Bhaag Milkha Bhaag Movie Review by Sputnik

bmb1 Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, Pankaj Malhotra, Divya Dutta, Prakash Raj, Rebecca Breeds, Meesha Shafi

Synopsis: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is a biographical sports film based on the life of “Flying Sikh” Milkha Singh, an Indian athlete who was a world champion runner and an Olympian.

The movie should be used in Film Schools as an example of how not to write a screenplay. The movie starts off with Milkha Singh losing in the 1960 Rome Olympics because his coach screams Bhaag Milkha Bhaag thereby reminding him of his childhood memories of partition. He is leading the race and he starts losing after hearing the screams and turning back to see. This is total BS as can be observed from the video of the actual race here. Link

Now we are treated to a long flashback by Milkha’s coach Gurudev Singh while traveling to Chandigarh to ask him to meet Nehru so that Nehru can convince him to go to Pakistan to compete there. Now Nehru must obviously not have heard of this invention called Telephone or the just recently aborted Telegram Service. Anyways this flashback which covers almost the whole movie has multiple flashbacks within it. There are some stupid comedy scenes during his initial Army training days. So Gurudev Singh knows that Milkha after drinking milk was reminded of his childhood milk drinking scenes.

Now there are some stupid scenes involving the India Blazer and then he loses a race because he was hurt by a stone. Not sure why they would allow him to run bare feet in the first place. Our official now tells Gurudev Singh that he still could not understand why Milkha did not want to go to Pakistan. So now we are treated to Milkha’s scenes at the refugee camp and his elder sister Divya Dutta’s sex scenes. Milkha takes to petty crimes and becomes bad ass and starts stealing on the train ala Slumdog Millionaire. But the grown up Milkha is no bad ass as he gets almost stripped and ass kicked by others.

While telling about why Milkha did not want to go to Pakistan our Gurudev decides he should also tell about his love story with Sonam which has no relevance with his not wanting to go to Pakistan. We are also shown how the great Milkha could drink two cans of Ghee at once to show that Milkha would have won Gold if only there was a Ghee eating completion at the Olympics. Now we are shown a scene where he is trying to escape from a ticket collector and Gurudev knows that Milkha was reminded of his childhood horrors again.

Time for some heroism by the great Milkha. After being beaten by some other Indian athletes Milkha runs with his bandaged legs and the bandages come off ala the scene from Forrest Gump where his leg braces come off. He returns home to find Sonam was married to someone else. Now time for some stupid comedy on an airplane where our great director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra decides to do a cameo as a Pilot reminding us of the great Subhash Ghai’s wonderful cameos.

As Milkha is now in Melbourne, Australia its time for a song that sounds like an American Country song. Farhan Akhtar also decides its time he gets into his Imran mode from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and have a fling with a Australian girl and sing another song and thereby lose the qualifying race.

Time for some hardcore training scenes in picturesque mountains with a background song chanting Milkha. And time for the Indian female Swimming team member to lust after Milkha after having watched his 6 pack abs while training. She tries to seduce him but Milkha has obviously turned wiser after his Australian s/experience and declines her advances.

Time for some India Pakistan confrontation where the Pakistani coach mocks Milkha for having had to run away from Pakistan. The whole story is being told because a Indian official does not know why Milkha does not want to go to Pakistan but surprisingly the Pakistani coach already knows that. Time for another partition flashback. Milkha wins against Khaliq in a Photo finish. Time for a montage of his races and his record breaking race for which there were so many training scenes is shown through a paper clipping. Song time.

As the games in Pakistan are announced time for another partition flashback. The main flashback ends and after some chai biscuit Milkha is given the message to meet Nehru and the great Nehru convinces him in faster than it takes to make Maggi.

Milkha returns to his childhood home ala Hrithik in Agneepath and time for another partition flashback. The partition scenes that haunt Milkha remind us of scene from Zanjeer which itself was copied from Death Rides a Horse. The horse rider scene also reminds of scenes from Sleepy Hollow. His childhood friend is alive and we are given the great wonderful message that “Log Bure Nahin Hote. Bas Halat Bure Hote Hai” and everything is alright. Then there is the final scene – the race between the great Milkha, the underdog who already the defeated the Asian Champion Khaliq earlier.

