Movie Review – Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Divya Dutta,Prakash Raj, Sonam Kapoor

, Pavan Malhotra

Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Producer: Viacom 18, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Plot: Paan Singh Tomar and The Dirty Picture were some really good efforts to recreate the lives of those memorable people hailing from India. But Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is definitely the best. Period. The movie starts off with the Rome Olympics of 1960, showcasing the heroic efforts of the legendary Sikh. Milkha kicks start the race and after leading it for almost 3/4th of it, he gets lost in the thoughts of his parents’ tragedy during the India-Pakistan post partition riots and finishes at fourth place. The movie constantly swaps time zones, helping us to know more about Milkha’s life and not just about his career. We see the little Milkha and his troublesome childhood after being separated from his parents and the hardship he goes through because of his elder sister, Divya Dutta’s husband. We see the young Milkha who grows up gambling and stealing coal from local trains and selling it off for some cash. He meets Sonam Kapoor and falls in love with her in a very typical ‘village’ style. Very few words spoken, yet infinite feelings exchanged. He promises Sonam that he would come back to her after becoming something in life and there he is, recruited for the army. And gradually, grabs the opportunity to become an athlete for the Army unit. After intense training and some really hard work which is shown brilliantly, Milkha Singh wins the gold in Asian and Commonwealth Games and achieves the title of ‘The Flying Sikh’, given to him by the then Pakistan General. The movie is very enthralling and depicts the story of Milkha beautifully. One of the movies that you’d regret not watching!

Technical-aspect: The movie has been laid out in the best way possible. The background score by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is just epic, the introduction of Milkha Singh and the music just creates the kind of atmosphere the movie requires. Energetic, patriotic and proud. The direction and screenplay is just impeccable. Dialogues in the movie are also pretty good, providing a hint of comedy whenever needed.

Performances: Farhan Akhtar. Farhan Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar. This man could and I believe should win several awards for his performance in this film. He has donned the character of The Flying Sikh with perfection. The way Farhan Akhtar ran in real life, his hand movements, his expressions and his finishes were exactly the same as Milkha Singh actually did. His performance is power-packed and just exceptional. Divya Dutta, who plays the role of the elder sister of Milkha has done a great job. Although Sonam Kapoor’s role was only for 15-20 minutes, she pulls it off pretty nicely with her innocent smiles. Prakash Raj, Pavan Malhotra and Dalip Tahil are all convincing in their respective roles but I’d still say Farhan Akhtar stole the show, which was of course, expected.

The Bottom Line: Such movies rarely find their way into the Bollywood film industry but when Bhaag Milkha Bhaag did, it blew the frigging roof off!