Revisiting Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – Bollywood’s first sports biopic about a “living” legend

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s 2013 award-winning national film, directed by Farhan Akhtar – Bhaag Milkha Bhaag recounts the life of Milkha Singh and walks behind him as he ran to glory and into our hearts to make a permanent home. With roots in Govindpura, Pakistan, Singh’s life was strewn with trauma and loss and the Sikh, taking the rails, changed the course of his own life, leading him to fame and touching life. of millions of people by becoming the pride of the country.

By investing in careful research, Ompraskash Mehra and screenwriter and lyricist Prasoon Joshi undertook the arduous task of making a biopic about a living sportsman – the first of its kind in Bollywood history. While the concept of sports films was not a niche area – there was Lagaan (2001), there was Chak De! India (2007) and there was of course Paan Singh Tomar (2010), yet no one had biopic on a living legend of the sport before the Mehra-Joshi duo turned to Milkha Singh. And who better than the Flying Sikh to be the first subject of such a representation on the big screen?

Earn rave reviews, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, in its very essence is a deeply inspiring story that lasts just over three hours. Filled with exciting moments – those who will see the strings of your sentimental side drawn to those where the inner patriot proudly beams to one where the notes of the sarangi, the voice of Javed Bashir and Shreya Ghoshal or Siddharth Mahadevan will add the necessary magic to the tale of Fairies of Milkha Singh.

Shaping the narrative of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

The publication of Milkha Singh’s autobiography – The race of my life, which was co-written by daughter Sonia Sanwalka, first appeared in 2013. Instantly sparking a reaction, this captivating but simply written autobiography captured the natural attention of Bollywood, constantly on the hunt for the next big story. Interestingly, Milkha Singh agreed to sell the rights to her biopic for just a Re 1 coin note that dates back to 1958 – the year Singh made history by winning the Commonwealth Games gold medal and was announced his arrival on the international circuit. .

“It took me almost three years to write the screenplay. It was about uncovering deeper truths and feelings – those that may have been in Milkha Singh’s subconscious but had not been expressed. C ‘was like being a psychoanalyst and a writer at the same time “, Prasoon Joshi had mentioned in a commercial standard interview.

Although the definition of an actor is to fit easily into another’s shoes, Farhan Akhtar’s transition to the role of the Flying Sikh was a painstaking but very rewarding process in the end. If one is to read Milkha Singh’s autobiography after watching the film, the moving images that flow from it are very likely to beautify the mind, providing a visual representation of the scenes contained in the book.

“Honesty with the person’s DNA was paramount when writing the script as it delves deep into his mind and also explores his character in a multidimensional way, infusing the imagination into reality. The challenge was to hold onto the authenticity of the real character with the writer’s point of view and creating a delicious balance between reality and drama. Dramatization is important because it is the medium’s need. But staying true to the character while building scenes, his responses and making sure there are no wrong notes is what my attempt was in writing, “said Prasoon Joshi in the same interview.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag indulges his cinematic freedoms, adds drama at will to accentuate Milkha’s greatness, punctuates him with sweet and tender moments, grabs him with heartbreaking and intensely patriotic portions and finally, adds plenty of dollops of inspiration to sculpt. the story of this legend.

At a time when the country’s sporting infrastructure was at its best during the early post-independence years, Milkha Singh, barefoot, turbaned, shook the dust and rose from the earthy ground – a very visceral material, raw, tainted, imperfectly perfect all-too-human hero. He wasn’t a Beowulf or a Siegfried, his epic touch entangled in his journey, haunted by the horrors of Partition trauma and the 1960 Olympic heartbreak, here is a post-independence hero India desperately needed.

At Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Farhan Akhtar does an incredible job capturing the stature of Milkha – a hero of epic proportions in his own right. From the opening scene which shows the 1960 Rome Olympics race where Milkha missed a medal with a mustache, placing fourth in the standings, to the flashback edits of Partition where the symbolic title comes from – the film chooses the most beautiful and raw moments of Milkha Singh’s career and brings them to the screen.

Being the first film about a living sports icon, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Prasoon Joshi have truly triumphed. The Turbaned Sikh, played by Akhtar, once again sprinted past the personal horrors of the trauma of the score and fled to the sight of success to find an eternal place – in the record books, the big screen and , more importantly, in our hearts.