Sam Bahadur Review

Sam Bahadur is the biopic of India's first ever Field Marshal, Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw. Sam Manekshaw was an exemplary military leader whose actions helped shape modern Indian history. But the film also tries to shine a light upon Sam Bahadur, the person (the name itself was given to him by a soldier who could not remember Manekshaw's full name) - the charismatic man who instantly found admirers everywhere he went, and the kind of man with the gumption to call Prime Minister Indira Gandhi "sweetie" (there exists a scene specifically to showcase that he called everyone sweetie and was not being sexist).

Sam Bahadur is director Meghna Gulzar's second war-related film after the 2018 spy thriller Raazi, which was both a critical and commercial success. Co-incidentally or not, Raazi was also connected to the 1971 India-Pakistan war that happens to be one of Manekshaw's biggest victories.

The movie begins with the story of how impish Sam Manekshaw ropes two of his fellow cadet officers into breaking a curfew to go to a party. The trio gets caught, obviously, but the charismatic Sam manages to still get his superior officers' respect. A British posting in Lahore with the Royal Scots in pre-Independence India was followed by a stint with the 12th Frontier Force Regiment in Burma.

We'll not try to list every one of Manekshaw's achievements because we have no intention of spoiling the movie (also, there are too many to note down in this short space!), but events in Burma firmly set Manekshaw on the leadership track. In a long career spanning almost four decades, Manekshaw retired as India's first ever recipient of its highest military title - Field Marshal (only Field Marshal K M Cariappa has had that honour since).

A biopic is very often made or broken by the character in question, and the actor portraying said character. Sam Bahadur - the kind of man who has the word "brave" in his name - is obviously a person worthy of having a biopic, but we were surprised by Vicky Kaushal. Kaushal is no stranger to war action movies - having played a Indian soldier in both Uri and Sardar Udham Singh prior to this (and also in the aforementioned Raazi, but as a Pakistani soldier) - but this is the first time where he isn't an out and out, action-oriented war hero. There are plenty of action scenes in Sam Bahadur, but most of them are actual snippets from historical recordings, and not live recreations.

With a running time of 148 minutes Sam Bahadur is long, but ends before it feels unwelcome. Granted, the second half is not as well-paced or interesting as the first one, but it is still never unbearable. What we do have an issue with is how sanitised the movie feels to be, and how much the lead character is always in control. We get it, this is a historical figure in a position of considerable power, but even when the man gets shot in the stomach multiple times it never feels tense. There are a few sequences like when it is shown that his wife Silloo Bode (Sanya Malhotra) and he have separate bedrooms because she cannot stand his snoring, an impassioned speech from an otherwise despicable character General (then Major) Yahya Khan who talks about the pain of having to choose between India and Pakistan as an army officer prior to Partition, and the aforementioned titular incident where he gets crowned as Sam Bahadur, but there are few emotional ups and downs for the audience to connect with.

Even the last scene where Manekshaw gets called Bahadur and delivers a rousing speech is ruined by an unnamed soldier going, "This is exactly the kind of leader we need, we need to be told what to do." PLEASE, for the love of all that is holy, show and don't tell!

Sanya Malhotra's Silloo is the understated foil to Kaushal's self-assured Sam. The rest of the cast is able enough, though they are somewhat kept on the periphery, save for an expected "iron lady" performance from Fatima Sana Shaikh as Indira Gandhi. Neeraj Kabi as Nehru is almost timid, while Govind Namdeo's Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel is spirited but has been given only one real scene - the focus is all on Sam Manekshaw.

Sam Bahadur feels largely like a safe biopic, which in our humble opinion doesn't do enough justice to the well-spoken and charismatic man, whose characteristic sharp wit always shone through in interviews well into his eighties. Sam Bahadur, the man - quite understandably - is far more interesting than Sam Bahadur, the movie.