Farhan Akhtar acts well in some scenes and he is Imran from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara in some scenes. He seems to have copied Milkha’s style of running well. Sonam looks pretty and has a small special appearance. Rebecca Breeds and Meesha Shafi are ok in small roles. Divya Dutta is ok but then she has played this Punjabi role a few times. Pavan Malhotra is very good in some scenes and he looks like he got the Punjabi part so right but then some of his scenes where he is telling the story are so bad that he ends up looking bad. Prakash Raj is ok playing a South Indian army officer. Yograj Singh is bad in some scenes and ok in some. Dalip Tahil is weirdly cast as Nehru.

Some scenes are good and Milkha’s story could have been turned into a great film but its Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s direction which is pathetic and totally messes up the movie. The non linear screenplay and multiple flashbacks and flashback within flashback are totally ridiculous. Milkha Singh definitely deserved a better movie than this. People who like movies like Gadar or the regular commercial movies will find no issues with this movie. They may like it and even term it great. But if you were expecting a great biopic on one of India’s great sports champion then this movie may not appeal to you.

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45 Comments
  1. Tulmul Memender 11 years ago

    Apna Tanqeed is laced with AK 57 as far as bmb demolition is concerned… not seen movie so cant do value judgment of movie and your piece but you seem to flag some imp issues… like reasons shown for losing races( Baba also pointed out and also by the guy whose link i posted here) and Pakistan part and rest.. It seems it is made mellowed jingoistic like Gaddar but served and garnished well to obfuscate it…

  2. Rafsan Cr 11 years ago

    I will be watching it tonight .will read the review after that .

  3. sputnik 11 years ago

    Tulmul Memender Yeah as Baba Ji said before there is an excuse for all races that he lost. Its never because he was not good enough or others were better than him.

    “it is made mellowed jingoistic like Gaddar but served and garnished well to obfuscate it…”

    Agree.

  4. hithere 11 years ago

    lol..apparently Carl Lewis was impressed 🙂

  5. aryan 11 years ago

    Not seen the movie yet but read the full review aur phir comment karounga.

  6. Baba 11 years ago

    briliant review. the best review i have read on BMB

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      Thanks Baba.

      Yeah a simple straight forward linear narrative with no story being told track would have worked better. Even then the movie should have been 2 hr 20 min max not 3 hours.

  7. Baba 11 years ago

    ” Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s direction which is pathetic and totally messes up the movie. The non linear screenplay and multiple flashbacks and flashback within flashback are totally ridiculous”

    dont forget milkha singh himself who has supervised the film and i dont need a proof to believe this. i trust my instincts.there is a desparate attempt to prove milkha cannot be defeated ideally. there are always some nonsensical excuses thrown to justify his losses. he is shown as the dude of the century. all this garbage is milkhas projected-self and a wet dream and he expected audience to believe his shit.some among the audience are gullible enough to do so.

    the film didnt need 3 timelines to run simultaneously. it could have started from his childood , it wud hv had better impact

  8. Nitin Singla 11 years ago

    R u sure u watched the movie? Nehru was not aware of invention telephone.. Milkha was not taking up the calls so they were sent to have a talk. Rest of the review look that u made out ur mind before watching it.. U just want to bash it..

    • Baba 11 years ago

      i dont know about telepgone thing but i think that sequence is another of milkhas imagination.he wants to make us believe he was that important to the govt and pm.
      even sachin doesnt get this kind of privilege 😉

  9. Serenzy 11 years ago

    “People who like movies like Gadar or the regular commercial movies will find no issues with this movie.”

    Good, I’m definately one of them.

    -So, you hated GADAR back in 2001?

    …………………………

    This “copying thing” you do in your reviews… Does it like directly/instantly come to your mind while watching a movie OR you think over it? 😀

    Or, do you shout it out in-between watching it? 😛

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      I liked the first half of Gadar but the second half was not my cup of tea 🙂

      Ha Ha. No I don’t shout it out in-between watching it 🙂 They directly/instantly come to my mind while watching a movie.

      ————

      Thanks Bored.

  10. Bored 11 years ago

    LOL, nice review here Sputnik!

  11. sputnik 11 years ago

    Nitin Singla Milkha does take the call of his coach but he does not speak to his coach. Does not mean that he will not take the call of the Prime Minister´s office.

