Pippa (2023) :
Movie Review -
After Airlift (2016), Raja Krishna Menon tries his hands on another true story from India's history with "Pippa," starring Ishaan Khatter, Mrunal Thakur, and Priyanshu Painyuli in the lead roles. Pippa is a known figure from the 1971 war, but many don't know it. They will come to know about it with this film, even though they are very familiar with the conflicts of the 1971 War and Bangladesh's establishment. Pippa is more about war at home than India's war; Pippa is more about Bangladesh's war than India's war; Pippa is more about Pakistan's attempt to win Bangladesh than attacking India; Pippa is more about disobeying Balli than the war hero Balram Mehta; Pippa is more about the Mehta family than the Indian Army/soldiers and so on. Then why did one have to waste such a heroic and brave story for the sake of a mediocre family and self-discovery drama? Aren't we having enough of them already?
Balli (Ishaan Khatter) is quite an indisciplined fella in the Cavalry 45 and is often under the radar of his seniors. He is one of the best the cavalry has, as his senior says, but he isn't even aware of the Army's discipline and rules. That's a big joke to me! Well, he has an older brother, Ram Mehta (Priyanshu Painyuli), who is a war hero and a very obedient soldier. So obviously, it's a war of personalities between Ram and Balram, and Balli is somehow competing with Ram unknowingly. Their sister, Radha Mehta (Mrunal Thakur), is a code reader and is hired by CAW to crack the code messages. So this is how the entire family is at war, and it was natural since their father was a soldier and was involved in the 1947 War. As the Pakistani army is heading towards capturing East Pakistan and President Yahya Khan is going bonkers, Sam Manekshaw must stop them, while Balli has plans of his own to enter the dangerous area with his Jaan, his love, PIPPA.
Pippa could've been written differently and smartly as well. Not everything has to be dramatic and jingoistic, but somehow Pippa carries both of these shortcomings together. It's not completely dramatic, jingoistic, and bad, but it is somewhat close to all of them, turning itself into a half-baked attempt. Who plays rap music during an intense fight sequence? How can two brothers chill and smoke cigarettes when they have won probably the biggest war for their country? That scene should've been emotionally powerful, but it's so dry and soulless. The chief would flock into the sensitive and critical area, thinking that the opponents were immature and duffers, when a few moments ago he was the one who was giving a lecture on discipline and maturity. Some random Bangla freedom fighters would carelessly take over Pakistan's tank, shouting "Jai Bangla," and within 2 seconds, he would be shot dead, and you get a RHSV of that. What's all these rush? Why such chaos? Where is the proper storytelling of this heroic and important event in our country's history? Pippa bombs its own self.
The acting unit also has nothing good to offer you. Ishaan Khatter is so young and has such a teenage look that he doesn't look like a soldier. All his colleagues have beards, moustaches, and mature appearances, while he looks like an intern. His English accent is more fluent than Hindi. That says everything. Mrunal Thakur is in the same calm and composed zone that we have been seeing for some years now. Priyanshu Painyuli does well, and he looks like an army officer. He reminded me of Sam Manekshaw with his look (except that crossed cap), and then I had another actor playing Sam, Kamal Sadana. Flora Jacob plays Indira Gandhi, and she hardly has any screen space to be reviewed. Chansrachoor Rai, Neeraj Pardeep Purohit, Suryansh Patel, Leysan Karimova, Amit Ghosh, Inaamulhaq, Sandesh Bhandari, Soni Razdan, and others have done a fine job in their roles.
Pippa has poor visual quality. The action sequences are not even completely shot and edited. You see many incomplete and improper frames for one of the most important scenes. That plays a spoilsport here, as the film loses all the visual appeal, and on the small screen (OTT release), it looks very low-grade. The sound design and production quality aren't encouraging either. The screenplay fails to keep you hooked, and that's one of the major faults in the film. A. R. Rahman's music is underwhelming, and the cinematography by Priya Seth isn't encouraging either. A war action drama can't have below-par standards in the technical fields, and Pippa unfortunately suffers from the same problem. Raja Menon's vision is half-baked. He seemed clueless in many dramatic scenes, which could have taken the film to the next level. Instead, he brought it down. The only good thing is that the film doesn't bore you. It has a runtime of 135 minutes, and yet it feels pacy, as you can easily skip the song. As a whole, a great heroic story is wasted and gracefully dumped on OTT to avoid theatrical humiliation.
