SAMबहादुर (2023)
Sam Bahadur (2023)
Director:
Meghna Gulzar
Producer:
Ronnie Screwvala
Cast: Vicky
Kaushal (Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw), Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub
(Yahya Khan), Sanya Malhotra (Siloo Manekshaw), Neeraj Kabi (Jawaharlal Nehru),
Fatima Saina Shaikh (Indira Gandhi)
Sam Bahadur
is a great movie about Sam Manekshaw, one of India’s greatest military minds.
Sam
Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw is undergoing training at a camp in the
Indian Military Academy, and is given a punishment of two weeks suspension for
being late. Later, he fights and defeats Tikka Khan (he’ll be relevant in 40
years) in a boxing match.
Sam is selected as a captain and major to fight in Burma in WWII, against the Japanese
Empire. As he’s walking his troops to a place, the troops get surprised by kamikaze
raids, and 50 of them perish. Later, Sam leads his troops on Pagoda Hill, at
the Battle of Sittang River, in
a counter-attack against the invading Imperial Japanese Army; despite suffering 50% casualties the company
managed to achieve its objective. After capturing the hill, Manekshaw was hit
by a burst of light machine gun fire,
and was severely wounded in the stomach. He was rushed to a medic. The
surgeon refused to treat him, believing him to be dead, as Sam had got 7
bullets in the stomach. Nonetheless, Sam survived, and the surgeon treated him.
After independence, Sam’s
unit went to the Pakistan Army, so Manekshaw was reassigned to the 8th
Gorkha Rifles. Before he moved on to his new appointment on 22 October,
Pakistani forces infiltrated Kashmir, capturing Domel and Muzaffarabad. The following day, the ruler of the princely state of Jammu
and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, appealed for help from India. On 25 October,
Manekshaw accompanied V. P. Menon,
the secretary of the States Department, to Srinagar. While Menon was with the Maharaja, Manekshaw
carried out an aerial survey of the situation in Kashmir. According to
Manekshaw, the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession on the same day, and they flew back to
Delhi. Lord Mountbatten and
the Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, were briefed, during which Manekshaw
suggested immediate deployments of troops to prevent Kashmir from being captured.
During his term, he was promoted to colonel, then brigadier, when he was appointed
India’s DMO. This appointment was later upgraded to major general, and then to lieutenant
general.
Later, in 1971, the
East Pakistan region, now Bangladesh, voted for Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was
barred from being the PM of Pakistan, despite being the popular vote. This led
to a rebellion, led by Rahman and the Mukti Bahini, which Sam helped train,
against the leader of Pakistan’s army and Sam’s former good friend, Yahya Khan.
Want to know more? Watch
the movie! Or read a history book.
This movie, while
striving to be a biography, falls short, and ends up a hagiography. No doubt, Sam Manekshaw deserves the praise,
as India’s first Field Marshal, but not as much as it has been poured at in the
movie. For example, check out 12th Fail, the review for which I have
posted concurrently. That movie has depicted the flaws and virtues of the protagonist
equally. However, Sam Manekshaw’s worst vice has been depicted as snoring too loudly
in the movie? I don’t know. However, the movie did have its good points.
I recommend this movie
because:
1. Its acting is good.
2. The war scenes are very intense.
3. The costumes and sets are very accurate.
4. The scenes of tragedies like Operation Searchlight are depicted faithfully
and accurately.
5. Overall, this is a good movie.
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