    There were already so many positive and negative reviews and I did not like the promos much so my expectations were low from the beginning. But no one can defend flashback mein flashback that too at multiple times. Why would someone narrate the whole life story including all the romances and all when all that official asked was why Milkha did not want to go to Pakistan. A 20 min flashback showing what happened during his childhood would have been enough.

  12. Sunil 11 years ago

    sputnik,you werent aware that atheletes were allowed to run barefoot before 1960?And also nehru wanted to talk to milkha singh personally.He wont use telephone,telegraph for that.As for the review,its your personal opnion.I agree with some,disagree with some of your opninions.

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      Thanks. Did not know that they could run barefoot but it looks like it did not stop after 1960.

      “Abebe Bikila (አበበ ቢቂላ; August 7, 1932 – October 25, 1973) was a double Olympic marathon champion from Ethiopia, most famous for winning a marathon gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics while running barefoot. ”

      Here is Zola Budd World Record 2000 metres win while running barefoot in 1984.

      So now my question changes. Why was Milkha being told to run with shoes when he was not comfortable running with spiked shoes? There was similar scene in Paan Singh Tomar too when Paan Singh does not like running with shoes.

      If Nehru wants to talk to Milkha Singh personally he will have someone from his office call him and ask him to meet at the Prime Minister’s office/residence or may be send an official letter. Sending three people to convince him sounds made up. And the India Coach or his old coach could not tell what Nehru told him – that he is from the Army and that it is his duty to go to Pakistan for the race?

      • Author
        sputnik 10 years ago

        This nauvari-clad granny outsmarts Baramati athletes

        Surprising feat 61-year-old farm labourer runs barefoot, wins marathon beating all other participants

        An unexpected participant proved to be the game changer for the Baramati athletes participating in this year’s marathon race. The new participant took the organisers as well as spectators by complete surprise.

        Not only was this participant a first timer in the contest, but also left all the “athletes” way behind within minutes of the “start” fire.

        Everything about this winner was surprising. Let’s start with her age. She is 61. Yes! Now wait for more. She wore a traditional nauvari and ran barefoot.

        And this was her maiden run.

        No wonder then that Lata Bhagwan Kare was adjudged this year’s Fastest Marathon Runner.

        The thing that caught everyone’s attention at the race was Kare’s dress — the traditional nauvari. Secondly, she ran without shoes, and finally amused one and all when she defeated all the experienced and regular runners.

        Kare is a resident of Pimpli, about 7 km from Baramati, and works as a farm labourer. She came to know about the competition from her relatives barely a few days ago.

        Speaking to dna Kare said, “When I came to know about the competition, I decided to participate in the event. I gathered courage and informed my son that I wanted to run the Marathon. Initially, he gave me a weird look as in his opinion it was not possible, given my age. But I was determined, so he finally gave in.”

        Before the event, Kare used to walk daily one kilometre in her village. “I used to go for morning walks daily, but I had never run. If I had even tried to run, people would have found it strange and they would have asked me uncomfortable questions,” Kare laughed.

        Kare has been staying with her husband and a son in Pimpli for the past three years. She hails from Buldhana district and had migrated there for work.

        When asked how she felt standing there on the start line, she said, “a little awkward, as all the other participants were staring at my dress. That also made me a little nervous. However, when the race began and I started overtaking them one by one, I gained my energy. While running I was talking to myself and telling that I want to win this race and I did it.”

        She started her run with her slippers on. After a metres, one of her slipplers slipped out. She then left the other one too and continued running, which explains why she was barefoot.

        Speaking to dna, organiser Sachin Satav said, “We never expected a participant like Kare to be the winner of the race. It was pleasant surprise. We were extremely happy while handing over the trophy to Kare.”

        So? Will she participate in more such races? “I want to. But only god knows whether I remain as strong then as I am today.”

