Pippa Movie, the war tank to liberation

Following the success of the large number of war films in Bollywood, Shershaah, Uri, Gunjan Saxena the Kargil Girl, and Sardar Udham Singh, Bollywood has come up with  another fresh presentation of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war with Pippa Movie. The film is directed by Raja Menon, with his previous presentations of Airlift and Chef having been appraised by the mass audience in India.

The film is based on the war chronicles, The Burning Chaffees, by Brigadier Balram Singh Mehta, and highlights the courage of Brigadier Balram SinghMehta on the battlefield in the 48 hour long Battle of Garibpur.

Mrunal Thakur Performance

The film stars Ishaan Khatter in the lead role of Brigadier Balram Singh Mehta, and Mrunal Thakur as the female protagonist. Mrunal Thakur has given some of the most critically appraised performances in the movies that she has undertaken in the past few years, including her last Bollywood release, Jersey. She portrays the role of Radha, the sister of Khatter’s character.

The film also stars Soni Razdan, the mother of the new mother Alia Bhatt, and Priyanshu Painyuli. Pippa is the nickname given to the Russian tanks that were used by the war tank squadron with Balram Singh Mehta as the head. Pippa is the amphibious war tank, PT-76, hailing from Russia.

Pippa

The film was announced on the 50^th anniversary of the war, in 2021. The C-Squadron 45 of the Indian army cavalry will be seen on the screen, using their Russian war tanks to counter the attacks by the East Pakistani army.

On November 21, 1971, the two armies met in a tank battle, when the Pakistani tanks, made in America, were destroyed completely by the Indian forces. The film has been produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur, and it portrays the involvement of the Indian army in the Bangladeshi liberation struggle. The teaser sees hard-delivered dialogues by Khatter in a war environment, and chants of Joy Bangla rife as the battle cry.

The teaser of the film was released on the 75^th Independence Day among critical acclaim for Khatter’s promising look as the fearless Balram Singh Mehta. RSVP and Roy Kapur films produced the film, and it is set to release on December 2, 2022, 7 days before the originally planned date.

Pippa Movie

While there have been many war films in Bollywood in the recent times, this film is set apart by its first time portrayal of a film based entirely on war tanks that were used in the 1971 war. One of the largest refugee migrations in the modern times, with the formation of Bangladesh from East Pakistan, forms the background of the movie. The film is family oriented, showing the journey of an Indian family fighting with unprecedented dedication in the liberation war for another country.

In the words of Mrunal Thakur, shooting for the movie was a delightful experience, as she shared her excitement regarding the release of the film on her social media handles.

“I don’t believe it’s a film wrap for me #Pippa…This has been a super fun journey because of all the fun people I’ve worked with! Playing Radha has been a true delight!”

Coming on the back of the supernatural comedy film, Phone Bhoot, which also starred Katrina Kaif and Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ishan Khatter has his job cut out for him appealing to the audience in the strict role of a war veteran.

However, as an audience, we should not forget his performance in roles like that of Amir Ahmed in Majid Majidi’s Beyond the Clouds, which just goes on to show his diverse portfolio in the film business, assuring a good show on screen. Last but not the lease, highly awaited for this film is the music by A. R. Rahman, the magical man of music in India.

The presence of the iconic legend ensures that the music album will be to die for, and it is expected that the results will be seen soon as the music launches for the highly awaited movie. Pippa comes out on December 2, 2022 in the theatres near you.