Pippa: A film on family, war or just a tank?

Pippa was released on Amazon Prime on 10 November. Poster collected

AR Rahman's rendition of 'Karar Oi Louho Kopat' for the recently released Bollywood war-movie 'Pippa', directed by Raja Krishna Menon, has already led to a lot of controversy. Indeed, our National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam's creation holds a special place in the heart of every Bangladeshi rebel and Rahman's rendition of it, despite his mighty reputation, was just bad.

The ruckus around the song cast a long shadow on the movie as well. The Pippa team had to issue an apology on 14 November in order to calm scathed sentiments. But that's the equivalent of covering a gunshot wound with a band-aid and wishing a sorry will fix it. 

Worse still, the movie itself fails to tell the only story it set out to tell — a tale of friendship and fraternity between our country and India during our war of independence. How much of that story was told is up for debate. 

The movie begins on the ominous night of 25 March as the Pakistani military massacres Dhaka University students and launches Operation Searchlight. Indian Army Captain Balram Singh Mehta (Ishaan Khattar) of the 45th Cavalry, faces disciplinary issues, while his older brother, Major Ram Mehta (Priyanshu Painyuli), secretly trains Mukti Bahini in the then East Pakistan, disguised as Md Nadeef. 

Balram, initially detained to a desk job, proves himself and goes on to lead his unit to victory in the Battle of Garibpur, Jessore. Major Ram is then captured, but eventually rescued by Balram and the Mukti Bahini. Radha (Mrunal Thakur), their sister, decodes crucial intelligence, and the Mehta family witnesses Bangladesh gaining independence after Pakistan's surrender.

But the central character of the movie is not even an animate object. The protagonist is Pippa, the first-of-its-kind amphibious war tank, that operated on both land and water. Fun fact – Pippa in the Punjab tongue means "ghee da dabba" [can of clarified butter] that floats on water. To Balli, (Capt Balram) Pippa is his child that he takes care of. And Pippa also takes care of him.

It is Pippa who transports Balli to victory, and Balli's valour and faith in the machine serves the same purpose. But whether the movie is actually about love between man and machine, siblings, or two neighbouring countries, is tough to put a finger on. 

The narrative cuts between war, brotherhood and Pippa so frequently that no one story is properly told. 

Also, to help the audience sympathise with a million Bangalis taking refuge in India, Balram's family is portrayed as formerly from Rawalpindi who sought refuge in India during the Partition, being a Hindu family. This was absolutely uncalled for! Raw footage of Bangali refugee camps are still enough to send shivers down the spine. There was no need for this over-the-top drama.

Yet another bungled representation of the mass genocide was the use of rubber dummies floating on water as corpses of murdered Bangalis. Again, raw footage could have taken care of that. 

And what about the actors' performance? Above Ishaan, Priyanshu and Mrunal combined, the best acting performance was delivered by Shibli (Inaamulhaq), a Rajakar collaborator for the Pak army. This is not to say the main cast did poorly but they could have geared up better for a movie based on real history. However, the '70s fashion statement was portrayed just fine.

Throughout the movie, the role of the Mukti Bahini was not given as much screen time or significance as it deserved. True, only one battle was emphasised for simplicity, but the battle was not won by Pippa alone and this is a hard pill to swallow. How much of the movie is historically accurate is for historians to decide. 

The Mukti Bahini's guerilla warfare felt weak against Pippa and its commander's prowess. 

Some historical events like the then Indian Premier Indira Gandhi's active role in the war, India's deciphering of the deployment of carrier strike force USS Enterprise in the nick of time and swift actions near the end of the nine-month war were the only saving graces of the film. The audience at least got to know some history, even though the film essentially was a big assortment of nothing.