Whenever Milkha Singh trains
for his runs, he wrings out his sweat from his drenched banyan into a mug. As
the races become more challenging, the mug graduates to a bucket. Like the
protagonist, ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ has plenty to sweat over. One is to be true
to a real life hero and the other is to match the incredible track record set
by Tigmanshu Dhulia’s ‘Paan Singh Tomar’. Eitherways, it does not quite break any records.
The film starts with an
impressive first 5 minutes setting a grand camera, light and sound play
capturing the introduction of the famous Sikh athlete, Milkha Singh at 1960
Rome Olympics. Milkha (Farhan Akhtar) enters the stadium, like a champion, his
lean body, overtoned muscles, thick veins, telling a story of their own. Milkha
kneels in the starting position along with other runners and breaks into a
speedy run. He is no longer Farhan, the actor. He is an athlete, out to
conquer. About to win the 400-meter race, he turns his head and slows for a
second. A brief flashback shot of a small turbaned boy running in the rain, is
seen. Milkha’s race is ruined. So is the rest of the film.
The story goes back
and forth constantly in a very stretched screenplay centering on Milkha’s past
demons involving the India Pakistan partition.
Instead of dealing with the
making of Milkha, the amazing athlete who earned the title of a ‘flying Sikh’,
the story focuses on too many overemotional moments with his sister (Divya
Dutta, excellent). A specific, powerful but entirely unnecessary scene shows
Milkha as a child, being witness to a rough sexual act between her and her
domineering, violent husband in a crowded refugee camp. More, heavy emotional
moments are seen between Milkha, an army recruit and his first coach, (Pawan
Malhotra, fabulous) which are more pertinent to the story. The film moves to a
young, aimless Milkha who falls in love with a Punjab village belle, Bira(Sonam
Kapoor) and walks around with her, carries buckets of water umpteen times,
before he can ask her name.
Milkha’s journey from partition
days’ trauma to knife wielding days in his youth to his running for a glass of
milk as an army recruit, to becoming a celebrated Indian champion athlete, would
have been much more engrossing if it wasn’t for the over the top, emotional
treatment.
The director, Rakeysh Omprakash
Mehra who has given both a hugely successful, ‘Rang De Basanti’ and a mishap
like ‘Delhi 6’, is clearly out to milk every aspect of commercial cinema, be it
through too many songs or too many tear jerker scenes or stunning
cinematography. Prasoon Joshi’s lyrics,”Zinda”, with Shankar- Ehsaan-Loy’s
perfect music, create the right, inspirational impact. Mehra’s overambition and
a sloppy edit almost ruins the apparent labour by the entire team.
Farhan Akhtar is admirable in
his efforts, right from his evident hard work on his sinews, to his athlete
posture to his Punjabi accent. But the supporting actors, especially Pawan Malhotra
and Divya Dutta constantly out shadow him in their naturally, rustic appeal.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, may have some inspirational appeal as a Biopic. But it does not quite match the record that
the real Milkha Singh set for India.
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