The movie based on the life of Milkha Singh, begins with his unexpected & unfortunate 4th place finish in the 1960 Greece Olympics. The movie then goes back in time to showcase how he got into Indian Army, represented India in Olympics & other prominent international athletic events and also dissects his tumultuous childhood incidents post partition and how they shaped him to go back to his native place and race to a ‘flying Sikh’ title.
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Language:
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Hindi
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Running Time:
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189 mins
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Rating:
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U
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Release date:
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12 July 2013
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Directed by:
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Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
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Produced by:
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Viacom 18
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
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Written by:
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Prasoon Joshi
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Starring:
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Farhan Akhtar
Sonam Kapoor
Meesha Shafi
Dev Gill
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Music by:
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Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
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Shot by:
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Binod Pradhan
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Editing by:
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P. S. Bharathi
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Distributed by:
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Reliance Entertainment
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What’s Hot
- Farhan Akhtar as Milkha Singh is the heart and soul of this film. With his strenuous efforts to get his athlete look and his careful imitations of a runner’s body language along with his ability to perform casually make us feel connected and makes the biopic a winner.
- Not far off is the boy cast as young Milkha. A majority of the emotional scenes are loaded on him and he performs with aplomb.
- The screenplay is effective as it moves back and forth connecting the dots in Milkha Singh’s life.
- The characters of Milkha’s Army Coach, National Coach (Yograj Singh) & Army commander(Prakash Raj) and that of his elder sister (Divya Dutta) add life to the movie.
- The cinematography by Binod Pradhan is worth a mention as it gives the movie a stylish finish. Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s tracks like Zinda, Mere Yaar &Bhaag Milkha and the background music are backbones to the training routine scenes and the slick editing is clearly noticeable.
- Props to Om Prakash Mehra for backing his idea and producing a film on one of the athletes worthy of celebration in the country and giving a tacky narrative that is between commercial cinema and a biography.
What’s Not
- The movie is really long, thanks to 2 unwanted love stories which makes the viewers shift in their seats occasionally. In that space more on Milkha’s exploits in the various competitions could have been told.
- Sonam Kapoor , though a trigger for the Milkha’s change in character, is nothing more than an arm-candy.
- There are goof-ups aplenty. Milkha Singh had never broked world record like what the film proclaims & that is a major sin on part of a film-maker – An insult to the viewers and the achievements of Milkha as well.
Badges
Verdict
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