Want every household to celebrate Sam Manekshaw's journey: Vicky Kaushal on 'Sam Bahadur'

MUMBAI: Actor Vicky Kaushal hopes his portrayal of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw in "Sam Bahadur" resonates with people and becomes part of his film legacy.

The film reunites Kaushal with his "Raazi" director Meghna Gulzar. It is also his second biopic as the lead character after a critically-acclaimed turn in Shoojit Sircar's "Sardar Udham".

"We want to reach every household, village, town, city, and every corner of the world. Money and fame... It's great, we all crave for that. But what we work for is people watching it, resonating with it, and celebrating it, celebrating the man (Sam Manekshaw). That will be the utmost validation," he told PTI in an interview.

The actor said while a film should do good numbers at the box office, capturing people's hearts through one's performance gives an actor "a lot of confidence".

"...It's a beautiful feeling, it is very gratifying. The film should reach every household, it should become an emotion. Sometimes it's a dialogue, song, scene, a moment or the whole film, but you want that to happen... These moments create a legacy and that’s what you are working for, you are working for a legacy," Kaushal said.

The 35-year-old actor is known for roles such as “Masaan”, “Raman Raghav 2.0”, “Raazi”, “Uri: The Surgical Strike”, and “Sardar Udham”.

Reminded about the euphoria around the dialogue, ‘How's the Josh?’ from his 2019 movie “Uri: The Surgical Strike”, the actor said it was unexpected but it was a gift.

In “Uri...” he played the role of a paramilitary officer, who asks his squad "How's the Josh?", and they reply in unison, "High, Sir!" Post the release of the movie, the dialogue went viral and became a cultural phenomenon. “We were not prepared for it. It is something that the audience gives back to you,” he added.

Kaushal said the idea behind “Sam Bahadur” was to embody Sam Manekshaw on the inside as much as the outside.

“Everyday on set, it was bare minimum requirement for me to believe that you can’t pretend to be Sam Manekshaw, but to have that belief in myself that, ‘I’m Sam Manekshaw’ and that belief was there from the moment I was in costume, with my moustache, eye lens. It was there every minute on set, otherwise, you can’t do this,” he said.

The actor said he had to rely on the direction of his director to essay the character perfectly.

"Sam's famous line is, ‘If you give me a decent man, I’ll make a leader out of it’. I was that decent man and she (Meghna) made that leader out of me, with knowledge and courage.

"We did lots of prep as much as we could from as many sources as we could. Then a lot of courage from all of us to take this job up and then to commit to that job and see to it that we have reached a stage where the film is finally coming up.” Produced by RSVP Movies, “Sam Bahadur” also stars Sanya Malhotra as Manekshaw's wife Silloo and Fatima Sana Shaikh as former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The movie will be out in theatres on December 1.