'Sam Bahadur' movie review: Played it too straight, Sam?

Film Sam BahadurDirector Meghna GulzarCast Vicky Kaushal Fatima Sana Shaikh Sanya MalhotraUA Biography DramaCriticrsquos Rating 35You must bear in mind as an audience that while this is the biopic on arguably Indiarsquos greatest war hero Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw 19142018 Sam Bahadur is not exactly the epic war movieItrsquos far more a film on Indiarsquos political history interspersed with footage from actual news reels that touched Manekshawrsquos external life even while he wasnrsquot wholly instrumental to it But these were his active years both as soldier and gentlemanAnd it was a long and fruitful life no doubtmdashgallantry apart as well Which is my semiissue with memoirsautobiographies in general That is they begin from the beginningmdashif that makes any senseAs in starting out with the early years before you finally get to the bottom of why we knewloved them which is when they were at the top essentiallyThis is also a reason I often skip the first few chapters of many autobiographies that detail childhood adolescence etc Theyrsquore most important to the author hardly as much to the reader This isnrsquot to say they shouldnrsquot exist Ought to be structured differentlySam Bahadur is altogether chronological taking the viewer across the neatly labelled years of Manekshawrsquos service 1933 onwards to 1942 he fought WWII multiple months of rsquo47 rsquo59 rsquo62 rsquo63 rsquo64 rsquo66hellipSomething tells me and maybe Irsquom entirely mistaken here the film has also been shot chronologically from the perspective of the lead character that is Quite frankly on the face of it actor Vicky Kaushal is the last person Irsquod imagine as playing ManekshawAnd my apprehensions didnrsquot seem particularly unfounded in the opening sequences when he walks in as a young gentleman cadet playing the fool in the military academy and playing the field outside itItrsquos only as the film progresses you see Kaushal sufficiently wearing off and Manekshaw coming into his own in his body language the ease of his tonemdashin a way thatrsquos magical and isnrsquot that what movies areKaushal must earn all the plaudits for this As he will The credit must go equally to the director Meghna Gulzar for taking the leap of faithGulzarrsquos last film Chhapaak 2020 similarly had the unlikely actor Deepika Padukone transform into an acidattack survivor It was a film that many stayed away from mainly for its deeply grim theme the gruesomeness of a lived experience It deserved the critical push Sam Bahadur doesnrsquot as muchItrsquos already the story of a man with swag enough to famously call the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi Sweety and get away with it Before of course winning for India the 1971 Bangladesh War which is how East Pakistan got away from Pakistan itselfManekshaw was the general leading the Indian Army He was anointed Indiarsquos first Field Marshal for it having already picked up Padma Bhushan before that You canrsquot argue with his accomplishments Only that generals donrsquot usually fight wars on the groundWhich is why yoursquoll notice the sequence detailing the storming of the Dhaka University by Pak Armymdashwhich was one of the triggers of the warmdashis possibly as long as the 1971 war scenes itselfWersquove been though details of the Bangladesh side of this leadup to the war lately with Shyam Benegalrsquos biopic Mujib 2023 and actual attacks on the groundfront equally recently with Raja Krishna Menonrsquos Pippa 2023Manekshawrsquos life still encompassed so much more Whatrsquos the most interesting bit I gleaned from this biopic I say gleaned because it could have been so much more central rather than pushed into the chronologyThat the Pak military dictator Yahya Khan who called for the war with Manekshaw at the opposite end were close friends once Itrsquos from a time before independence when the British Indian and Pak Army were one of courseAre there other interesting conflicts in Manekshawrsquos life Through the film the sense you get is he couldnrsquot suffer netasbabus namely fools in matters of the militaryThe disdain was mutual Would he get into trouble for it Regularly Did he have PM Gandhirsquos sympathetic ears It does look like it once she was assured that he was no political threatFatima Sana Shaikh who I always thought looked so much like Priyanka Gandhi plays Indira admirably Whatrsquos left therefore is to view Manekshaw as the man he wasmdashcharming at the party boisterous with the press and blessed with a bravado to galvanise his forcesThe trivia that follows is the film Messing with no known facts one bit Only detailing them as theyrsquore widely known Gulzar is in no hurry She holds moments when she has to Lending them also a female touch Manekshawrsquos wife Sanya Malhotra for instance is not an ornamentBut does the camera ever viscerally zoom in on the vulnerabilities of a man of war laying out his bare self at times when the chips are down Do you discover the side to a personality you didnrsquot expect No and noWhat the film does best or at best is take you through times that were changing And how things donrsquot change really IndoChinese handtohand fights at the borders could be from a couple of years ago Partition is still an issue India Pakistan are very much warring enemies at restThis is a fine reckoner of a larger history which is important to note about this film Because expectations could be otherwise Will I play it again Sam Perhaps not Will I recommend it still Absolutely

'Sam Bahadur' movie review: Played it too straight, Sam?

Film: Sam Bahadur
Director: Meghna Gulzar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra
U/A: Biography, Drama
Critic’s Rating: 3/5

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Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / 'Sam Bahadur' movie review: Played it too straight, Sam?

'Sam Bahadur' movie review: Played it too straight, Sam?

Film: Sam Bahadur Director: Meghna GulzarCast: Vicky Kaushal, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra U/A: Biography, Drama Critic’s Rating: 3/5

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Film: Sam Bahadur
Director: Meghna Gulzar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra
U/A: Biography, Drama
Critic’s Rating: 3/5