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In The Long Run

     The ribbon tied at the finish line is brought down by the touch of his nose in slow motion, and the entire crowd seated in the cinema hall bursts into hoots, whistles and generous claps of applause. We all know it’s a culmination of the director’s vision and the use of sophisticated technology, but the climax of the masterpiece ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ leaves us as astonished and awestruck as the audience in the movie. ‘The Flying Sikh’ as he was rightly called by the then General Ayub Khan of Pakistan, Milkha Singh races his way to a position of reverence even in the minds of those whose parents weren’t even born when he achieved his laudable victories.


     I am not writing this piece as a spoiler for the movie or as a eulogy in honour of the living legend Milkha Singh, but as a realisation that I’m sure this movie is bound to create in a million minds around the world. Calling it ‘just about the best movie ever made’ is an understatement. From the director who gave us ‘Rang De Basanti’, this one is way superior in so many respects. The background music runs well with the flow of the movie and the entire cast has put their best foot forward in making this film such a fulfilling experience. But who undoubtedly stands above them all, is Mr. Farhan Akhtar, the all-rounder champion who enthrals us  not only when he’s behind the camera, but also when he’s facing it. The pains he’s taken to look the part clearly show throughout the movie, and he definitely deserves a standing ovation.

     The movie is not just about athletics or the life of the Padma Shri award winner, but also about the trauma undergone by victims of the partition of India, the hardships in refugee camps, lack of facilities for sportspeople in India and above all, it teaches you how unprecedented sincerity and efforts can help you scale immeasurable heights. Watching his entire family brutally slaughtered in front of his eyes should’ve left him with no reason to live, but young Milkha learnt how to survive the hard way. With an unusually supportive elder sister and two brilliant coaches, he is shown to have emerged as a real dark horse amidst the obnoxious lot of sportsmen then.



     Throughout the movie, you feel his agony, his dilemma of whether or not to go to Pakistan for his country at the cost of reliving the horrors of his childhood, his determination, and ultimately, immense pride for belonging to the same country as he does. All in all, the three-hour-long film is reduced to a length of mere '400 m' as you follow the naked footsteps of the determined and gifted Milkha Singh, who in it’s true sense, is the real ‘Boy Who Lived’, and how!
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