Review: Ishaan Khattar's War Film 'Pippa' on Amazon Prime Video

‘Pippa’: Cast & Crew

Director: Raja Krishna Menon

Cast: Ishaan Khattar, Mrunal Thakur, Priyanshu Painyuli, Soni Razdan, Inaamulhaq, Kamal Sadanah, Chandrachoor Rai, Soham Majumdar, Leysan Karimova

Available On: Amazon Prime Video

Duration: 2 Hours 19 Minutes

‘Pippa’: Story

The film revolves around Brigadier Balram Singh Mehta (Ishaan Khattar) of the 45th Cavalry tank squadron who fought on the eastern front during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 along with his siblings (Priyanshu Painyuli, Mrunal Thakur). Will Balram Singh Mehta be able to win the war for the country? Will he be able to mend his ways? Will his siblings finally start respecting him? Or will the siblings lose their lives in order to learn Balram Singh Mehta’s importance in their lives? Well, for all that you’ll have to watch ‘Pippa’.

‘Pippa’: Performances

Priyanshu Painyuli is a perfect fit for an army personnel’s character. He has played men in uniform quite a number of times in the recent past, and he has excelled in them almost always. Whether it’s the way he grooms himself or his body language, everything looks so darn perfect. It can be credited to the fact that he was born and raised in an army family, and therefore discipline and body language are ingrained in him. The only complaint about his performance is that it was too small. It felt like an extended cameo rather than being one of the three leads.

Mrunal Thakur was absolutely wasted. An actress of her calibre was just given a few scenes here and there. The role could have been played by any character artiste as it didn’t have much depth. While Mrunal Thakur manages to bring the necessary bubbliness to the performance, she isn’t able to bring that hardcore pathos that’s usually associated with a character that’s so closely associated with active war.

Ishaan Khattar is the biggest letdown in the film. While it can be seen that he has put a lot of hard work into the performance, there doesn’t seem to be a lot that’s put into making the character look believable. While his character is supposed to have a brattish Delhi attitude – a part that Ishaan Khattar manages to get really well, the character is also supposed to have the subservient attitude of an army household – a part that Ishaan grossly underplays. Not just that, Khattar has made the character have an air about himself being the best, which sort of doesn’t gel when you’re being put in an army situation where everyone is supposed to be equal while fighting a war. Also, his boyish good looks, sort of, create a disconnect between his persona and the heavy dialogues that he’s saying to pump up the others on the battlefield. Those kinds of little nuances made the character fall flat.

A worthy mention needs to be given to Inaamulhaq and Kamal Sadanah who don’t have too much screen time, but absolutely own the space when they’re onscreen. It was great to see Kamal Sadanah play Sam Manekshaw in a unique characteristic style of his. His comeback to the big screens shouldn’t just get limited to this, and hopefully, we’ll get to see more of him onscreen in the coming days.

‘Pippa’: Script, Direction & Technical Aspects

AR Rahman’s music is pretty much the best part of the film. His background score encapsulates you, despite the fact that you’re not in a dark cinema theatre and are watching on your phone or on your smart TV. That keen sense of music is what many of today’s films end up missing. Rahman made you feel like you’re sitting in between the shelling and the bombings. Even some of the songs like ‘Mohabbatein Shukriya’ and ‘Main Parwaana’ are sure to stick with you for long.

The writing by Ravinder Randhawa, Tanmay Mohan and Raja Krishna Menon starts off well, but very soon ends up being a damp squib. In war films, there is an element of predictability, which the audience accepts even before starting the film, but it’s usually the journey of the characters that matters the most. The familial equations were built really well at the start. Also, the initial premise was built really well. However, once the actual war sequences start, everything sort of goes haywire. The writing feels amateurish and it feels that the entire second half has been rushed to complete and tried to pump up the patriotic feels. One good thing about the writing is that they’ve not tried to make it sound jingoistic by adding in too many high-energy dialogues or war cries.

Raja Krishna Menon’s direction isn’t able to bring the kind of electric energy that ‘Uri’ did. The narrative is very bland with the story starting off at a great high and very soon falling into a deep abyss. When the direction doesn’t uplift the characters and the plot, the story’s predictability starts haunting you further. The characters needed to be given a lot more depth rather than maintaining a superficiality about them. Also, the entire film felt like it was a small episode in the big scheme of things amidst the 1971 Indi-Pak war. If Menon wanted this to stand out and have a separate voice of its own, he should have tried to bring in a bit more nationalistic fervour in pretty much every department. Like AR Rahman manages to pull you up with the BGM and the music, the writing and direction should have accentuated that feeling even further rather than bringing that high to a low and making you feel like you’ve wasted your time. Lastly, in his attempt to keep the jingoism to a minimum, he hasn’t shown absolutely anything from the side of the Pakistan army. There are just 1-2 scenes of an army general with Priyanshu Painyuli. If you really had to hook the audiences and get that patriotic feeling out of them, a lot more heart and soul needed to be there in the presentation.

Priya Seth’s cinematography is another letdown. Showing a war in an open field is a good choice for maintaining authenticity, but the periodic nature of the film also needed to come out, which doesn’t. There is not a single frame in the entire film where it feels like the backgrounds are from the 1970s and not from today’s times. The colour scheme is also very dull and doesn’t suit the 1970s, which is when the story is set.

The editing by Hemanti Sarkar could have been so much crisper. There is an entire scene where war tanks and other military personnel are just walking towards the battlefield. That thing could have been established in just one fleeting scene, rather than giving it almost 4-5 different frames and angles and extending it to almost a 3-4-minute-long sequence. This isn’t the only time that happens. Had those elongated scenes been cut short, the film could have well been brought down to under 2 hours.

Lastly, why was the film called ‘Pippa’? If the ‘Pippa’ tanks were that important to the plot, they needed to have more screen time. The importance and the difference of these tanks from the usual tanks didn’t come out that well in the minimal scenes where the tanks were actually onscreen. The fact that these tanks could float had barely two scenes in the entire film. That should have ideally been the main focus of the entire narration considering your film is called ‘Pippa’.

‘Pippa’: Can Kids Watch It?

Yes

Outlook’s Verdict

‘Pippa’ is one of those films which fit the adage, ‘Well begun is only half done’. The film starts off brilliantly on a high note, but very soon takes such a sharp downfall that you’re just left scratching your head. The film didn’t manage to extort the necessary patriotic feel from you as an audience. You’re eventually let down, and you’re wondering whether this was the reason why the film didn’t actually get takers in theatres and had to finally resort to an OTT release. For all lovers of war films, ‘Pippa’ is a massive letdown. Totally Avoid. I am going with 1 star.