Pippa Review: Ishaan Khatter steps up to play Captain Balram “Balli” Singh Mehta of India’s 45 Cavalry regiment in this Hindi war film that adapts the real life events of the Battle of Garibpur in 1971. Directed by Raja Krishna Menon, the movie is based on the aforementioned Brigadier’s book The Burning Chaffees. Mrunal Thakur plays Balli’s sister, Radha, and Priyanshu Painyuli comes is as Balli’s elder brother, Ram Mehta. Together, the siblings fought on the eastern front during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. The film has been produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur under the banner of RSVP Movies and Roy Kapur Films.
Releasing on November 10 on Amazon Prime Video, Pippa also stars Soni Razdan as the lead trio’s mother. Its music has been brought alive by AR Rahman, with Priya Seth helming the cinematography and Ravinder Randhawa, Tanmay Mohan penning the screenplay with Raja Krishna Menon.
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-Pippa Movie Review Contains No Spoilers-
Pippa Review
The titular reference of the movie’s name extends to a tin can of sorts that can float on water in Punjabi, and this allusion links back to the image of War Tank PT-76 because it’s an amphibious light weight tank that can traverse the land as well as swim in water. The Bollywood film steps into a jarring picture of genocide to establish its war-ridden conflict in the first scene. The camera instantly pans towards the image of this eponymous war tank right after, announcing it as one of the main characters of the story even before introducing us to the real-life characters.
It’s almost poetic how this all unfolds, especially with the cast and crew having resurrected an original PT-76 tank from the war. The crossfires that eventually follow and make for the action-packed heartrending plot of the movie narrate how instrumental these tanks were for the Indian Army back in the day in one of the most significant chapters of the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Eventually, the lens focusses on the rather free-spirited soul of Captain Balram Singh Mehta, originally and widely known as the rambunctious troublemaker and outspoken, “Balli”, brother of Major Ram Mehta. Ishaan Khatter easily steps into the shoes of the character, and is often seen defying and challenging authority, largely epitomised by Priyanshu Painyuli’s marvellous portrayal of a disciplined and elder brother persona striving for perfection. From the get go, Pippa openly displays the strained relatable dysfunctional relationship between these two brothers as each one of them tries his best in his own way to live up to the name of their late father, also an Armyman.
Luckily, Krishna Menon’s directorial distinguishes itself in not just having made the simple, yet decisive choice of moving away from racing after a romantic track, but also establishing it as a movie with a beating heart that has no intentions of shaping up a jingoistic propaganda. By positioning Ishaan Khatter, Priyanshu Painyulli and Mrunal Thakur as the familial centre of the grounded movie, it reflects the universal image of a family wherein the elder brother is hardened over the years with all responsibilities on his shoulder, and the younger brother always testing his patience by living out his maverick life.
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The sister, on the other hand, sandwiched between the two, while also reaching out to find her voice, especially in the given traditional time and age. And, finally, a mother buried under the uncertainty of her “fauji” family’s life, always waiting to hear of her children’s safety regardless of the political goings-on of the cross-border violence. Additionally, in the earlier half of the film, the latter character helmed by Soni Razdan even goes beyond to humanise what it means to be a refugee. It stays back as a teaching lesson, not just for her children, but also for us, as the viewers.
Much like every other war epic drama, this one too pulls us right into the battlefield after a point to let us see the turbulent and heart-breaking scenario first-hand. And like always, the warfare is chilling to witness, but movie writers and the director interpret the unravelling of these actions in a more human lighting, instead of building it up as loud and fanatical patriotism backed by melodrama, especially given the nature of this particular war as a “morally justifiable” one as Menon aptly called it during the film’s promotions.
This vision seamlessly ties up with the final message that the movie leaves us with in the end, “sometimes not to fight is not an option”, and it hits even harder considering the contemporary reality, rife with war on all sides, we’re living in.
Pippa‘s story almost poetically comes full circle. Just like Balli’s chapter opens with his disagreements with his brother Ram, it ends with the two of them, too. This circularity feeds into the healthy and blossoming coming-of-age themes for the former’s character (interlinked with the coming of age of a nation), which Ishaan Khatter courageously breathes to life with utmost respect and a sense of responsibility. When you may have first heard of him leading this war film, you could have also hit the wall with the same misjudgement as many others that he’s “too young” to be playing a role like this. However, your verdict will have changed by the time you finish the movie.
Pippa Amazon Prime Video Movie: Final Thoughts
Supporting Ishaan along this journey, of course, is the effortless lyrical and goosebumps-worthy brilliance of AR Rahman’s Pippa soundtrack that adds to the earthy and heartfelt personal touch of storytelling that organically complements Khatter’s narration that reads out of the first-hand account of the real Captain Balram Singh Mehta himself. The songs are as intense as the hearty patriotism portrayed by the film. What essentially won me over was that Pippa has no intentions of glorifying war; rather, it states the untold reality a war hero faces as realistically as possible.
This moral centre is found by intrinsically linking the familial insight of the characters and offering us a natural look at their lives and dynamics with each other instead of painting a romanticised notion of what it means to fight a war or sensationally interweaving this outlook with a romantic subplot that has rarely added anything to the character’s growth in such films.
You can now watch Pippa on Amazon Prime Video.