It has been seven years since the process of penning down India’s first Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw’s story began. The reviews have not stopped praising Vicky Kaushal’s performance as the man who had almost a mythical stature in the Indian Army. Bhavani Iyer, who co-wrote Sam Bahadur’s script with Shantanu Srivastava and director Meghna Gulzar, shares that it feels surreal to see the film finally on the big screen. Iyer, whose first writing project was the critically-acclaimed Black (2005), has also written films such as Guzaarish (2010), Lootera (2013), and Raazi (2018) also with Meghna Gulzar, and shows such as 24 (2013), Everest (2014), Kaafir (2019) and The Empire (2021). Iyer tells us what went into the writing process of Sam Bahadur and her learnings as a writer over the years. Edited excerpts:
Is this the first time you have attempted a biopic?
Well, Black was semi-biographical because it was based on Helen Keller’s life and Kaafir was based on the life of Kainaaz Akhtar from Pakistan but as a biopic of someone in recent history we know of, I think this is probably my first release. I have three more biopics now which I am in the process of writing — one on Maharani Gayatri Devi, another on Amrita Sher-Gil and one more on India’s first woman commando trainer. Soon I’m going to become a biopic specialist! (Laughs)
Was the process different this time because you can only take that many liberties while writing it?
True. Everyone who met Sam; people from different walks of life have a sense of ownership about him. He was so loved, especially by the Army where he is a legend. There was a big responsibility to honour all that but at the same time, we had to not be so in awe of him that we lose focus. There was such nobility about him as a person and in the way he conducted himself. He was a really fun guy but his clarity of vision was so remarkable that it lent itself to telling the story of a protagonist whom you want to root for. The biggest responsibility was to be truthful to his story and at the same time not be carried away by his stature and the person that he was.
What kind of research did the film require and how did you and Meghna zero in on what parts of his life you wanted to highlight?
What required most attention was his service record because we needed to be absolutely precise about that. While you can take liberties with certain narrative segues, we could not go wrong with the facts of what it means to serve the regiments, people he worked with and the places he served at. That required an immense amount of watchfulness. We bifurcated the research material into his military story and his personal story. It would intersect because more or less, his life was his work and he had a wonderful partner in his wife who supported him. Then there were his relationships which again formed an integral part of the narrative, whether it was his friendship with Yahya Khan, with Indira Gandhi or with Pandit Nehru. We looked at all these aspects and then we decided that this is how we want to tell the story. There was so much that needed to be told about this man’s life that we felt that the best way to tell it is in a linear fashion. We had to choose forty years of his military service and weave his personality with the military history of India.
Vicky Kaushal has said this is his toughest role yet; was this the toughest script you have written as well?
It is certainly one of my toughest films to write. When you set out to chronicle the life of a person, it is much more difficult than creating a story from your imagination. There is a boundary drawn around for you to navigate within that makes it very difficult, as it would be for an actor who is performing the character because he needs to ensure that the character is portrayed in the manner without it seeming like mimicry or caricature. These are things that limit you but also give you the greatest joy because when you accomplish it, it all seems so worthwhile. As for Vicky, he is incredible in the movie. He is such a chameleon and he has completely surrendered to the character. There is not a single false note or single moment where you feel he is less Sam and more an actor. He is Sam Manekshaw right through the film.
This is your second collaboration with Meghna after Raazi. She has such a strong personality herself. How has the process of working with her been and how has it evolved since Raazi?
Meghna and I have a relationship of the deepest admiration for each other and the deepest respect for one another’s process. She gives me complete freedom to write the way I want to and to interpret any character with the trust that whatever is going to come to her will be something where a certain thought has gone into it. I don’t think I ever had a disagreement or difference of opinion in how we see the really big things. We have small differences in the way we look at something but either she convinces me or vice versa. She is extremely self-assured and knows her mind, and at the same time she values me for the complete opposite personality I have. She keeps saying that she looks for the moist moments from my pen. My way of looking at anything is all heart and she’s extremely meticulous and instinctive. We have found a great balance between the heart and the mind. I have just finished writing my next for her which will hopefully be announced very soon. We work on an idea when we don’t have a producer or anything else in place, so the story comes first. We create the story and then we bring the project together which makes it almost a spiritual process. There is no transactional aspect to the writing.
What are some of the learnings you have had as a writer which you probably did not have in the initial years?
My strength as a writer has always been structure and the way I am able to tell a story. Today I think what I have which I probably didn’t or probably had in smaller measure is the ability to step back from my writing and to be able to assess it in an almost objective way. Earlier I could not separate myself from my writing and today I am able to do that far more easily. It is still hard because one has created it but today, I am able to take feedback with a little more objectivity, so I think that is my biggest learning as a writer.
Is there a genre you would not want to try and is there any that you would?
I feel I won’t be able to do horror and comedy and I won’t try either because these just don’t come to me. I love writing crime stories and I would like to explore more of those.
Apart from the three biopics, what are you working on next?
The film I have written for Meghna will be our next collaboration. There is an Icelandic show I have written for an Icelandic production house which will hopefully go on floors early next year. There is a show I am writing for Jio Studios based on a book and then there is a wonderful story set in Kashmir based on a real-life incident which I am writing which is going to be directed by Shivam Nair. There is a lot of stuff which is right now in the process of being greenlit.
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