- A young Indian Army captain from the 45 Cavalry regiment commanding the amphibious PT-76 war tank comes of age as he and his two siblings fight to liberate Bangladesh in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971.
- PIPPA tells the story of Captain Balram Singh Mehta of India's 45 Cavalry regiment who, along with his siblings, fought on the eastern front during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. Named after the Russian amphibious war tank "PT-76", which floats on water like an empty 'pippa' (tin) of ghee, the film traces Mehta's coming-of-age as he steps up to prove himself in a war to liberate Bangladesh.
- 60% of Pakistanis spoke Bangla, but they had no representation in the seat of power in the state of Pakistan. East Pakistan was reduced to a slave state. First general elections were held in 1970 in which the party Bangladeshi Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won by a majority. Pakistan's ruler General Yahya Khan refused to accept the election results. Mujibur Rahman was arrested. Call for Bangladesh erupted into a rebellion.
Background: On 25 March 1971, soldiers of the Pakistan Army soldiers enter the university and start indiscriminate firing on the students and staff, in the known as the 1971 Dhaka University massacre. Pakistan's President Yahya Khan launches Operation Searchlight to crush the Bengali nationalist movement. Thousands are killed, and thousands of Bengali women captured as sex slaves by the Pakistani Army. Millions flee across the border into India to take refuge.
Captain Balram Singh Mehta (Ishaan Khatter) is a young officer in the 45th Cavalry regiment, which is equipped with the PT-76 tank, nicknamed 'Pippa'. PT-76 was the first tank acquired by India, which floated on water. Balram has some discipline issues and tends to often get into trouble with his senior officers. He refuses to follow orders and has the tendency to take risks when told not to. His crew includes Ramphal (Suryansh Patel), LD Harish (Bishal Rungta). His elder brother is Major Ram Mehta (Priyanshu Painyuli), who is trying to install some discipline in his younger brother. Radha Mehta (Mrunal Thakur) is their sister, and the three of them live with their mother Maati (Soni Razdan). Radha is shown to be good in Cryptography.
One day, Major Ram is called to a forward area in preparation of the upcoming war. Balram is irritated by Ram lecturing him all the time, and they have a fight before Ram leaves for the front.
Captain Balram is denied from going to the front and assigned a desk job because of his indiscipline while the rest of his regiment proceeds to the front. In the meanwhile, Radha proves herself to be good at cryptography, and is recruited into the 'Communication and Analysis Wing', a signals intelligence organization to decode enemy messages. Anirban Mukherjee (Soham Majumdar) is a communications expert, who studied with Radha in college and had seen her skills in cryptography. Soon, Radha lands a goldmine as she decodes Yahya Khan's personal messages to his army chiefs in East Pakistan.
Major Ram is ordered to covertly enter into East Pakistan (Bangladesh) under a false name, to train Mukti Bahini and advise them in conducting operations against East Bengal forces helping Pakistani army. Captain Balram is ordered to work on the PT-76 tank to come up with some improvements, which he does successfully. While on an inspection tour, the Army Chief General Sam Manekshaw (Kamal Sadanah) is impressed by his innovations and orders him to join his regiment on the front.
Major Ram leads the Mukti Bahini in a number of successful operations against the Pakistan Army. However, during one of the operations he gets captured. He is taken to a camp where he is tortured for information. However, he is able to endure the torture and does not reveal his identity or any other information.
Pakistani forces start shelling Indian positions across the border. Sam Mankeshaw convinces Indira Gandhi to let him go 10 kilometers into the East Pakistan territory in a covert operation, to provoke Yahya Khan into launching a full scale war against India. Captain Balram's regiment along with the 14th Punjab battalion crosses the border and engages Pakistani units in the Battle of Garibpur. In the battle, Captain Balram's senior officer and squadron commander, Major Daljit "Chiefy" Singh Narang (Chandrachoor Rai) is killed in action, requiring Captain Balram to assume command. Captain Balram successfully leads his unit to victory.
Soon after, he receives a call from Radha that as per intelligence sources, Major Ram is missing in action. By coincidence, a captured Pakistani Bengali officer who has rebelled against the Pakistan Army tells him that there is one Indian Army officer being held captive at a particular post. Yahya Khan blinks at Indian Army's operations in East Pakistan and starts a full-fledged war with India. Sam Manekshaw and Indira Gandhi decide to infiltrate East Pakistan with an objective to capture Dhaka.
Radha also decodes a Pakistani communication that indicates that the United States Seventh Fleet is moving towards East Pakistan in order to intervene in support of Pakistan. That brings an extra urgency in India's operations to secure victory and Pakistan's surrender before the US ships can get within striking distance.
Captain Balram's troop makes contact with the Mukti Bahini, which offers to lead him to the camp where Major Ram is being held. Major Ram is about to be shot for not revealing any information, however the Mukti Bahini rebels reach at the right time and shoot his would-be executioner. Captain Balram's tank unit also arrives and after a fierce battle, the Pakistani camp is captured, and many Bengali women being held as sex-slaves are freed. Major Ram and Captain Balram are also reunited.
Shortly after, the Pakistan Army surrenders, and Bangladesh becomes independent. Major Ram, Captain Balram and Radha return home to their mother.
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