Sam Bahadur OTT Release EXCLUSIVE! Meghna Gulzar Says Vicky Kaushal & Her Team Shot For 40 Hours When Film...

Sam Bahadur OTT release: Vicky Kaushal's critically acclaimed film Sam Bahadur premiered on ZEE5 last month after a successful run at the box office. The biographical war drama focused on the life of Sam Manekshaw, who was India's first field marshal.

As Sam Bahadur received a roaring response upon its premiere on OTT, Filmibeat got in touch with Meghna Gulzar, who shared an interesting update from shoot.

What inspired you to do a film on the life of Sam Manekshaw?

Ronnie Screwvala! He came forward with the idea of making a film on Sam Manekshaw and very frankly, I knew very little about Sam Manekshaw at that time, but I'm grateful he thought of me, and destiny chose me to tell the story.

Directing a film that spans across multiple decades and historical events is a significant undertaking. Can you share any interesting creative decisions you faced while bringing Sam Manekshaw's story to life?

It was a logistical mammoth because we were shooting across 13 cities all over the country over a span of a year, and, as we know, weather patterns are changing. So, we were dealing with rain when there's not supposed to be any. We were also dealing with delays, but we had the next destination to reach, and we had to go on time. Finish on time so we can catch that flight on time, land on time, and hit the next city on time. I'm proud to say that the schedule we made for this film, which stated that we would start shooting on the 8th of August 2022 and finish shooting on the 15th of March 2023, was adhered to. We wrapped filming two days earlier without missing anything. That's because, when we did have a delay, the team of Sam Bahadur shot continuously for close to 40 hours because we had a location to finish. We wrapped up at one location at about 2:00 in the morning, drove for about 2 hours to another location, reached there at 5:00 in the morning, and started filming until daylight permitted us to. When you have this kind of dedication on a team, then even what seems impossible becomes possible.

Vicky Kaushal's power-packed performance and Meghna Gulzar's direction wooed the audience, making it one of the critically acclaimed movies of 2023.