Sometimes, life imitates art in the most tragic and ironic ways. Just yesterday, on November 21, 2025, an Indian Air Force HAL Tejas fighter jet – the pride of India’s “Make in India” indigenous defence programme – crashed in flames during a live demonstration at the Dubai Airshow, killing the pilot. The heartbreaking incident has reignited painful memories of a powerful scene from Shah Rukh Khan’s 2023 blockbuster Jawan, where faulty Indian-made weapons and bombs supplied by a corrupt arms dealer malfunction, leading to the deaths of Indian soldiers.
Fighter Jet crashes at Dubai Air show below
Jawan punch line Faulty Weapon. Deal or No Deal…
The Dubai Tragedy: A Showcase Turned Nightmare
The Dubai Airshow 2025 was meant to be a global stage for India to flex its growing aerospace muscle. The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), was performing aerobatic maneuvers in front of thousands of spectators and international buyers.
Eyewitness videos show the single-engine jet losing control during a low-altitude roll, plunging to the ground, and erupting into a massive fireball. Despite rapid response from emergency teams, the pilot – reportedly Wing Commander Namansh Syal – could not eject and succumbed to fatal injuries.
This is only the second crash in Tejas history (the first in 2024 allowed the pilot to eject safely), but the first fatality. An Indian Air Force court of inquiry is underway, and early speculation points to possible pilot error, energy mismanagement in humid conditions, or yet-to-be-confirmed technical issues.
Days before the crash, social media buzzed with videos allegedly showing an “oil leak” from the Tejas on static display. Indian authorities quickly dismissed it as normal condensation from the aircraft’s environmental control system in Dubai’s humid weather – but the crash has given those rumours a grim new life.
Echoes of Jawan: Faulty Rifles, Bombs, and Betrayed Soldiers
In Jawan, Shah Rukh Khan’s character Vikram Rathore exposes a chilling “documentary-style” segment: corrupt arms dealer Kaalie Gaekwad (Vijay Sethupathi) supplies defective rifles, grenades, and bombs to the Indian Army. When soldiers fire them in combat, the weapons jam or explode prematurely – wiping out entire units while the enemy watches.
Vikram’s rage is palpable: “Our own weapons killed our jawans!” The film uses this plot to hammer home themes of corruption, crony capitalism, and how the powerful profit from the blood of soldiers and farmers.
Two years later, the Tejas crash – while not proven to be from defective parts – feels eerily similar. India’s flagship “indigenous” fighter, heavily promoted under the Modi government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat banner, failed spectacularly on a world stage. For critics, it’s a metaphor: over-hyped “swadeshi” hardware that still relies heavily on imported engines (GE F404/F414 from the US), delayed production, and persistent quality concerns.
The Propaganda Machine: “World’s 4th Most Powerful Military”?
Indian Godi media and government handles have long boasted that India is the world’s 4th most powerful military (behind USA, Russia, and China) according to the annual Global Firepower Index.
That ranking is real – in 2025, India holds 4th place with a PowerIndex score of 0.1184, thanks to massive manpower (second largest active force), a growing nuclear arsenal, and sheer numbers of tanks, aircraft, and ships.
But dig deeper, and the picture cracks:
• Much of the hardware is ageing Soviet-era stock or licence-built with foreign tech.
• Indigenous projects like Tejas have faced decades of delays, cost overruns, and criticism from within the IAF (once called “too heavy” by the Navy).
• Real combat capability (training quality, logistics, tech edge) lags far behind the US, China, or even Israel and South Korea.
• Global Firepower itself notes India’s strengths are quantity-driven, not quality or readiness.
Yet channels scream “India beats Japan, France, UK!” – conveniently ignoring that Japan’s military is deliberately capped by its constitution, and real peer rankings (like those from RAND or SIPRI) place India closer to 7th–9th when factoring actual warfighting effectiveness.
The Modi Era Image: Superpower or Overhyped?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made “Atmanirbhar Bharat in defence” a cornerstone slogan. Rafale jets, S-400 systems, BrahMos exports, and Tejas are paraded as proof India is a “vishwaguru” rising power.
The Dubai crash punctures that balloon. A pilot lost his life showcasing a jet that’s been in development since the 1980s, still hasn’t achieved full operational clearance in all roles, and now carries the stigma of a very public failure.
For many, it mirrors Jawan’s message: flashy patriotism and chest-thumping can’t hide systemic issues – corruption scandals, bureaucratic delays, and a defence ecosystem where hype often outruns reality.
Final Thoughts: Honour the Fallen, Demand Accountability
First and foremost, our deepest condolences to the family of the brave pilot who paid the ultimate price. Accidents happen in military aviation everywhere – even the US F-35 has had crashes.
But when a nation is sold the dream of being a military superpower while its soldiers and pilots sometimes operate with sub-par or delayed equipment, questions must be asked. Jawan was fiction that felt real. Yesterday in Dubai, reality felt like a scene straight out of the movie.
India has the potential to be a true defence powerhouse – fourth in raw strength is no small feat. But bridging the gap between propaganda and performance requires honesty, not slogans.
Until then, scenes like Tejas in flames will keep reminding us: the real jawans deserve better than jam-prone rifles… or headlines.
Watch the key Jawan scene and full movie in Netflix:
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