Bhaag Milkha Bhaag - Almost there...

1. As far as my memory serves me, this is one of those rare biopics made in India, where the protagonist is still alive. So its a great effort from that point of view - a film on sports about a living legend is made and film doesn't shy away from showing his failures as well.

2. The comparisons with Paan Singh Tomar are unnecessary, because PST was about apathy towards sports in the country while BMB is a celebration of some of the best sporting achievements.

3. Till now the only image of Milkha Singh in my mind, was a sketch of him (running), in one of our school books. But from now on the lasting image of Milkha Singh for all future generations would be Farhan Akhtar. Such is the power of his transformation as Milkha and his performance, that for me Farhan is Milkha, Milkha is Farhan. His body language, dialect and dialogue delivery are all so convincing, that it seems, no other actor could have done this role better.

4. Three other actors that touched me with their performances are - Pavan Malhotra, in the role of Milkha's first coach, shows a great restraint in his acting. In one particular scene, when Milkha is taken away by the national coach (Yograj Singh), the camera lingers on for few moments on Pavan's face and there is pride on it, that a father would have, for his kid. Divya Dutta as Milkha's sister will make you cry with her performance. She is the emotional anchor of the film. Jabtej Singh as young Milkha performs equally well as Farhan Akhtar. His role lends pathos to the film. Farhan and these 3 actors are the biggest strengths of this film.

5. The sporting and races are exquisitely shot. Aided with excellent background score and songs, this film is highly inspirational in those moments.

6. But film has some inherent weaknesses in the structuring of its narrative: Flashback in Flashback tool used in the narrative adds no new dimension. In fact it makes the film heavy handed and longer than required. (Ghayal is the only Hindi film I remember where flashback in flashback was used very effectively)

7. The film relies on jingoism to manipulate audiences and gives undue focus to the Indo-Pak sporting rivalry, while almost ignoring Milkha's bigger sporting achievements.

8. Prasoon Joshi's screenplay is the biggest weakness of the film - inconsistent and gives in to commercial interests. But the truth is that the legend of Milkha Singh is so strong and inspirational at its core, that even a floundering screenplay couldn't spoil the overall experience

9. Why is the review structured like this? Because that is the way film is - long, inconsistent and random and yet tells the entire story of Milkha like never before. Enjoy. :-)

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag - First reviewed on my facebook account on 21st July 2013
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