RATING - 4/10*
After Airlift (2016), Raja Krishna Menon tries his hands on another true story from India's history with "Pippa," starring Ishaan Khatter, Mrunal Thakur, and Priyanshu Painyuli in the lead roles. Pippa is a known figure from the 1971 war, but many don't know it. They will come to know about it with this film, even though they are very familiar with the conflicts of the 1971 War and Bangladesh's establishment. Pippa is more about war at home than India's war; Pippa is more about Bangladesh's war than India's war; Pippa is more about Pakistan's attempt to win Bangladesh than attacking India; Pippa is more about disobeying Balli than the war hero Balram Mehta; Pippa is more about the Mehta family than the Indian Army/soldiers and so on. Then why did one have to waste such a heroic and brave story for the sake of a mediocre family and self-discovery drama? Aren't we having enough of them already?
Balli (Ishaan Khatter) is quite an indisciplined fella in the Cavalry 45 and is often under the radar of his seniors. He is one of the best the cavalry has, as his senior says, but he isn't even aware of the Army's discipline and rules. That's a big joke to me! Well, he has an older brother, Ram Mehta (Priyanshu Painyuli), who is a war hero and a very obedient soldier. So obviously, it's a war of personalities between Ram and Balram, and Balli is somehow competing with Ram unknowingly. Their sister, Radha Mehta (Mrunal Thakur), is a code reader and is hired by CAW to crack the code messages. So this is how the entire family is at war, and it was natural since their father was a soldier and was involved in the 1947 War. As the Pakistani army is heading towards capturing East Pakistan and President Yahya Khan is going bonkers, Sam Manekshaw must stop them, while Balli has plans of his own to enter the dangerous area with his Jaan, his love, PIPPA.
Pippa could've been written differently and smartly as well. Not everything has to be dramatic and jingoistic, but somehow Pippa carries both of these shortcomings together. It's not completely dramatic, jingoistic, and bad, but it is somewhat close to all of them, turning itself into a half-baked attempt. Who plays rap music during an intense fight sequence? How can two brothers chill and smoke cigarettes when they have won probably the biggest war for their country? That scene should've been emotionally powerful, but it's so dry and soulless. The chief would flock into the sensitive and critical area, thinking that the opponents were immature and duffers, when a few moments ago he was the one who was giving a lecture on discipline and maturity. Some random Bangla freedom fighters would carelessly take over Pakistan's tank, shouting "Jai Bangla," and within 2 seconds, he would be shot dead, and you get a RHSV of that. What's all these rush? Why such chaos? Where is the proper storytelling of this heroic and important event in our country's history? Pippa bombs its own self.
The acting unit also has nothing good to offer you. Ishaan Khatter is so young and has such a teenage look that he doesn't look like a soldier. All his colleagues have beards, moustaches, and mature appearances, while he looks like an intern. His English accent is more fluent than Hindi. That says everything. Mrunal Thakur is in the same calm and composed zone that we have been seeing for some years now. Priyanshu Painyuli does well, and he looks like an army officer. He reminded me of Sam Manekshaw with his look (except that crossed cap), and then I had another actor playing Sam, Kamal Sadana. Flora Jacob plays Indira Gandhi, and she hardly has any screen space to be reviewed. Chansrachoor Rai, Neeraj Pardeep Purohit, Suryansh Patel, Leysan Karimova, Amit Ghosh, Inaamulhaq, Sandesh Bhandari, Soni Razdan, and others have done a fine job in their roles.
Pippa has poor visual quality. The action sequences are not even completely shot and edited. You see many incomplete and improper frames for one of the most important scenes. That plays a spoilsport here, as the film loses all the visual appeal, and on the small screen (OTT release), it looks very low-grade. The sound design and production quality aren't encouraging either. The screenplay fails to keep you hooked, and that's one of the major faults in the film. A. R. Rahman's music is underwhelming, and the cinematography by Priya Seth isn't encouraging either. A war action drama can't have below-par standards in the technical fields, and Pippa unfortunately suffers from the same problem. Raja Menon's vision is half-baked. He seemed clueless in many dramatic scenes, which could have taken the film to the next level. Instead, he brought it down. The only good thing is that the film doesn't bore you. It has a runtime of 135 minutes, and yet it feels pacy, as you can easily skip the song. As a whole, a great heroic story is wasted and gracefully dumped on OTT to avoid theatrical humiliation.
RATING - 4/10*