An unlikely friendship between soldiers of opposite camps on a deserted post along the border; it's a theme Major Ravi used to good effect as a humorous sub-plot in one of his previous films, but in 'Picket 43' the scenario takes centre stage. Alas! the plot fails to fulfill its potential as a full-length film.
Prithviraj is Hareendranath Nair, a Havildar in the Indian Army, who has been assigned to guard a chaotic picket in Kashmir. Despite going through a time of personal turmoil, Hari is committed to protecting his post day and night, through sun or snow. He has no companions, except for a Military Working Dog named Baccardi to whom he often communicates his thoughts and feelings.
Enter Javed Jaffrey as Mushraf Khan, the Pakistani soldier newly posted at the same picket on the other side. Unlike his predecessors, Mushraf has been blessed with the gifts of humanity and compassion. After the initial days of hostility passes, Hari and Musharaf start to develop a bond, and their friendship forms the crux of the story.
Picket 43 does have quite a few things going in its favour. The film deals with the psychological effect the situation along the border has on soldiers, than the war itself.
Jomon T John impresses once again with his cinematography. Some of his visuals manage to capture the beauty of Kashmir efficiently, while he has also filmed the action scenes with panache. The editing by Ranjan Abraham is crisp and the nonlinear narrative, although not justified completely, manages to hold your interest. The background score by Rex Vijayan also adds flavour to the proceedings, though the music does not have any remarkable tunes.
However, the film is eventually weighed down by its shortcomings. Despite both Hari and Mushraf being likeable characters, you are not genuinely moved by either men, thanks to some ordinary writing. The fact that most of the supporting characters in Hari's backstory are caricatures does not help matters either.
The lines between Hari and Musharaf are well-written and sharp but the corresponding Malayalam subtitles that appear on the screen are below par or missing for the most part, which is a shame considering the film was made primarily for Malayalam viewers.
We are informed that Picket 43 is one of the most dangerous posts along the border, with militant attacks happening frequently. Soldiers who guard the picket are brought home in body bags often as they do not have enough support to fight the well-armed insurgents. Yet there is no explanation on why the army chiefs insist on keeping only one soldier for the area - with back-up stationed hours away.
Ravi does not want to delve into such details and is busy hammering home the message of Indian soldiers' honour, valour and pride, and the personal sacrifices they make so that the rest of the country can sleep peacefully.
The climax is not rewarding either as a wounded Hari, who has been calling for help for the most part of the film, finally decides to switch his 'superhero mode' on. If only things were so easy for our beloved soldiers...
Also, a scene where Pakistani soldiers salute our hero for his bravery will make you cringe, no matter how much you have been rooting for him.
Among the actors, Renji Panicker looks out of his depth in the role as Hari’s commanding officer and fails to even deliver his dialogues properly in the final act. Jaffrey, however, brings warmth to the role of the Pakistani soldier and enjoys a decent debut in Malayalam. That brings us to Prithiviraj, who is clearly the film’s biggest strength. The actor does struggle with his Hindi occasionally and also in his attempts at humour but most importantly, he succeeds in infusing flesh and blood into Hari and manages to pull off some of the emotional scenes effortlessly.
I’m going with two-and-a-half stars out of five for Major Ravi’s Picket 43. It’s not a disaster of a film by any means, and is in fact way better than any of the director's recent efforts. However, as 2001’s Oscar-winning Bosnian film No Man’s Land shows you, the premise of having two opposing soldiers at a border post is one that has a lot of potential. But Picket 43 fails to explore it beyond a superficial level. Prithviraj has been part of some impressive projects in recent years; this film, unfortunately, is not one of them.