Blessed to work with Meghna Gulzar: Fatima Sana Shaikh, on playing Indira Gandhi in Sam Bahadur

Fatima Sana Shaikh was recently announced as a member of the cast of Meghna Gulzar’s upcoming biopic Sam Bahadur, based on the life of the legendary Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, India's army chief during the 1971 war with Pakistan.

The actress will be essaying the role of the late Indira Gandhi, who was prime minister at the time.

Apart from the obvious challenge of essaying such a pivotal character, Shaikh is excited to work with Meghna Gulzar.

Sharing her feeling of working with Meghna, she said in a statement, “I feel blessed to have bagged this opportunity to work with Meghna Gulzar. She is a maverick of a director, whose work I have admired and followed since very long. I consider working with her a personal milestone. I'm super pumped to start shooting with her and I hope we have a blast on the sets of Sam Bahadur.”

The film will see Vicky Kaushal play the late Manekshaw. The 1971 war resulted in the creation of Bangladesh in the area earlier known as East Pakistan.

This is the second time Kaushal will be playing an Indian army officer after the blockbuster hit Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019).

Kaushal has also played a Pakistani military officer in Raazi (2018), which, incidentally, was directed by Meghna.

Sam Bahadur will also see Shaikh team up with Sanya Malhotra after Dangal (2016) and Ludo (2020).