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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