bio-pic on life of Flying Sikh - Milkha Singh....

There have been cinemas and bio-pics … this only is a must see.  It is - Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (English: Run Milkha Run) a  biographical sports film based on the life of "The Flying Sikh" Milkha Singh, an Indian athlete who was a national champion runner and an Olympian. The film has been produced and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra on a script written by Prasoon Joshi. The film stars Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, Divya Dutta, Pavan Malhotra and Meesha Shafi. The film was released on 12 July 2013  and reportedly grossing well.  

The man fondly known as Flying Sikh, was born in 1935 – Milkha Singh is his name – a field sprinter who was introduced to the sport while serving in the Indian Army. As of 2013, he is the only Indian male athlete to have won an individual athletics gold medal at a Commonwealth Games. He represented India in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, in recognition of his sporting achievements.

The race for which Singh is best remembered is his fourth-place finish in the 400 metres final at the 1960 Olympic Games, which he had entered as one of the favourites. He led the race for some time before easing off, allowing others to pass him. Various records were broken in the race, which required a photo-finish and saw American Otis Davis being declared the winner by one-hundredth of a second over German Carl Kaufmann. Singh's fourth-place time of 45.73 became the Indian national record and held for almost 40 years.

Milkha was born at Govindapura, a village in Muzaffargarh city of Punjab province [now in Pakistan] -  one of those millions displaced during the tragic partition of India, later rising to become Sports icon of the Nation. He is described as "the finest athlete India has ever produced".  Wikipedia states that he was one of 15 siblings, eight of whom died before the Partition of India. He was orphaned during the Partition, when his parents, a brother and two sisters were killed in the violence that ensued. He witnessed these killings.  Escaping the troubles in Punjab, where killings of Hindus and Sikhs were continuing, by moving to Delhi, India, in 1947, Singh lived for a short time with a married sister.    He joined the armed forces in  1951, and while stationed at the Electrical Mechanical Engineering Centre in Secunderabad, was introduced to athletics.

Milkha at Rome – photo courtesy : dailymail.co.uk

Milkha reportedly was persuaded by Jawaharlal Nehru to set aside his memories of the Partition era to race successfully in 1960 against Abdul Khaliq in Pakistan, where a post-race comment by the then General Ayub Khan led to him acquiring the nickname of The Flying Sikh. Singh and his daughter, Sonia Sanwalka, co-wrote his autobiography, titled The Race of My Life.  The book inspired Bhaag Milkha Bhaag,  the biopic now released.  Flying Sikh’s Bollywood avatar is running pretty and grossing hugely not only here but also at the US box office too.

Farhan Akhtar, plays the title role in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – reportedly the scene where he defeats Pak Olympian Abdul Khaliq was shot 10 days, reshot 100 times to make it perfect.  To make the scene realistic, Farhan ran alongside professional athletes. He approached Sports Authority of India (SAI) in Patiala to hand-pick a good runner. Bhupender Singh Bhokkar, one of the three athletes selected by the SAI authorities, finally got that golden chance to play Pakistani athlete Khaliq.  The 400-metre track at Punjabi University in Patiala was chosen to enact the event which took place in Pakistan in 1962 when Milkha defeated Pak Olympian Khaliq in the 200-metre race.

There are reports that Milkha singh was elated….. for the legendary American sprinter Carl Lewis who had won 9 Olympic gold medals called him after watching the biopic.  Milkha is quoted as saying in a Hindustan Times report :  “Yes that’s true. Lewis called me today. He saw the movie with an Indian fan and was impressed with it. He said he was moved by that fact that I went on to represent my country in such difficult circumstances. He wanted to send me a gift and asked for my postal address”.  The two athletes have never met or spoken before and Milkha was surprised how Lewis found out his Chandigarh number.

Milkha Singh was promoted from the rank of sepoy to junior commissioned officer in recognition of his successes in the 1958 Asian Games. He  subsequently became Director of Sports in the Punjab Ministry of Education, from which post he  retired by 1998. All of Singh's medals have been donated to the nation and are now on display at sports museum in Patiala.  In 2012, he donated the Adidas shoes that he had worn in the 1960 400m final to a charity auction organised by Rahul Bose, the actor.

Milkha has three daughters and a son, Jeev Milkha Singh. In 1999, they adopted the seven-year old son of Havildar Bikram Singh, who had died in the Battle of Tiger Hill. Jeev Milkha Singh (born 1971) is a professional golfer who became the first player from India to join the European Tour in 1998. He has won four events on the European Tour making him the most successful Indian on tour. He is the highest ranked Indian golfer in the world and first broke into the top 100 in October 2006.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.