        Link

  13. ank_16n 11 years ago

    have not watched movie yet….

    but saw an interview of milkha singh on a news channel well their he addressed the 1960 olympic n commanwealth1958)…..issues which people are talking about n those response were not about any attraction or disturbance which cost him the race but gave a somewhat technical answer……..

    will put up the link as soon as news channel upload it on utube..!!

    and important thing u need to know stupnik n baba that prasoon joshi(screenplay writter) recently said that story is real but most of the sequences have been made fictional n some are spiced up……..to make it more commercial…….so its not milkha dream ideas or mirch masala its prasoon joshi n ROM to blame for if u feel that way about movie..!! 🙂

    • Baba 11 years ago

      the poster of BMB said “you have known him as the flying sikh, now you will see his real story”

      • ank_16n 11 years ago

        so what that proves????

        the story is real but can’t they spice up things? to make it a little commercially viable project to recover 50cr they have invested???

        btw i can’t debate much without seeing the movie just told u what prasoon joshi said ..!! 🙂

      • Baba 11 years ago

        you should see the film. the spices became the main course of the meal. infact there is no meal but only spices 😉

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      I think this is the Interview you are referring to. He addresses the scenes in the movie including the kissing scene in Australia. Had read it the other day.

      “Legendary athlete Milkha Singh’s story is one of guts and glory, now the subject of a biopic. In this Idea Exchange moderated by Senior Assistant Editor Nihal Koshie, he talks about the race he ran to finish fourth in the 1960 Rome Olympics and how he cried when he saw Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

      Nihal Koshie: It is said that when the makers of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag approached you, you gave away the rights for Re 1. Why did you do that?

      I have only seen movies of my generation—Mother India, Shree 420, Awaara. Those days, we had actors such as Dilip Kumar, Ashok Kumar… I haven’t seen a single movie after 1960. So I don’t know the new directors or actors. Recently, three to four directors had come to my house asking for rights to make a movie on my book and offered me between Rs 50 lakh and a crore. My son (golfer Jeev Milkha Singh) is a movie buff—he has to watch one after every match—and he told me, ‘Papa, if we have to give the film to somebody, then it will be Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra because I have seen Rang De Basanti and I liked it. And if you are in need of money, then I will give you a cheque for Rs 1.5 crore, but we will give the story for Re 1’. So it was my son’s decision. But in the agreement that we signed, I also put in a clause, saying 10-15 per cent of the profits from the movie would go to the Milkha Singh Charitable Trust.

      Coomi Kapoor: Can you tell us about your early years?

      We were from a village that’s now in Pakistan’s Muzaffargarh district, in Kot Addu tehsil. Our village was 10 km away from the city. The boys had to walk barefoot for 10 km from the village to the school in Kot Addu. The stretch was sandy and in the months of May and June, you can imagine how hot it would get. We would run for a kilometre, stop when we found a patch of grass, cool our feet and then run again. Also, there were two 50-ft-wide canals that we had to cross. We did not know how to swim but we would tie bamboo sticks to our feet. On our way back, we would run back 10 km. Everyday, we would cover 20 km. So I have seen a lot of hardship. I hope today’s generation will be inspired by this film. During Partition, my parents, my brother and sisters were killed before my eyes.

      Rakesh Sinha: How old were you then?

      I was about 15.

      Coomi Kapoor: How did you escape?

      I ran away. When my father was dying, he told me, run or else they will kill you. I ran into the forest and then from there, I reached the station, entered the women’s compartment and escaped from there. They were looking for any Hindu or Sikh to kill. At that time, there was hysteria all around and trains from both India and Pakistan pulled out of stations with dead bodies.

      Nihal Koshie: Could you share with us your emotions when you had to go back to Pakistan, this time for an athletics meet?

