When Meghna Gulzar was first approached by producer Ronnie Screwvala to helm a biopic on Sam Manekshaw, she knew only two things about the soldier. First, that he was the Chief of Army Staff during the 1971 India-Pakistan War, and that he was India’s first Field Marshal. “But the story was an instant draw for me. I said yes almost immediately,” recounts Gulzar.

For the part of the decorated Army officer, the director went back to Vicky Kaushal, her leading man in Raazi (2018). She was certain he was her on-screen Sam. She reasons, “I saw a strange similarity in the personalities of Vicky and Sam. No one could imagine Vicky transforming into Sam so perfectly. There is this mix of affability and gravity in the actor, and Sam was simply that. He’d speak with affection to his soldiers and indignation to his ministers.” The director was equally certain about not using prosthetics for the part. “In the midst of Chhapaak [2020], we ran a look test to understand how far we were from nailing the look. We didn’t want to get all artificial.”