Vicky Kaushal is playing the role of India’s first Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw in Meghna Gulzar’s upcoming film Sam Bahadur, director of great films like ‘Raazi’ and ‘Chhapaak’. The trailer launch of the film was held at the Manekshaw Center in the country’s capital Delhi, which was presided over by Army Chief Manoj Pandey at the prestigious Manekshaw. In the film, Sanya Malhotra is playing the role of Manekshaw’s wife, and Fatima Sana Shaikh is playing the role of Indira Gandhi. Apart from these, Films Bahadur also stars Neeraj Kabi, Edward Sonnenblick (as Lord Mountbatten), Richard Bhakti Klein (as Ambassador Keating), Saqib Ayub (as Captain Atiqur Rahman), and Krishna Kant Singh Bundela (as Subedar Gurbaksh Singh). As) are also in lead roles. The film will be released in theaters on 1 December.

Sam Manekshaw’s daughter Maya Daruwala was also present on this special occasion of the trailer launch.

When Ronnie Screwvala was asked, the news was that when the idea of making a film on Sam Manekshaw came, his acquaintances came to ask him who should make the film. On this Ronnie said “Parsi is a very small community. “We take advice from each other.”

The film’s director Meghna Gulzar was welcomed with loud applause. Meghna thanked the people as soon as she came. And said in a very funny manner that I will not mention at all how nervous I am. She further says, “There are very few such opportunities in life where you get such an opportunity to present your work because of the reason you have worked for it. We have made a film on Sam Manekshaw, the trailer of which we are going to show at the Manekshaw Centre. A Field Marshal who has been a Chief of Army Staff. We are going to present him before our Chief of Army. I consider myself very lucky that I got this opportunity. Ronnie, I am very grateful that you chose to tell me this story. Every generation should know the story of such a person. If his story has even a little impact on people, it would be great.”

Meghna Gulzar said a few words in honor of Army Chief Manoj Pandey, “Honorable General Pandey, we met two years ago. You were the Army Commander in the Eastern Command, I had the privilege of meeting you. Since then the talks about this film have been going on with you. Your support is visible in this film, and you will also see it in this trailer. We are fortunate that you are among us today.”

Vicky Kaushal says that, when someone asked Manekshaw what according to him is his biggest achievement, he said, “In my entire career, from my second lieutenant to becoming a field marshal, I have never punished any soldier. Is.” It is his compassion that makes him a hero.

Talking about the film, Sanya Malhotra says, “I feel very honored to be a part of this film. And maybe 2023 is my year. I am very happy to be a part of such good films. Meghna ma’am, thank you very much for making me a part of this film.

Fatima thanks the people associated with the film and further says, “When Meghna ma’am offered me this film, I told her that maybe I am not the right person to play this character. But Meghna had said to trust me. I am very happy that I am a part of this film. I did not know about Sam Manekshaw, I came to know about him from this film. And it is through films that you get to know about many such personalities about whom you have never heard.”

Question- Meghna and Vicky, what was the most challenging thing for both of you in this film?

Meghna- Sam Bahadur’s military life spans four decades, and a lot has happened in those four decades. And as a filmmaker, I didn’t want to leave anything. But I had to work within a parameter and bring his story on screen in the best possible way.

Vicky- When you are preparing for a character, you yourself are not very conscious of what you are doing. The things that I remember, on which I had reduced, like the way he walks, how he talks, how he sits. Before the film started, Meghna and I used to sit for at least five hours a day, reading the script of the film again and again. Used to watch his videos. Used to read about him. We did not take leave even for a single day during that period, except one day when Meghna fell ill, that day we did not meet but we talked on Zoom call, I was showing her how  Manekshaw walked from my bedroom through Zoom call. By the time the making of the film started, I had understood everything about how Sam would walk and speak.

Question- Meghna ma’am, was Vicky your first choice for this film?

Meghna- Yes, the decision was taken as soon as I got the script in my hands. Vicky had said yes to the film without reading the script. After that, we did look tests, and we did not want to do prosthetics. We wanted to keep it as real as possible.

Question- For a film like this, you have to be very strong mentally and physically, so what kind of challenges did you have to face?

Fatima- There is a responsibility because you are playing a character that people know about. For this, you have to keep your spirit right. As an actor, I just had to trust Meghna, because she knew what she wanted from this film.

Sanya- We did a lot of tests regarding the look of the film so that it could look right. As an actor I love challenges, I don’t want to do easy things. Like Vicky, I too had said yes without reading the script of the film. I just wanted to work with Meghna ma’am.

Question- Vicky, what challenges have you faced in playing this character, and has Katrina helped you in this?

Vicky- I have a magical recipe that I have used during the film, about which I have not told anyone. I used to call Katrina before every shot. The biggest validation for me is when the army likes my film when they approve of my performance. We have given our all. We have taken care of small things. The main challenge is to work properly while wearing an army uniform. Whenever I met army people, they were very happy, they always encouraged me. And in the end, he would scare again, saying “Do it properly. You are playing the role of our best man.”

Question- Meghna ma’am why only Vicky for the role in this film?

Vicky- Why not Vicky?

Meghna- Although we have done only one film together till now, it feels like there is an untold relationship with her. And secondly, Vicky is a very good actor. When you are making a film with such a strong character, you need an actor who can work with zero margin.

Vicky- Meghna is true to her promise. When I agreed, she did not give me even a single dialogue, she said to do all the acting with my eyes only. So I made her promise that she would call me for dialogue in the next film. And then she gave me this film which has so many dialogues.

Question- How difficult was it to make a film paying tribute to Sam Bahadur, about a man whose contribution to this country is not known to many people?

Meghna- We hope that whatever work we have done in this film should be a tribute to him. Everyone should know about him, today’s generation as well as the future generation. Their lives and ideals, their stories, need to be celebrated just as we need to know them.

Question- How challenging was it to come out of the character of Sam Bahadur?

Vicky- If you are talking about daily life then it was not possible because when you are shooting you hardly get time to sleep. When the shooting is over, that vacuum hits you. For some time I used to sit exactly like him. It took me a few months to come out of his character. After every film, you have to forget your old character and get into a new character, and I like this thing about my work very much.

At the end of the event, Vicky also spoke a dialogue from the film, “There will be no more withdrawal, Sam is here.”   

-Ayushi Sinha