Sam Manekshaw To Live And Fight Again...

Ali Peter John

Field Marshal Sam Bahadur (brave) Manekshaw was born to be a fighter and a winner in everything he did and his greatest achievement was when he led the Indian army of which he was the head to go to war against Pakistan on the instructions of the then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi who had all the trust in him. His achievements as an army man made him the first Field Marshal of independent India. He was also conferred who the Padmabhushan and the Padmavibhushan and the Military Cross.

He was known for his exemplary courage which got him the title of Sam Bahadur, the chief of the Gorkha Regiment and ultimately to the chief of the Indian Army and the Field Marshal.

He had led many combats on different levels and was also often involved in controversies which he overcame with his integrity of character and discipline.

He was a man made for the most daring experts on the war front and his biggest victory came in 1971 when he as the chief of the Indian Army marched into Pakistan and made General Yahya Khan, the Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan and which led to the breaking up of Pakistan into East Pakistan and West Pakistan or Pakistan and Bangladesh.

He was honoured by the Indian government with a postal stamp issued in his honour and a marble statue has been elected in Wellington. But there has been many of his admirers who genuinely believed that he did not get the kind of honour that he really deserved. The story of the brave man ended in a place called Coonoor where he had settled down with his wife after he had retired soon after the 1971 war. The indifference shown to him was so serious that he was not only given a state funeral and there were no celebrities present to bid him farewell...

It was therefore very good and exciting news for many when Meghna Gulzar announced her decision to make a film on his life and times. There was a feeling of euphoria in the armed forces and especially among those who had the privilege of working under his command. This writer himself kept recieving any number of calls from young and old soldiers who said they were willing to help Meghna with material that they had on Sam Bahadur and kept waiting for my response, but how could I tell them anything when Meghna herself was not sure about making the film.....

Meghna drove many such soldiers to disappoint then when she seemed to have dropped the idea of making “Sam", the title she had decided to have for her film. Meghna went ahead and announced her film called “Chaapaak" which was based on the true live story of Laxmi Aggarwal, an acid attack survivor from Delhi. She recently completed the shooting of “Chaapaak" which was a subject that inspired Deepika Padukone so much that she decided to keep all her other offers aside and gave all her dates to Meghna to complete the film....

It was therefore a great delight for many who are in the armed forces or have been, to know that Meghna Gulzar is keeping her word and has made a formal decision to make her film in the Field Marshal.

What is more interesting at least for me is her choice of Vicky Kaushal to play the role of ‘Sam'. This actor, Vicky Kaushal has come a far way in a very short time. It seems like only yesterday when he was only an assistant of Anurag Kashyap who went on to make a brilliant debut in “Masaan", followed by “Raman Raghav 2.0" ,“Sanju" ,“URI"and is also playing a title role in Soojit Sircar “Uddham Singh". The actor certainly seems to have come a long way with all the potential to still go a very far way. And the best thing about this star is that he still doesn't have all the airs and the paraphernalia of an upcoming star. The Field Marshal would have been very happy to know that Vicky is going to live his life.

“Sam"will be a 2020 film and is being produced by Ronnie Screwwala

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