Sam Bahadur : This Biopic will never get made…..or will it ?
A sultry July evening.
Major General Surinder Pal Singh stands outside the Military cemetery in Delhi cantonment. A car pulls over, the young man driving it opens the front door. Gen. Singh quickly gets in, relieved to get away from the oppressive heat.
” Hi, Dad. You look awfully exhausted. What made you venture out in such weather?”
“Mandy, I’ve experienced worse conditions during my Army days. O.K, I know I was younger then. But this was one prayer meeting I couldn’t miss. I hope you remember Sam Bahudar?”
“Ofcourse, I do. Fauji ka beta hoon, yaar. Who hasn’t heard of Sam Bahadur, otherwise known as Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, the General who led the nation to victory in the 1971 war”
Mandy glances at his Father. ” I know he passed away recently”
” Mandy, Old soldiers don’t pass away, they just fade away. He was my boss once upon a time. We served in the same regiment, the Gorkha’s. That’s where he got the Bahadur in his name from”
The General looks fatigued.
“Dad, lets drop in at the club for a while. A cold Beer would be refreshing, na”
They drive into the Defence Services officers Institute, park the car and walk towards the Anchor Bar which has just opened for the evening. A few elderly Ex-service officers have already settled down with their drinks. Gen. Singh greets them and introduces his son.
“Gentlemen, this is my son Maninder Pal Singh, we call him Mandy and so do all his friends in the film Industry in Mumbai. He is a film director. Mandy,these are my ex-colleagues, Brigadier Iyer, Gen Puri, Air Marshall Kumar…..”
A round of enthusiastic handshaking follows. A Beer arrives for Mandy too.
Brig. Iyer asks Mandy “ What sort of films do you make, Mandy?”
” I’ve just completed my first feature film. It was a rom-com…its titled…er…HASSI TOH PHASI “
“That still holds good nowadays?” Iyer chuckles. “ But what’s a rom-com?”
“Sorry, I meant to say romantic comedy”
” Whats next?” asks Air Marshall Kumar.
” Another rom-com….er..that’s what sells nowadays”
Gen. Puri grins and says” Yes, I know. I enjoy them too. Mandy, You’re from an army background. Ever thought of making a movie on the army? This Could be a comedy, we guys do manage to joke around a lot ”
” Well, I’ve never thought about that but I believe there’s a movie being made called Fauj mien mauj, starring Mallika Sherawat”
Every one roars with laughter. The Bartender joins in too. Gen Singh smiles slightly.
He rises up and says ” I just attended Sam Bahadur’s prayer ceremony. The army top brass finally attended. It’s amazing how politicians and senior generals kept away from his funeral. O.K, the politicians were always wary of him. You guys remember Indira Gandhi made him a field Marshall and retired him after the war. He said I’ve been kicked upstairs. He was a tough guy, never afraid to speak out”
Gen. Puri looks at Mandy ” Do you think a movie can be made based upon his life?”
Mandy gulps his Beer. Then says ” You mean a biopic?”
” Whats a biopic?” asks Brig. Natrajan.
” Oh, it’s a short form for Biographical motion picture. A biopic on Sam Bahadur…..sounds challenging”. Mandy looks at the group and says ” Can you recall any biopics of military characters?”
” Patton. Based on the life of general Patton, the U.S commander in World war two”
” Also MacArthur, another American general. Then there was one on the German general Rommel, The desert fox.”
Mandy replies ” These were Hollywood films. Hollywood has a long and successful list of biopics on people from all walks of life. l can think of a few… The ten commandments, Al Capone, Lawrence of Arabia, Gandhi, Elizabeth, A beautiful mind, and more recently Alexander, and the yet to be released Mongol based on the life of Genghis Khan. By the way, lets try to recollect a few biopics made in India”
There’s a short period of silence. The glasses get refilled.
An officer who has just joined the group says ” Bose”
Another one quips “ Mangal Pandey, Sardar, Deewar”
Mandy joins in ” Sir, you all forgot Guru. It’s probably the most successful biopic so far, though not strictly a biopic as we define the genre. Then there’s one being planned on Guru Dutt, the script is being written by Anurag Kashyap. Another one’s Kishoreda, being made by Nagesh Kuknoor. These men had interesting personalities, they led eventful lives….perfect material for a successful biopic film. With due respect Sirs, I’m not sure if there’s enough Interesting material on Sam Bahadur’s life”
He realises he’s stirred up a hornets nest. The officers are on their feet, speaking in a babble of voices.
Gen. Singh raises his palms. He wants to say something. The Din settles down. The gathering has swelled by now. Gen Singh stands up to speak” I was on the staff of Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw during the 1971 war. I was a captain, a junior aide. I saw the man handling the 1971 crisis, I observed him tactfully dealing with the Prime minister. Mandy, there’s enough interesting cinematic material available on his life to make a three hour movie. Even that might be short”
Gen Singh puts down his glass and narrates Sam Bahadur’s life story. The gathered officers know most of it, but they nevertheless listen attentively as if they were seeking tidbits of unknown information. Mandy listens too, trying to figure out if their is a way to put pictures to these words.
An hour later.
Gen. Singh sits down, weary but cheerful. Brig Puri looks across to Mandy and says ” Is their a movie in this, Mandy?”
Mandy stands up to speak. The Bartender rings the bell for the last orders. A flurry of ordering activity follows. The drinks are served, the bartender bows in Mandy’s direction. Mandy clears his throat.
” Sirs, any film maker would be proud to present the life story of Sam Bahadur on the silver screen. I’d like to use a contemporary term to define this story. It’s simply mind blowing, man!”
A cheer goes around the Bar. Mandy is visibly excited now. He continues “There’s just one hitch.”
Silence. Someone slurps his drink.
