Sam Bahadur Film Review: The Field Marshal Would Have Approved

As a soldier, I have always lamented the lack of good war films made in Bollywood.

Hollywood has created iconic films on battles and struggles, like The Longest Day or A Bridge Too Far, and on individuals like Patton.

What few Bollywood movies we have on war¡ªbarring exceptions¡ªare uniformly substandard following the tried, tested, and rusted formula. Plus, nobody pays any attention to detail.

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I¡¯m glad they¡¯ve paid great attention to detail in Sam Bahadur. They didn¡¯t forget even little things like ¡®never leave a gun cocked.¡¯

They showed Yahya Khan favouring his left hand, and the Dakota aircraft too was quite authentic.

The protagonist¡¯s entry into the frame, his introduction to the viewers, is impressive, as is the exit in the last frame. He continues to linger in our minds long after.

To my surprise, I must admit I didn¡¯t see any actors in this film¡ªonly the characters.

The film has witty dialogue in places, exactly like the great man was famous for, including the iconic, ¡°A bloody mule kicked me!¡±

That was when he had 9 bullets in his stomach.

The songs in the film are few but effective, though maybe not as emotive as Sandese aate hain or Kar chale hum fida, but quite nice. The first, based in the 1940s, Itni si baat, beautifully captures the flavour of those times.

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Filming of war scenes is quite nice, complete with muddy faces, crumpled clothes, and sweaty bodies, even before the bullets and the blood.

The degree to which you can skew facts in movies, especially war movies, is an art. Overdo it and you get a Bhuj or Tejas. Too little, and it¡¯s a documentary. The right mix, like Border, becomes an evergreen hit and sticks in memory.

This film was special for me, because I have known of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw since 1971, when I was a 10-year-old.

I was in Sainik School, Satara. Our Principal was Colonel Yogi Raj Puri, and his wife, Mrs Puri, popularly known as Aunty Puri, was my class teacher. Their only son and the son-in-law were fighting in the 1971 war.

Naturally, the Colonel and his family devoured all the news on radio through the day, and Aunty Puri would give us the gist of the daily action the next morning.

She told us that the (then) General (they made him a Field Marshal in 1973) had refused to ¡®hog the limelight to attend the surrender ceremony.¡¯

Such was his generosity and consideration in sharing credit with his subordinates.

When I joined NDA and studied Military History, he was one of my heroes, along with Patton, Rommel and Montgomery.

That¡¯s why I was keen to see the film right away.

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I went for it first-day-first-show, to see if the filmmakers had done justice to my hero.

I wanted them to have done it right. And they indeed have.

For once, at the end of a movie, I felt proud to have been a soldier in India.

More power to you, Meghna Gulzar. I look forward to a movie from you on the Indian Air Force.

Your Tejas disappointed, Ronnie Screwvala, but you have nailed this one!

And I¡¯m not the only one saying that.

When the movie ended, people spontaneously clapped!

Yes, the Field Marshal would have approved.

The writer is a former fighter pilot of the IAF and is now a commercial airline pilot. He is the author of three novels and many blog posts, available at www.avinashchikte.com