new by standards of Indian sports movies but falls short of a classic

Rating: 9/10 (28 July 2013)

BHAAG MILKHA BHAAG is a biopic based on the life of most celebrated athlete of India. It is directed by RAKEYSH OMAPRAKSH MEHRA who is looking to make a good film after failure of Delhi 6. MILKHA SINGH is played by talented and versatile FARHAN AKHTAR. In India, sports movie begin with a child seeing dream to be successful and in last scene he hits six or scores a goal but mind you, this is different. For that credit must go to wonderful editing. Movie is 3 hour long but does not look boring, even songs have been used quite brilliantly. FARHAN AKHTAR shows his acting skills and his hard work is noticeable in the movie. This may be considered exaggeration by some but I think he resembled Daniel day Lewis. Just like DDL you would think that this is MILKHA SINGH not FARHAN. This is really commendable. SONAM KAPOOR is really brilliant in the short role she got, she may not have pr of other actress so she might not get much appreciation but still she was brilliant in little role she has. Cast has done brilliant job, PAVAN MALHOTRA and YOGRAJ SINGH have given strong performance. And yes YOGRAJ SINGH is father of YUVRAJ SINGH just for info. In technical departments movie is good. Cinematography is good suitable for a period film. Music is really good. Every song is suitable for respective situations. SHANKAR EHSAAN LOY shows that they are still one of the best music director around in industry. Editing as mentioned is excellent. Talking about weak points of the movie, which stops this movie at being good and not classic. Some parts are fictional and take the seriousness out. Like the sequence of him drinking 2 kg of Desi ghee however entertaining, but does not look good. Second thing is I have good knowledge of sports and I knew history of his life. So after interval, it becomes predictable. But this may not be a problem as most in India do not know him that well. Third and biggest flaw is MILKHA SINGH never held the world record but this thing is given much importance in movie and it shows he breaks the world record. Other than these technical faults, this movie is really wonderful and must watch. Do not miss it. No wonder why athlete great Carl Lewis called him to congratulate him for a wonderful career.