” Just one hitch. We’ll have to dramatise the story a bit. The most interesting parts of Sam Bahadur’s life were from the years 1960 to 1972. He was an older man then. We need a lot of young viewers to come in and watch this movie, that’s how it’ll sell. So we need to introduce two characters in the story, playing very noticeable roles. Dad, I’m referring to a character based on you, the young army captain who joins Sam Bahadur’s staff as the Bangladesh crisis unfolds in 1971. The movie continues as this young captain chronicles that eventful year, the stormy meetings with the P.M, the planning for war, and the war itself. The young Captain does get time to woo his future wife, the second fictitious character, against the backdrop of army social life.
We’ll intersperse all this with Sam Bahadur’s life story in flashbacks. There are so many interesting episodes, his parents were the first Parsi doctor family in Amritsar, his schooling in Nainital, college in Amritsar, meeting his wife Silloo in Lahore, and a stint at the IMA, Dehradun. His close brush with death in Burma during world war 2, how he managed to survive seven Japanese machine gun bullets is astonishing. His confrontation with the then Defence minister Krishna Menon during the 1962 war with China, his ascendancy to army chief, there’s so much material available….”
Mandy pauses, he’s out of breadth. The gathered officers applaud. The Bar has to close down. The officers disperse slowly, emerging out of the past they’d briefly travelled to.
Later.
It’s raining, finally. Mandy drives cautiously, he knows he’s had an extra Beer or two.
” Mandy, do you plan to start working on this project soon?”
” What project, Dad?”
“ Sam Bahadur, the movie”
Mandy laughs. ” No, Dad. This is one biopic which is unlikely to get made”
“ Why so, beta?” Mandy notices the disappoitment in his fathers voice.
” Dad, Firstly historical reasons. Biopics don’t set the box offices on fire in our country. Secondly, this will be a very expensive project. It’s a period film, we’ll need film sets and locations resembling the years ranging from 1898 to 1971. There are war scenes involved, even the CGI effects are prohibitive. Who’ll lay out the money? Where will I find such a producer?”
“ But that’s why you want to cast two saleable stars in the movie, the young captain and his wife. And Sam, who’ll play his part?”
” Lets not speculate on the impossible. I’m already tied down with my next project”
” Ah, the rom-com. Mandy, I understand how things work. ”
They reach home. Gen Singh turns to Mandy ” Someday,when you’ve made enough movies and have people to back you, do try to resurrect this project. The future is unpredictable, as unpredictable as the fate of the movies you all make. This biopic just might set the box office on fire”
Mandy smiles as he watches his father scurry indoors. He tells himself ” I know this biopic will set the B.O on fire….if it ever gets made”
Tags: biopics, Indian army, Manekshaw, Sam Bahadur
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fictitious account? i would love to see a biopic on sam bahadur.
sam bahadur’s life would definitely make an interesting bipic but i m not too hopeful coz it may be too controversial to pass the censors..
ive read about some very interesting run ins between Indira Gandhi and Sam bahadur…infact indira gandhi once feared that sam was going to usurp her place and impose military rule…….
Read it in one breath ! beautiful piece of writing and I did not feel the presence of the author. Congratulations. This itself is the story line for the biopic. A film within a film.
brilliant.
kuchh log marte nahi hai..bas jeena sthagit kar dete hain..
Well, i am also one of you, yes it seems impossible to make a movie on such heros. but i think we should give it a try. lets be optimistic, you never know, someone might want to put all his/her money into it. and please, let us not blame it on producers/financier or the audience. if we want to make a movie, we should make it. let us complain about the producer and other things once we have written the complete movie and then if no one is willing to invest money, then let us happily sulk but not before that .
akki
@Ashwin
Not exactly, basically after the 1971 War, and considering Sam’s popularity, Indira Gandhi invited him to join politics. But Sam refused it outright, as he felt armed men, should be in the forces, and not enter into politics. In fact he had a totally friendly relationship with Ms.Gandhi, and would affectionately call her as “Sweetie”.
Arun..This movie can be made and it shall find its producers too..only it has to be made in English with an international cast..with Big Studio support..not the Bollywood kinds..but it definitely can be made..and the whole 1971 war can be the second half of this movie done up as a political thriller kinds with a war backdrop..it shall gain “a lot of immediate publicity” across the world..but it can be made..all one has to do is have a lot of deep breaths and start on the first draft with the research in place!!
It better be made soon… Amitabh Bachchan is getting older!!!
Dabba, Sam Bahadur’s passing away a couple of weeks ago set me thinking about doing a post on him. We’ve had a few war movies but no biopics on Indian military leaders. Compared to Hollywood, very few biopics overall.
This is a ficticious account. I’ve just coalesced all my thoughts together and presented them in a dramatised format.
Arun… very interesting read. Thoroughly enjoyed!
@ Ashwin, Ratnakar
Sam Manekshaw asked for and was granted enough time by Indira Gandhi to prepare for the 1971 War. She had full faith and confidence in his leadership of the Indian army.
A biopic on Sam Bahadur might not run into censorship difficulties, most individuals of that era are no more.
Biopics of people alive are more likely to have problems, at the initial stages itself.
@ Tushar, Neel
Thanks for the appreciation. A film within a film is the best format for such a biopic.
@ Dipankar
That was a thought provoking line!
@ akki, Indraneel
I agree it’s important to move this idea from the concept to the scripting stage.
There are production houses in Bollywood who would support such a project, they do have international tie ups also.
A script on such a biopic would require extensive research, and an engrossing story line.
Just one hitch. We’ll have to dramatise the story a bit.�The most interesting parts of Sam Bahadur’s life were�from the�years 1960 to 1972. He was an older man then. We need a lot of young viewers to come in and watch this movie, that’s how it’ll sell.