Silloo Manekshaw

Some Lesser Known Facts About Silloo Manekshaw

• Silloo Manekshaw was an Indian artist and painter who is known for being the wife of the late Indian field marshal Sam Manekshaw.

• In 1937, during a social event in Lahore, Sam Manekshaw met Silloo Bode. They developed a romantic relationship and tied the knot in 1939.

• According to Sam Manekshaw, Silloo was both his ardent supporter and his harshest critic. Once, in a media interview, Sam’s elder daughter, Sherry Batliwala, narrated that her mother, Silloo, was a strict wife. Sherry said,
  

  She would remind him that he came from a middle-class family in Amritsar. ‘They would venerate you today, but tomorrow when you are no longer the field marshal or the director of a company, you would be a nobody,’ she would warn him. I think that kept him a little focused also.”

  

• According to her daughters, Silloo Manekshaw was an avid reader, a talented painter, and an intelligent conversationalist.

• Silloo and Sam Manekshaw were often spotted attending Bollywood parties during the 1950s.

  

• Silloo Manekshaw had a sister, who used to live in Lahore, Pakistan, and her brother-in-law was a doctor in the British Indian Army.

• Being the wife of an Army officer, Silloo’s main focus was the well-being of the local community in Coonoor, a municipality in Tamil Nadu. Her notable contribution was the establishment of a charitable clinic for the poor and elderly. She used to run this clinic herself. She also directed many theatre plays at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, and sold her paintings to raise funds. Silloo, more than Sam, represented the Manekshaws in Coonoor, using his reputation to gather financial support from across India for the community’s well-being.

  

• Once, in a media interview, Silloo’s elder daughter narrated about Silloo’s room and wardrobe at their bungalow ‘Stavka’ in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu. Sherry Batliwala said that Silloo’s room at ‘Stavka’ was beautifully decorated in pink and blue. She had the largest wardrobe and dressing room, extending from wall to wall and floor to ceiling.

  

• In an interview, her granddaughter revealed that Silloo designed the bungalow ‘Stavka’ and also painted some artwork in the house.

  

• Silloo had a profound love for music and enjoyed listening to Western classical music every morning.

• After her death, her body was buried at Parsi cemetery in Ooty.

• On 1 December 2023, ‘SAMबहादुर,’ a Hindi-language biographical war drama film based on the life of her husband ‘Sam Manekshaw,’ India’s first field marshal, was released. Indian actress Sanya Malhotra portrayed Silloo Manekshaw in the film.