      During the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, I met Pakistani runner Abdul Khaliq. He won the 100 metres and I won the 400 metres. Then we had to run the 200-metre race. At the finish line, I pulled a muscle in my left leg and my left shoulder lurched forward. It was a photo finish, but because I had lurched forward, I won the race. Abdul Khaliq came second. That’s when the Pakistanis took note of me—of this guy who had beaten Abdul Khaliq. Then in 1960, they invited me to Pakistan. I refused because I couldn’t forget the night my parents had been killed in Pakistan. When this appeared in the press, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru called me to his home and convinced me to go. I could not refuse him and the next day, I went to Pakistan. When I reached the border at Wagah, they gave me a special welcome. They asked me to get on to an open jeep decked with flowers and from the border to Lahore, a distance of 15 km, there were people standing on either side with Indian and Pakistani flags and I stood waving at them. When I reached my room, I saw an Urdu paper with the headline: ‘Milkha Singh aur Abdul Khaliq ki takkar’. Later, I saw banners on the streets of Lahore that said: ‘Milkha Singh aur Abdul Khaliq ki takkar, India-Pakistan ki takkar’. I realised that Pakistan had actually invited me to see whether I was better than Abdul Khaliq or not. So on the day of the race, there were 7,000 people in the stadium—(then Pakistan President) General Ayub Khan was there also. When the race started, Abdul Khaliq took the lead. But with 50 metres to the finish line, I caught up with Abdul Khaliq and then even Makhan Singh (India) caught up with him. So not only had I defeated Abdul Khaliq, even Makhan Singh had defeated him. The entire stadium was silent. Later, when General Ayub gave away the medals, he whispered to me in Punjabi: ‘You didn’t run today, you flew’. So if Milkha Singh is called Flying Sikh, then that credit goes to Pakistan.

      Rakesh Sinha: With athletes like you and Makhan Singh, India had this huge potential in athletics. Why doesn’t the Indian government invest in athletics anymore?

      Ever since Independence (till before the 2012 London Games), we have only produced five athletes who have reached the finals in Olympics—Milkha Singh in the 1960 Rome Olympics, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa in the 1964 Tokyo Games, Ram Singh in the 1976 Montreal Games, then P T Usha in the 1984 Olympics. After that came Anju George who missed the medal in long jump. I believe there is no dearth of talent in India. But what’s missing is the ability to work hard. They want to achieve in one year what we did in 12 years. Secondly, there are 40,000 coaches in India, but we cannot name a single coach. The government has done a lot—there are enough stadiums, the latest equipment, money too. These coaches are government employees. I have always been saying coaches should be employed on contract. If an athlete runs 100 metres in 10 seconds, the coach should be given a deadline, say, four years, to take that athlete to nine seconds. If you cannot do that, then the coach should be fired and you have to hire someone else. Unless we are not strict, it is difficult to get results in athletics.

      Dilip Bobb: How close is the movie to your real life? Because Bollywood usually takes liberties.

      It’s very true to facts. When I saw the film, I cried. I congratulated Farhan Akhtar, who was sitting next to me, and told him, ‘Beta, your are a duplicate copy of Milkha Singh.’ Rakeysh’s (Omprakash Mehra) direction and Prasoon Joshi’s dialogues made me cry.

      Coomi Kapoor: What were your sentiments when you lost in the Rome Olympics by a whisker?

      There are two things I will never forget till the day I die—the race at Rome Olympics and the death of my parents. In 1959, before the Rome Olympics, I was one of the best of eight in the world. After winning so many races, everyone believed that at the Rome Olympics, if there’s anyone who can win the 400 metres race from India, it’s Milkha Singh. Before this race, I was kept in a room alone for two days. And when I’m alone, I think and think. During the Rome Olympics, there was a two-day gap between the semi-finals and finals. I couldn’t sleep those two days—I was carrying the burden of expectations. On the day of the race, I ran the first 250 yards with so much speed that I was ahead of all the other participants. But it was my bad luck that I got the higher lane. People behind you can judge how fast you can go. When I finished 250 metres, I began thinking if I will be able to finish 400 metres at all. It was at this point that my rhythm broke. In the last 100 metres, I saw three boys ahead of me. I tried to catch up with Malcolm Spence from South Africa; I had beaten him at the Commonwealth Games before coming to Rome. We finished almost together—he was third, I was fourth. I will never forget this till I die.

      Somya Lakhani: Did you propose any changes to the movie once you watched it?

      No. Everything looks fine so far.

      I hope this generation is inspired by the film.

      Dilip Bobb: There is one scene in the movie in which Milkha Singh kisses an Australian athlete. Did that actually happen?

      It’s true that people do stuff in their youth. Some do it openly, some secretly. But everyone does it. The message I wanted to send out to sportsmen through this movie was that a woman can put you on a pedestal and bring you down as well. The film shows her to be the first woman he meets and they (the filmmakers) said that it’s essential to show these things for the movie to work with the audience.

      D K Rituraj: This is a hypothetical question. Struggle has been an important part of your achievement and in your days, there weren’t many facilities. If you had the facilities that athletes now have, how much do you think you would’ve achieved?

