Filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia is planning a film on 1971 war hero and India's first Field Marshal, Sam Manekshaw

Looks like Tigmanshu Dhulia cannot have enough of biopics. After 'Paan Singh Tomar' (2012), he wanted to make a film on tragedy queen Meena Kumari, but since it is being opposed by the late actress' family, the filmmaker has apparently decided on the cinematic adaptation of another icon. According to sources, it is Sam Manekshaw, the country's first Field Marshal, who is hailed as the architect of India's victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war.

A source says, "Tigmanshu has wrapped up Yaara with Shruti Haasan and Vidyut Jammwal and started working on his next project, which is a biopic on Sam Manekshaw, the first Indian Army officer to be promoted to the five star rank of Field Marshal. His military career spanned four decades and five wars, beginning with service in the British Indian Army in World War 2."


Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw was commissioned into the Indian Army in 1934 and became the Chief of Staff in 1969. As the possibility of the Indo-Pak war loomed, he resisted great political pressure to attack the Pakistani forces prematurely. Senior politicians wanted to sack Manekshaw and go to war at once, but he warned the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that if they had their way, the country could be humiliated, its troops, artillery and equipment come to a standstill, bogged down in the monsoon mud. Gandhi followed his advice and the rest is history. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 94.

A source close to Tigmanshu says: "Tigmanshu is working on the script and is busy with the post-production of Yaara."

Tigmanshu, on the other hand, denies the buzz, saying: "I am not doing any film on Manekshaw."