Ishaan Khatter attended bootcamps to perfect his role for Pippa

Actor Ishaan Khatter, who is all set to don the army uniform in the upcoming war film Pippa, opened up on the preparations that he made for the portrayal of real-life war hero Captain Balram Singh Mehta. He revealed that he attended multiple bootcamps for research.

Ishaan shared, "The character of Capt Balram Mehta in Pippa fascinated me. I considered myself incredibly honoured to portray Captain Balram at the age of 26, which is coincidentally the same age at which Captain Balram Singh Mehta (now Brigadier) fought in the war."

Ishaan dedicated significant time to research, attending multiple bootcamps and spending a substantial amount of time with the armed forces.

He said, "We lived for seven days each at two army cantonments, one in Rajasthan and another in Maharashtra. We were taught how to drive tanks. We shot in West Bengal for 45 days and filmed important events like the Battle of Garibpur, which allowed me to gain an understanding of the war from his perspective."

Ishaan added: "Interestingly, we shot the battle sequence 50 years to the day it actually happened November 20 and 21, 1971."

Pippa narrates a landmark moment in history, the 'Battle of Garibpur', during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971, that was pivotal in Bangladesh’s struggle for independence. 

Produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP movies and Siddharth Roy Kapur’s Roy Kapur Films, the movie has been directed by Raja Krishna Menon, known for helming Airlift (2016) and Chef (2017). The film also stars Priyanshu Painyuli, Mrunal Thakur and Soni Razdan.

Pippa is slated to premiere on Prime Video on November 10. It is based on Captain Balram Singh Mehta’s book The Burning Chaffees.