      If Milkha Singh was born in present times, with all his struggles of the past, I think no one in the world would be able to break his record in the next 100 years. I worked so hard that I would have a bucketful of sweat every day. Can anyone do that now? Kids nowadays will not be able to do the kind of hard work we did. I once asked (hockey player) Dhyan Chand: ‘Dada, why are you considered hockey’s jaadugar?’ He replied, ‘Milkha Singhji, I used to tie a cycle tyre at the goal post and shoot 500 balls through that tyre’. It’s been 55 years since Milkha Singh ran and in all this time, no person has surpassed my timing at the Rome Olympics.

      Coomi Kapoor: Who recognised your talent?

      Havaldar Gurdev Singh. In the Army, every soldier has to run. Only 15-20 days after I joined, I was told to run a cross-country. I asked him what a cross-country was. Everyone had to run five miles and the first 10 jawans would be selected for further training. Because of all the running I had done as a child, this was no big deal, I told myself. I started running fast but soon found myself overtaken. I came sixth, but I was in the top 10. After that, Havaldar Gurdev Singh got after us with a baton and made us train for all the inter-company competitions. Once, Havaldar Gurdev Singh asked me if I would run 400 metres at an athletics meet. I asked him what 400 metres meant. He said it covers the whole ground. There were 50 jawans and we ran barefoot. I came first.

      Karthik Krishnaswamy: As a child, you ran 10 km to school and back. And then, you ran cross-country in the Army. Didn’t you think of running middle- and long-distance events instead of the 400 metres?

      No. Cross-country and athletic meets happen once in a year. At the Army centre’s athletic meet, I would keep my dinner under my bed, and ask someone to guard it. Other boys would go to their rooms, play cards, carrom and so on. I would go to the grounds and run. One night, a brigadier saw me running. This is a sequence in the movie too. The brigadier asked me why I was running at night. I told him I don’t get time during the day and so I practise at night. He asked me which company I was from. ‘A company,’ I replied. He simply said okay and went away. The next morning, the PT instructor asked me, ‘What did you say to brigadier sahib? Why did you complain to him?’ He hit me twice on my stomach twice with his baton. The next day, the JCO called me and said, ‘So this is the recruit. Why did you complain about us? Why didn’t you come to us?’ In the Army, we have something called a ‘fatigue time’, where jawans would clean roads, do gardening and do other odd jobs. The brigadier converted my 3 pm-5 pm fatigue time into my training hour.

      Siddharth Sharma: What do you believe is lacking in today’s athletes and do you think you could have contributed more towards coaching?

      During my time, we had trials. I would run my heart out. After the trials, I would fall, vomit, have stomach pains and headaches. We used to go through such hardships. But children nowadays are scared of trials. They think they’ll be in a bad shape ahead of the real race. When you work hard and do test runs every week, as opposed to once a year, you’ll know where you stand and whether you need improvement or not.

      Ruchika Talwar: Do you still follow an exercise regime?

      Absolutely. Many of my contemporaries are no more. I tell my old friends that they need to exercise as much as they eat. The tongue can harm you in two ways—talking and eating. If you talk too much, you’ll have to pay for it. The other is what you eat. For good health, eat a little, exercise and avoid the company of old men. Stay with young people. ”

      Link

      • ank_16n 11 years ago

        na this was not the one i had watched….

        but this one is more elaborate….. so thnx for sharing it 🙂

  14. Author
    sputnik 11 years ago

    And here is Abebe Bikila winning the marathon in the same 1960 Rome Olympics while running barefoot.

  15. ank_16n 11 years ago

    This is the ACTUAL detail of that olympic race don’t know what is shown in movie..!!

