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.
Language:
Hindi
Running Time:
189 mins
Rating:
U
Release date:
12 July 2013
Directed by:
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Produced by:
Viacom 18
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Written by:
Prasoon Joshi
Starring:
Farhan Akhtar
Sonam Kapoor
Meesha Shafi
Dev Gill
Music by:
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Shot by:
Binod Pradhan
Editing by:
P. S. Bharathi
Distributed by:
Reliance Entertainment

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

Verdict Stamp

An appreciable tribute to the Flying Sikh who would and forever be an inspiration to Indians.