EXCLUSIVE: Sam Bahadur maker Meghna Gulzar on Sam Manekshaw’s relation with his cook, “He was a very avid foodie and very interested in cooking”

Meghna Gulzar also revealed a funny incident when Sam Manekshaw's daughter wanted him to meet her boyfriend.

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

January 29, 2024 - 6:05 PM IST

Filmmaker Meghna Gulzar’s Sam Bahadur is based on the life of India’s first Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw. It sees Vicky Kaushal play the titular character while Sanya Malhotra played his wife Silloo Manekshaw. The film recently started streaming on ZEE5. In an exclusive quote shared with Bollywood Hungama, Meghna spoke about the personal side of Sam Manekshaw she came across while doing the research for the movie.

EXCLUSIVE: Sam Bahadur maker Meghna Gulzar on Sam Manekshaw’s relation with his cook, “He was a very avid foodie and very interested in cooking”

Answering with whom he shared a close bond, she said, “His relationship with his cook. He was a very avid foodie and therefore very interested in how things were cooked right from a young age. So, he used to constantly be giving tips to the cook or the khansama, not to the exasperation of the cook. And then there was Silloo, who possibly was the only person he was afraid of. I mean, she called the word in the house. So, these were all personal sides of him that we got to know from the family. So, we had an opportunity to put it across on screen.”

Meghna also shared a funny incident involving Manekshaw’s daughter. “Like, there is an anecdote where the joke goes that when his older daughter, Sherry, said that she wanted to introduce him to her boyfriend, he went towards his gun cabinet to take out his gun and towards his whiskey cabinet to hide his alcohol,” she said. “We have used a small part of it in the movie where Silloo’s character says that ‘Sherry apne boyfriend koh milne la rahi hai’. And he says, ‘Hamari beti Sherry Batliwala, though I can handle the inquiry. But this is too much.’ So, it just gave us moments of relief where we could see the man behind the uniform. And I'm very grateful for that.”

When asked about a memorable moment from the shoot of Sam Bahadur, Meghna recalled shooting a scene where they had to move the camera 360 degrees non-stop. “The entire unit was so cohesive that during a location shift or if we had to change the access and equipment had to move, everybody was picking up everything and walking. So, like the boxing sequence, there’s one shot where the camera is going 360 degrees without a cut. We have taken a full circle. Now, if you see the BTS of that, the entire crew – sound guy, boom guy, continuity person, monitor people, camera people, steady cam person, lighting people – everybody is walking in this one herd behind the camera so that they don’t come in the frame for that entire round. You can only do that when you know you are synched like clockwork as a team.”

Produced by RSVP, Sam Bahadur was released in theatres on December 1, 2023.

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Fatima Sana Shaikh initially refused to play Indira Gandhi in Sam Bahadur; reveals, “I said no”