Overstretched, with fine moments of emotions, loss and victory.

Rating: 7/10 (13 July 2013)

There are films where you would want to say "Ahhhh!!! what a movie" and in some you would say "what a waste of time and money", after watching them. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag doesn't belong to any of the categories. It's a film where you get awe-inspire with fine moments and emotions but feel for the exaggeration of writer, Prasoon Joshi and the director for the other parts. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is a biopic of the legendary Indian athlete Milkha Singh who has had so many struggles in life but he still believes that one day there will be a national holiday for his works. He chose to be an athlete because he couldn't get any other job other than this after he lost his family in the partition of India and Pakistan. He knows how to fight and stand for himself even in matters of death and life.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag starts with a feeling of Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket but then delves into a world of its own. A world where Milkha Singh stood against all odds , fought for himself and became an inspiration for all of us. There is a sequence when a flashback of Milkha Singh returning to the place where he left off his family who were being butchered at that time, you can clearly see those bodies are artificial and don't look real and needed some more work. But otherwise Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra meticulously handled the details and his direction is top notch. He used the VFX part very efficiently. Who said special effects can only be in Sci-fi and Action based movies. Watch out for that sequence where the camera around Farhan Akhtar moves in full circle with a greater speed. Each and every video sequence which was played just before the start of each Olympics or Commonwealth games says it all that how much research he went through. It sets the real world feeling beautifully (the best part of the biography).
The world created by Rakeysh Mehra of Milkha Singh is a highlight of the movie, thanks to the cinematographer Binod Pradhan (the sepia tone was used in a great manner). But many many thanks to the multi talented Farhan Akhtar for his magical performance. It may be one of the best portrayal of a real life character in Indian cinema. His eyes, muscles, veins, facial movements and body language everything just stands out and makes BMB a treat to watch. An outstanding performance by Farhan Akhtar. The supporting cast led by Divya Dutta, Pawan Malhotra and Yograj Singh (Yuvraj Singh's father) adds another layer to the movie. Just wonder why Rakeysh Mehra opted for Shankar Ehsaan Loy when A R Rahman did wonders when he was involved with Rakeysh Mehra in his two earlier films, Rang De Basanti and Delhi-6. If you remember their (SEL) previous works you would surely get to know that in BMB they are just average and they should have done a better job. The Background Score is noisy at times of emotions and barring Zinda and Havan Karenge no other song adds to the movie. In short I was missing A R Rahman's magic which he created in his two earlier projects with Rakeysh Mehra.
With 188 minutes of running time the editor P. S. Bharathi should have been somewhat serious or stricter on the editing table. BMB sometimes feels to be over stretched as Prasoon Joshi (writer, screenplay) wanted to depict each and every thing to which Milkha Singh went through, mostly in the second half. But as the climax progresses it gets better to some extent. I am going with 3.5 stars for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. I recommend you go see the struggle to which the legend went through to become Flying Sikh for once. It surely is one of the better movies of the year. 3.5/5