Vicky Kaushal remembers two incidents of Sam Bahadur vividly. The first, when director Meghna Gulzar met him in April 2019, and over cold coffee, told him about her biopic on Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. The actor recalls, “Her first line was, ‘They don’t make men like him anymore’. I didn’t want to even read the script, I was firm that this is one film I have to do. [Eventually], I read the script on a flight to New York.”

It strengthened his belief of stepping into the shoes of the flamboyant Manekshaw. But would he be able to look the part? Kaushal remembers the second incident, the look test that the director conducted with him in May 2019. “The look test was important because we had decided to forgo prosthetics. It was a make-or-break [situation]. If I didn’t look the part, they would’ve got another actor,” says the leading man. “Look tests are usually not elaborate. But here, we did two days of prep with Shrikant Desai [make-up artiste] and Aalim Hakim [hairstylist]. The obvious things were complexion, moustache, lenses and hair. But then there were little details, like thinning of eyebrows that adds years. As soon as I was in the uniform and the first picture was clicked, I knew this was it. We knew the movie would happen.”