Tejas Film Review: The 'Tej' Is Not Bright Enough

I saw this film on the opening day, something I¡¯ve never done before. What I have done, though, is fly fighter planes in the IAF, so I had to see this film.

The posters and the trailer showed the heroine as a fighter pilot, but in the ludicrous opening scene, she¡¯s flying a helicopter!

Flying helicopters requires special skills which differ from those for fighter flying, and it is impossible to fly a helicopter one day and a fighter the next day. But she does that with ease.

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After that hard-to-believe opening scene, we go back 18 years to see her training at the Air Force Academy, where she flies her first solo after crashing in the simulator, with no flying training after that.

When waiting on the runway for takeoff, she sees not the bright blue sky ahead but a chance to serve the motherland!

Her patriotism is so blunt and blatant that she makes good old Mr Bharat look subtle. But this is only the beginning.

Later, she goes on spewing even grander dialogues, admonishing us for not loving the country enough.

She is a woman of action, too.

She rushes into a gents¡¯ toilet, closes her eyes, apologises rather unapologetically and orders all the men there to move out, which they do without even waiting to zip up. And then she bashes up a goon right there.

Back to her flying the fighter plane Tejas. When she demands that she be sent on a mission and the Chief says it is dangerous, she says, ¡°It¡¯s personal.¡±

And she adds, ¡°Terrorism should be personal to everyone!¡±

Want one more advice? ¡°When in doubt, think of the nation.¡±

Come on! Even politicians don¡¯t talk like that.

IMDb

Kangana Ranaut is her usual breezy self, and the supporting cast is competent. Songs are hummable, and there is a twist or two in the tale.

But the meandering story, plus an inauthentic and unresearched script, ruin their efforts.

Like a greedy guest at a wedding buffet overfilling his plate with all the items on display, they packed the story with feminism, patriotism, religion, and action.

In the right amounts, that could have been interesting, but an overdose leads to an upset stomach.

There are many minor flaws in the movie, but some are too obvious.

A Wing Commander, even a brilliantly heroic one, will not dictate tactics to the Air Chief and the Defence Minister. There is an established chain of command at local and regional levels for that.

The second half is devoted to a harebrained plan based on ridiculous technology that would make James Bond cry in shame.

And the worst part? Childish computer graphics screaming ¡®fake¡¯.

Most airplanes in the movie and all of aerial combat are bad CGI, seemingly created using old, pre-Y2K technology.

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The first film in the Jurassic Park series came in 1993, three decades ago. Check the scenes, and you¡¯ll never think the dinosaur is not real. Here, it is the opposite. Not a single aircraft or flying scene seems genuine.

The heroine is not only immortal but also invincible and quite insufferable when she gives gyaan! (Wisdom)

In retaliation, let me offer some gyaan, too.

What is the plural of the word aircraft?

Aircrafts? No, although many bigwigs in the movie (and in Indian civil aviation, too!) think so.

To conclude, I¡¯d repeat a dialogue from the movie and say to the makers, ¡°When in doubt, think of the nation, and don¡¯t make a movie without expert advice.¡±

I¡¯ll offer it free for the sake of my IAF.

The writer is a former fighter pilot of the IAF and is now a commercial airline pilot. He is the author of three novels and many blog posts, available at www.avinashchikte.com