Vicky Kaushal: There is so much merit in getting to know the people who have made a remarkable difference to this country | Hindi Movie News

On December 13, Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh joined the cast of Meghna Gulzar’s biopic on Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. To be headlined by Vicky Kaushal, Sam Bahadur will feature Sanya as Silloo Manekshaw and Fatima as former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. After Shoojit Sircar’s Sardar Udham, this will be Vicky’s second biopic based on an individual of historical relevance. Talking about it, Vicky said, “Sam Manekshaw’s biopic is in the pre-production stages right now. It will take a few months of prep and we should start rolling in the first quarter of 2022.”

Lately, there has been a surge in the interest for films, stories, and characters that are set in a time zone that Gen Z has probably only read or heard about. Whether it’s an amalgamation of incidents of plane hijacking in the 1980s, the retelling of what happened behind the scenes when India brought home its first cricket world cup in 1983, the establishment of Mahila Griha Udyog, the life (PVC) Captain Vikram Batra led and sacrificed, why Gangubai Kathiawadi was so powerful and revered or how advocate Sankaran Nair fought for the slain commoners in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre…the list of biographical dramas is gradually swelling.

“Even though I am an actor, I am as much a part of that young audience that loves films set in a certain time zone,” Vicky said, adding, “I am fascinated by them because I have only read stories about them, or heard about them from my parents or probably gone through some books on them. I find myself eager to become a part of those timelines and narrate a story set in a period that I will otherwise not get a chance to inhabit. I want to know more about those times that generations of young Indians have limited exposure to. I know people who study history through art and cinema. Sometimes, it’s the visuals that stay back with you more than the written word. When I go through scripts and stories offered to me which are in sync with this thought, whether it was Sardar Udham or Sam Bahadur, I learn a lot from them. I learn from the details that screenplays carry, that stories offer. Like I didn’t know much about both the characters till I heard the director’s point of view on them and the understanding that they have today of them as subjects. These films are a walk down a lane of history for me. With these films, I am getting a chance to take people into a different time zone. There is so much merit in getting to know the people who have made a remarkable difference to this country in their own ways.”