Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

About the film

Run, Milkha, Run) is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language biographical sports drama film directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, written by lyricist Prasoon Joshi, and produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures in association with Rajiv Tandon and editor P.S. Bharathi under the ROMP Pictures banner. Based on the life of Milkha Singh, an Indian athlete and Olympian who was a champion of the Commonwealth Games and two-time 400m champion of the Asian Games, it stars Farhan Akhtar in the title role alongside Art Malik, Divya Dutta, Pavan Malhotra, Yograj Singh, Prakash Raj and Meesha Shafi in supporting roles with Sonam Kapoor in a special appearance.

Made on a budget of ₹410 million (US$4.3 million), the film was released on 12 July 2013 and garnered acclaim from critics and audiences alike. It performed very well at the box office, eventually being declared a "super hit" domestically as well as a hit overseas. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is the sixth highest-grossing 2013 Bollywood film worldwide and became the 21st film to gross ₹1 billion (US$10 million).

Plot

The narrative opens at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, where Indian sprinter Milkha Singh is competing in the 400-meter finals. As the race begins, his coach shouts the phrase, "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag!" ("Run Milkha Run!"). The words trigger a severe traumatic flashback, causing Milkha to lose focus and finish in a disappointing fourth place. These haunting memories date back to the 1947 Partition of India, during which mass sectarian violence erupted in Punjab, culminating in the massacre of Milkha’s parents before his eyes. As a young boy, Milkha escaped the carnage and arrived in Delhi as a penniless refugee, eventually reuniting with his sister, Isri Kaur. Living in squalid refugee camps, he turned to petty theft to survive alongside a group of friends. Upon reaching adulthood, Milkha fell in love with a local woman named Biro, who urged him to abandon his life of crime and live with honesty.

Seeking a structured future and a legitimate livelihood, Milkha enlists in the Indian Army. During basic training, he enters a cross-country race where the top ten finishers are promised milk, eggs, and an exemption from daily fatigue duties. His raw athletic prowess catches the eye of Havaldar Gurudev Singh, who begins mentoring him for national athletic selections. As Milkha rapidly ascends the ranks, his success breeds intense jealousy among senior athletes. The night before the final Olympic trials, these rivals brutally assault him. Despite sustaining severe internal injuries, Milkha insists on competing the following day. Overcoming intense physical agony, he wins the race and shatters the national 400-meter record. Eager to share his success, Milkha returns to Delhi to propose to Biro, only to discover that she was married off and had left the city during his absence.

At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, a distracted Milkha becomes infatuated with Stella, the granddaughter of his Australian technical coach. After spending a night drinking at a bar, the two have a one-night stand. Exhausted and arriving late to training the next morning, Milkha performs poorly and fails to qualify in the final Olympic race. Devastated by his lack of discipline, he undergoes a crisis of conscience, physically punishing himself in front of a mirror. On the flight back to India, he asks his coach for the official 400-meter world record time and learns it stands at 45.9 seconds. Driven by a newfound obsession, Milkha undergoes grueling high-altitude tire training in the freezing deserts of Ladakh, pushing his body to absolute physical exhaustion.

Production

After the release of Delhi-6 (2009), director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra started developing two projects: a historical love story, Mirza Sahiban, and a biopic of Milkha Singh. He chose the latter as it had developed better. Prasoon Joshi, who co-wrote Delhi-6 with Mehra, started working on the script. Joshi later clarified that the film's title, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Run Milkha Run) was never actually spoken by Milkha's father. Rather, it was a phrase coined by him and was used liberally throughout the narrative.

Growing up in Delhi, Mehra was familiar with anecdotes from the life of Milkha Singh, the ace runner popular as the "Flying Sikh". He used to visit the National Stadium, Delhi for swimming, where Singh also came for his practice. Gradually, he learns details regarding his early life, including how he witnessed his entire family being killed during the Partition and travelled alone to Delhi as a refugee. Mehra started developing the project as a personal story rather than a sports film, taking the theme of "zindagi se bhago nahin, zindagi ke saath bhago" ("don't run away from life, run with life"), depicting his life from 13 to 28 years.

For research, he visited Chandigarh several times, where he talked for hours with Singh. Milkha Singh's son, Jeev Milkha Singh, a notable golfer in his own right, arranged his meetings with the family members. Milkha Singh refused a large offer for the film rights to his story and instead charged a token amount of ₹1 (1.0¢ US), as he believed if the film could "inspire our young people and result in India's first Olympic track gold, that would [be] reward enough for him."

Key details