Movie Review : Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)

Rating : 4/5
Genre : Bio-pic
Year : 2013
Running time : 3 hours 7 minutes
Director : Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra
Cast : Farhan Akhtar, Pawan Malhotra, Divya Dutta, Sonam Kapoor, Yograj Singh, Art Malik
Kid rating : PG-13

I might be overstating this, but I was initially aghast at the poor ratings Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was garnering. The director of BMB Rakesh Mehra can do no wrong in my eyes. After all, he has given us films like Rang De Basanti and Delhi 6, and the sinister Bajpai starrer Aks. How could BMB be anything less than stellar? Yeah, well I was right and the others wrong 🙂 . BMB is a great film!

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is based on The Flying Sikh Milkha Singh. The film traces Milkha’s life right from the days of partition to Milkha’s forays into small-time crime, and then to his Army days where he is recognized as the natural athlete he is. A simple man from the villages, Milkha grows into a dedicated sportsman and director Mehra presents this momentous journey very well.

Biopics tend to become documentary-like, but Mehra maintains a fine balance in this film; BMB is a good mix of arty and commercial cinema. It is Milkha’s Singh’s story alright, but with enough personal anecdotes (some fact and some fiction) to keep it interesting. It is an ode to the man himself, who went through considerable personal struggle and tragedy, and displayed exemplary courage and will-power to become one of the foremost athletes of India.

BMB is also a slice of history. There is major tragedy and upheaval in Milkha’s life, as there was for millions of others – the upheaval of having to leave your home, friends and the life you had known and relocate to a new and different country, penniless and friendless. After the partition Milka, then a child, finds himself alone and distraught in one of the many refugee camps in the newly formed India. Milkha’s adult life is built from scratch in India, away from the village of his hometown in current Pakistan.

Despite the commercial aspect – the songs and the requisite gaana-bajana – the film remains true to its spirit. The characters in the film are strung together with emotion. There is Milkha’s large family in Pakistan, a gaggle of parents, aunts, uncles and siblings headed by the patriarch – Milkha’s father (Art Malik). There are Milkha’s childhood friends and then there are his friends in the Army, especially his two coaches who believe in him and urge him to greater heights, despite his initial failures.

Farhan Akhtar plays the lead role here – a fine, fine portrayal of the athlete. He is ably supported by the fabulous Divya Dutta who plays his elder sister Isri, and by Pavan Malhotra who plays his first coach Gurudev Singh. There is also Punjabi actor and cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj Singh as Indian coach Ranveer Singh. Prakash Raj (the villain from Singham) appears in a small role.

This is a fine film, and another feather in the cap for director Mehra.

Kidwise : A decent watch for the kids, but this does have scenes of partition-era violence – i.e.; men brandishing swords, and numerous bodies in pools of blood. There is also a love-making scene.