    The most important occasion in Milkha’s career arrived in
    the form of Rome Olympic Games 1960. In the first heat
    of 400m race at the Rome Olympic Games, he covered
    the race at 47.6 seconds and finished at 2nd position. In
    the second heat he further improved his timing and
    grabbed 2nd position again with a timing of 46.5
    seconds. Karl Kaufman of Germany had outclassed him
    this time. In the Semi Final heat he still finished at 2nd
    place, although this time he further improved the timing
    with 45.9, beaten by only Ottis Davis of USA. In the final
    round of the coveted race, Milkha went off like an arrow
    and left all other competitors behind till the distance of
    250m. It was when he miscalculated his own speed and
    committed the blunder of his lifetime and perhaps the
    history of Indian Athletics, by slowing down a bit.
    Although he tried the hardest of his lifetime to recover
    the distance, the other opponents had lagged him behind
    enough for him to catch them again. The competition
    was so tough that Ottis Davis and Karl Kaufman clocked
    44.9 seconds, while Malcolm Spence of South Africa
    covered the race in 45.5 seconds. Milkha, who was
    initially leading the race, finished just 0.1 seconds later
    by Spence, clocking 45.6 seconds. The difference was so
    minute that the announcement was initially held up and
    further declared after a photo-finish. Thus Milkha, who
    was a favorite for the Gold, lost a Bronze by a whisker,
    the closest an Indian athlete could get to an Olympic
    Medal in Athletics till now. (This was later bettered
    by P.T. Usha, who lost the 1984 Olympics 400 m hurdles
    bronze by 1/100th of a second)

  16. Bored 11 years ago

    Watched it – not a biopic but a loud outdated OTT masala chaat.
    And left a bad taste on my mouth.

  17. saurabh 11 years ago

    Baba

  18. yakuza 11 years ago

    Watched it few day ago. How this Biopic is close to reality is another debate, but as a movie I don’t see any major flaw. Movie engaged me to extent that even length appears short as I wanted to see more and more. Farhan and ROM together are real HERO of movie. ROM as a storyteller very effectively portrayed the otherwise very simple story, ditto for Farhan .. this was once in a lifetime opportunity for Farhan and he left no stone un turn. Overall .. Applause worthy and well paid effort.

    • Serenzy 11 years ago

      Totally Agree with you, Yakuza!
      😀

      • Serenzy 11 years ago

        I also feel that Movie-wise, BMB surely is the better movie wrt PAAN SINGH TOMAR but Irrfan undoubtedly has given the ‘slight’ better performance btwn the two(Not that Farhan was any less but Irrfan was Magic!)

        • ank_16n 11 years ago

          I agree loved BMB in its 3 hrs run time for me their was not a single dull moment 😛

          • ank_16n 11 years ago

            also Farhan will win All awards this award season…..he was always in character….

  19. mate 11 years ago

    Talking about Filmfare Awards, awards for the following categories are locked. Best Film: BMB, Best Director: Rakeysh Mehra, Best Actor: Farhan Akhtar, Best Actress: Deepika Padukone.

  20. yakuza 10 years ago

    Watching it second time on Starr Plus .. and movie looks even more gripping this time. I am totally hooked since first scene ..

  21. Author
    sputnik 9 years ago

    Prasoon Joshi admits that he was making a Bollywood hero out of Milkha Singh by adding drama, creating fictitious characters and adding fictitious affairs to Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.

    Start watching from 4:35 if the video doesn’t start from there.

    • Baba 9 years ago

      great video. thanks for posting. this seals it

    • Baba 9 years ago

      he says it was never intended to be a documentary but a “dramatised film” but every poster of BMB has this line ” you know him as the flying sikh, now you will see his REAL story”

      • Baba 9 years ago

        JUST read your bmb reviw all over again. this is one of your greatest review. aapka passion aur gussa tapak raha hai isme

        • Author
          sputnik 9 years ago

          “aapka passion aur gussa tapak raha hai isme”

          Ha Ha You are saying that because there are some grammatical mistakes in my review 🙂

          Seriously I don’t know if Bollywood will ever make a good serious biopic on any one great.

          I am looking forward to the movie MS Dhoni even though I don’t like Sushant Singh Rajput as it is directed by Neeraj Pandey.

          • Baba 9 years ago

            not bcos of grammar but i think the review sounded animated and energetic. it has a strong personality and it hooks the reader right away.one can really feel the frustration you went throught will wacthing this 😀

            your reviews usually have a pattern where you start with the synopsis and then one para starting with “some scenes are very good like……” and then you talk about inspiration/copy if any. then a words on what it could have been and then your final word.

          • Baba 9 years ago

            on the contrary if you read any of my reviews, they dont have any pattern. no two reviews of mine have ever been similar. isnt it?

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