanders from instance to instance with no cohesiveness. There are too many incidents (like the Mumbai terror attacks, the Ram Mandir, etc) which have been included and this dilutes the story. Director Sarvesh Mewara should have ideally picked one major plot point which would have made the story more realistic and relatable. Tejas Gill is a highly-patriotic superwoman who jumps from one terror attack to another and ends up being a robotic caricature rather than a human legend.
For a change, it was great to see two women, Tejas and Afia, lead a mission and thus, bring in the theme of women empowerment. One just wishes that there was a strong, logical story that backed up this women’s team and Kangana Ranaut’s talent.