The film starts in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, in which Milkha Singh (Farhan Akhtar) is competing in the 400-metre. A coach yells "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag!" ('Run, Milkha, run!'), and Singh is suddenly taken back to the memories of his childhood which haunt him, resulting in him dropping to fourth place. His memories are of the chaos surrounding the 1947 Partition of India, which resulted in mass religious violence in Punjab and the killing of Singh's parents. The flashback shows Singh reaching Delhi alone, where he later meets his sister. Living in impoverished refugee camps, Milkha makes friends and survives by stealing with them. Now grown up, he falls in love with Biro (Sonam Kapoor), who asks him to live a life of honesty.