WHERE TO WATCH BHAAG MILKHA BHAAG HOW TO

In 1947, when India became two nations, we see little Milkha (Jabtej Singh) run for his life to escape the savage butchery that snatches away almost his entire family. In Prasoon Joshi's interpretation of Milkha's amazing success-story, yearning is the cornerstone to achievement. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is the story of an individual's journey from nullity to pinnacles of success in a world where politics and violence are constant reminders of how little an individual's aspirations matter in the larger, often murkier scheme. This isn't just a film about a sports person who brought untold glory to our country.

There are episodes in this astonishingly, well-structured biopic where Farhan's oneness with Milkha equals Ben Kingsley's empathy with Mahatma Gandhi in 'Gandhi'. The actor occupies Milkha's mind, body and soul. Farhan's body language and emotions and expression as Milkha is pitch-perfect. When he stumbles and takes a fall, we flinch and wince in our seats. I don't know how fast Milka ran, but Farhan's Milkha doesn't fake it for even a second. Neither have I seen any actor run like Farhan. I've never seen any actor dance with such rhapsodic abundance. This is as good a time as any to tell you that Farhan Akhtar does the Bhangra as well as any Punjabi. And yes, there are songs composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, but they are so effortlessly woven into Milkha's saga that we don't see them as 'song breaks'.

The film is very stylishly cut, but not at the cost of losing the simplicity and the innate ascetism of the sportsman-hero.

With immense help from Prasoon Joshi, Mehra harnesses Milkha's life-story into an experience that is pure cinema and yet undiluted and uncompromised by the mandatory, often silly, illogical and idiotic semantics of mainstream commercial cinema. If Milkha's story had to be told, the storyteller had to be a master craftsman, and one who doesn't waste space in self-congratulatory flourishes. And thankfully, no one before Mehra saw cinematic potential in his story. A victim of India's brutal partition, Milkha's story was waiting to be told. When milk was offered in the army in exchange of running practice, he grabbed it (the run and the milk) with both hands.

WHERE TO WATCH BHAAG MILKHA BHAAG HOW TO

Milkha was so poor he couldn't afford running shoes, and when he got them, he didn't know how to run in them. How come? Well, to begin with it is Milkha Singh's own powerful life as India's superstar sportsperson that sweeps us into the biopic. Still, we the audience, fed week after week on mediocrity masquerading as cinema, are riveted to the story of Milkha Singh for over three hours of playing time. The synergy in the storytelling seems subliminal. There's no effort here 'to tell a story', to create an impression or to whip up a dramatic storm to captivate audiences. The story of super-sprinter Milkha Singh unfolds in this exceptional biopic at its own volition.

And if Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Bhaag Milkha Bhaag seems like a near-flawless homage to the flying spirit of India's greatest runner, it is partly because the story, so nimbly woven into a pastiche of drama, emotion, humour and pathos by Prasoon Joshi, is in no hurry to keep pace with the onscreen Milkha's breathless sprint. One of Who said life could ever be easy for those who aspire to fly higher than the rest? The beautiful irony of Milkha Singh's life that this consummate biopic captures so ably, is that he really didn't aspire to anything. Who said life could ever be easy for those who aspire to fly higher than the rest? The beautiful irony of Milkha Singh's life that this consummate biopic captures so ably, is that he really didn't aspire to anything.

Where to watch bhaag milkha bhaag