Vicky Kaushal is all set to play Sam Manekshaw in ‘Sam Bahadur’. Directed by Meghna Gulzar, the film is all set to hit the theatres on December 1. Kaushal, along with director Meghna Gulzar, were guests on Day 3 of Sahitya AajTak 2023. Here, he spoke about his preparation to play Manekshaw. He also revealed that he shot with real soldiers for the film.

VICKY KAUSHAL SAYS ‘SAM BAHADUR’ HAS REAL FAUJIS

On the stage of Sahitya AajTak 2023, Vicky Kaushal made the revelation that the film is probably one of the firsts that have real ‘fauji’ in each of the frames.


He said, “In any frame of the film, if you see soldiers, then please know that they are real soldiers. If we habe shown in the film that someone is from Sikh Regiment or someone is from Assam regiment, then they had been called from the same regiment. The only person who is not a ‘fauji’ is me and I was given the task to be their bosses and pass orders to them. They were very encouraging and motivating. Through this film, we got to interact with the real heroes.”


Vicky’s portrayal of Sam Manekshaw, as can be seen in the teaser and trailer of ‘Sam Bahadur’, is promising and has generated a massive hype. Opening up about his process to become Manekshaw, he revealed, “When I met Meghna, she just gave me one line brief about Sam Manekshaw. He was a Field Marshal and an Army Chief when the ’71 war happened. My parents are from Punjab and they have seen the war very closely, so I used to listen to anecdotes from them. When I met her (Meghna Gulzar, director), she just said, “They don’t make men like him anymore.” When this journey started, the research was very important because he had a certain walk and a way of speaking.”


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He added, “The tricky part was that we have brought out 40 years of his career. Whatever interviews you would find on him is all post retirement, when he was 80 years old. There was no reference on how he would have been in his youth. Meghna became my reference, because she had years of research. (I read and watched) his interviews, videos, books, interacted with his family. After 3-4 years of work, I tried adapting the tonality and his walk, so that nowhere in the film one could find my voice. I have to say that this would not have been possible without Meghna.”


Meghna Gulzar revealed that he did not have any prosthetic on him, except for the lenses to change his eye colour, and moustache. Praising the actor, she said that the rest was Vicky’s effort that he transformed in Manekshaw. “He was playing the character with his eyes and his expressions,” she added.


VICKY WANTS ‘SAM BAHADUR’ TO BE A FITTING TRIBUTE TO MANEKSHAW

Vicky also said, “People might or might not like it, but we hope that everyone would feel that a fitting tribute was given to Sam Manekshaw.”


The biggest change he experienced in his personal life after playing the character, he said, “It’s been moral courage, clarity of thought and ownership of decisions.


Apart from Kaushal, the film also stars Fatima Sana Shaikh as Indira Gandhi and Sanya Malhotra as Manekshaw’s wife.