A let down

Rating: 5/10 (17 July 2013)

Milkha Singh had more of an epic life than what it was portrayed. Everything about the movie is Bollywood and the realist in me just couldn't accept a biopic being shown this way.
Farhan Akhtar's Milkha Singh is too innocent with no shades of Grey in him. Even during his fling with the Aussie chick he is shown as very innocent, like he didn't want to do it and did it innocently like he was in love which I an sure he wasn't. Scenes with bandage coming out or races where he would suddenly come from nowhere and win it. It's a 400m race not a 10km marathon. And thank god someone realized that Farhan's body is not of an athlete, his bulky arms would just be an hindrance in his speed.
Anyways I think people liked it because we have very few sporting idols to look up to and the movie tries generating a nationalistic(patriotic) feeling in our minds. Well it's obvious they wanted to generate patriotic feeling when the climax is about beating a third grade Pakistani athlete rather than an epic Olympic race.
Most of the actors are dull. Farhan is lively during his training regimens but he speaks in a Punjabi like a guy from Mumbai who has been sent to Amritsar and is trying to speak to locals. It just doesn't seem natural. His "ahos" lack the power which his character needed.
Oh before i forget, the number of unwanted and useless characters in the film just wanted me to get up from my seat and give a tight slap to romp productions, well yeah that was the most funny part of the movie for me, the production house named ROMP.The movie has good music and probably that's the most entertaining part except from the production house named ROMP.
And one last point, being a sports-person I have played under pain a lot of times. But the gruesome injuries which were inflicted on Farhan's Milkha and him breaking the national record and the bandages coming out made me think that I must gave been a pussy that I could barely give 50% forget beating my own best with not even half the injuries that Farhan's Milkha had.
I just wanted to take it off my heart, limbs, my head ache and every single rupee which the movie cost me.
See it if you want to see Bollywood's take on a larger than life sports-person rather than a supreme athlete who had his flaws like the rest of us.