Tejas (film)

Tejas is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written and directed by Sarvesh Mewara and produced by Ronnie Screwvala. The film stars Kangana Ranaut in the lead role, alongside Anshul Chauhan and Varun Mitra in supporting roles.

The film was released on 27 October 2023 to mostly negative reviews from critics. Tejas emerged as one of Hindi cinema's biggest box-office disaster within its first two days of release, with most theatrical screenings being cancelled on its opening day.

Plot
Indian Air Force pilot Tejas Gill is on a mission to rescue an Indian spy who has some very confidential information while also battling with her tragic past of haunted memories.

Cast

 * Kangana Ranaut as IAF officer Tejas Gill
 * Anshul Chauhan as Aafia
 * Varun Mitra as Ekveer
 * Rohed Khan as Sarqalam
 * Ashish Vidyarthi as IAF chief R K Panicker
 * Vishak Nair as Prashant
 * Kashyap Shangari as Vivek
 * Sunit Tandon as Academy Teacher
 * Rio Kapadia as RAW Chief
 * Mohan Agashe as Prime Minister
 * Mushtaq Kak as Khatooni
 * Lovlesh Khaneja as Pakistani Pilot

Production
Principal photography commenced in August 2021. Production wrapped in November 2021.

Promotion
The film was endorsed by the Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath and Uttarakhand's CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, both belonging to Bharatiya Janta Party, on 31 October 2023 after watching it in Lucknow together with Kangana Ranaut.

Ranaut remarked that Yogi Adityanath "assured us that he would protect us and our film from all our enemies and anti-national elements and motivate the nationalists to watch and connect with it". Ranaut was criticised over using politics to influence people to watch the movie.

Ranaut also visited the Israeli Embassy to promote the film amid 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict, which also drew criticism.

Music
The music of the film has been composed by Shashwat Sachdev. The lyrics have been written by Kumaar, Folk-Lore and Shashwat Sachdev.

Box office
Made on a budget of inr 700000000,  Tejas has grossed inr 49300000 in India, with a further inr 6700000 overseas, for a worldwide total of inr 56000000. The film emerged as one of Hindi Cinema's biggest box-office bomb in both domestic and overseas markets within its first two days of release.

Critical response
The film received negative reviews from the critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Tejas holds a score of 10% based on 10 reviews and an average rating of 5/10.

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film a rating of 1 out of 5 and wrote, "Tejas is a film that flies into rough weather from the word go and never manages to find a way out of it. An air combat thriller has never been so frustratingly airy-fairy". The Times of India's Dhaval Roy gave 3 out 5 stars, writing, "As the story builds up, sequences seem abrupt, and one wishes for a more cohesive screenplay. That being said, things turn thrilling once the main rescue operation begins, and the movie offers some high-octane action scenes". He praised Ranaut for performing "action as effortlessly as emotional scenes". More positive albeit mixed reviews came from Samarth Goyal of Hindustan Times who described Tejas as film that "takes you on a rollercoaster ride through the skies and geopolitics", which "succeeds in creating moments of tension and anticipation". The reviewer labelled the first half as an "an unruly hunk of footage" but credited the film for regaining its composure in the second half where it keeps "maintaining a commendable tone that never veers into loud and jingoistic territory". Lachmi Deb Roy of Firstpost, who gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, appreciated Ranaut and said the film becomes interesting in the second half, but lacks appropriate depth in the research.

Anuj Kumar, reviewing for The Hindu, wrote that the movie is "a sloppy follow-up that neither works as an action film nor manages to sustain the emotional swell". Zinia Bandyopadhyaye of India Today gave the film of 2 stars out of 5 and called it a bumpy ride muddled with jarring inconsistencies. Filmfare concluded, "while Tejas is a valiant attempt towards championing inclusion of women in combat roles, the half-baked nature of the film cushions the impact of its message." Shubhra Gupta panned the film as replete with "a series of eye-roll moments" but praised Ranaut "whose acting abilities shine through even in the weakest scenes". Jansatta described the movie in its review to be lacking plot and attempting to thrive on nationalist sentiments.