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Vicky Kaushal’s Sam Bahadur Movie Review: There’s a point in the film when Sam Bahadur is striding away from his low-on-morale-soldiers, having delivered a rousing address. One of them looks at his departing back and says: ‘we’ve finally got someone to tell us what to do’. There’s not just admiration in his tone, there’s reverence in his eyes.
Sam Manekshaw’s colourful personality and dazzling career has long been begging for a biopic. Meghna Gulzar’s 150-minute film, which focuses on the high points of his personal and professional life, is as admiring and reverential as that soldier who comes on for a moment and then bows out, his job done. Some individuals easily lend themselves to admiring bio-pics, and Sam Bahadur’s fans were, and still are, legion. But the film suffers from being excessively declamatory, with the background music overpowering the momentous events and the towering individuals on screen: the only one who escapes this, and keeps standing tall right through the film is Vicky Kaushal In and As Mankeshaw. This is Kaushal’s most challenging role, and he plays it to perfection.
In real life, Manekshaw, who became the first Indian Army officer to be promoted to the rank of Field Marshal, was a charismatic figure, about whom myths began being woven very early on: stories were told of his conquests on and off the field. His valour was unquestioned, and his men worshipped him. He was always immaculately dressed. Visitors had to be dressed appropriately too; no sloppiness was tolerated. He was, by all accounts, a great cook and host. And his caustic humour and bluntness were as legendary as his charm.
Early on in the film, we come upon the very dashing Sam (Vicky Kaushal) when he is earning his spurs at the Military Academy. A winsome romance with the pretty young Silloo (Sanya Malhotra, managing to hold her own) follows; she soon becomes his wife. His stint in Burma during the Second World War sees him grievously wounded, but managing to survive. That he was destined for greatness was clear from the accolades he began gathering right after his miraculous recovery: the British who pinned the bravery medals on his chest, had laid the grounds for the bloody Partition, and a divided Army. Even as his friend Yahya Khan (Ayyub, almost unrecognisable in layers of prosthetics, and ineffective to boot) stayed behind in what became Pakistan, Manekshaw was never in doubt where his allegiance lay.
Manekshaw played a decisive role in the 1971 war. His canny strategising helped Mrs Gandhi face down the pushy Americans, and defeat the Pakistan army comprehensively. The film shows her (Fatima Sana Shaikh) as a leader who is not afraid to take tough decisions, but it is not as complimentary to Nehru (Neeraj Kabi) who is, in many instances, shown to be indecisive. But these political shenanigans, featuring several key figures of the time, including Sardar Patel (Govind Namdeo) and other Cabinet members, do not come off as impactful as they should have. And that goes for the film, as a whole.
Net net, ‘Sam Bahadur’ pans out like a series of snapshots where information is handed out to us, much more tell than show. The writing is flat even when it tries to amp up the excitement in scenes which are inherently exciting. Take, for example, a running thread which features an irascible factotum who has clearly endeared himself to the big man. The first time we see the former twiddle the knob on his beat-up radio, muttering under his breath, we are amused. A repetition in the same vein is just not as funny.
Kaushal, though, won me over by being spot on, eyes a-twinkle, moustache a-bristle. It’s hard to play a character so closely without becoming a caricature, but he becomes Sam Bahadur.
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