Hence You’ll Be Known As The Flying Sikh

“The world will know you not by your name but as The Flying Sikh”, a name given to Milkha Singh by the first President of Pakistan, General Ayub Khan in the year 1960 after Singh defeated Abdul Khaliq of Pakistan in the sprint. A forgotten hero of Indian Sports scenario, who took the world in a spree in the 50s and the 60s with his flashing speed and world record in 400 meter sprint. I must say that I am itched to write about the biopic of Flying Sikh, created by the Rang De Basanti fame director Rakesh OmPrakash Mehra. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, the last words spoken by Milkha Singh’s father before being murdered in Pakistan, is based on the struggle of the athlete. It was not astonishing when the movie made more than 8.5 million dollars in its first week of release. The prediction by the trade pundits of Bollywood was close to 3 million dollars but the impeccable performance of Frahan Akhtar as Milkha Singh, has taken the film to a different height. He had yet again proven himself as a fine actor.

I am not a person who cries while watching movies, firstly because I believe it is fictitious and secondly I feel it’s too dramatic to cry over a movie. But I admit, there are moments in this film that had made me choke, gave me goosebumps and made me jump in excitement. Few scenes I would like to mention is when he was beaten up in the barrack right before his sprint, and how he with such fresh wounds took to the track and won the race. Another very heart shaking moment was when 12 year old Milkha finds his whole family butchered during the Indo- Pak partition and he manages to escape. 

Such scenes had made this movie gripping and interesting from the beginning till the end. Sonam Kapoor as Biro, first love of Singh was there and yet not there, which was absolutely fine coz the whole story was about the struggle of an athlete’s career rather than a love story. The story was never shifted from its prime focus which was Milkha Singh, the athlete. Not to forget that the flashback scenes were very brief and precise, this cut the extra length to the movie.

Such amazing story must have been sold for a lot of money, that is what anybody would think but to my surprise Milkha Singh sold the whole story for mere Re1 and his sole purpose of sharing his story was to inspire the coming generation to do something in the field of sports and make a mark for the country in the world. This also shows how humble and down to earth he is and his dedication to the field of Indian sports. In return the director of the movie Rakesh Mehra gifted him with a currency note printed in 1958, the year, Singh won his first gold medal in Commonwealth games. 

There has been a lot of detailing done in the movie. Milkha Singh provided the minute details of his life, his struggle and every event of how much he practiced, his training hours, his wins and each and every detail to the director and his team to make it very realistic. He even trained Farhan Akhtar on small details like his hands movement and his head posture while running to make sure the character looks real. Special admiration to Farhan Akhtar, not only for exceptional acting but also for working so hard in building the character. He trained himself as a professional athlete for 6 months, lost tremendous amount of weight, grew hair and build his body to look like Milkha Singh. That is called dedication, sincerity and justice to the character he was playing.

A must watch if you are looking for a good and inspiring movie but do read a little bit about Milkha Singh before you watch the movie, just in case you can’t relate to the story. A big recommendation for the filmmakers of Nepali film industry who talk so much about experimental movies that they forget the fact, movies are for your audiences for entertainment. If you make a movie for yourself, you should not release it commercially in the market and just keep it in your library for your future reference and satisfaction. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag proved that you need a strong storyline and close to life characters, for a movie to be successful. A tight slap to some people from film fraternity of Nepal who claim that item numbers, sleazy scenes and abusive language makes a movie successful.

A Generation Awakens

Bollywood is the biggest movie producing industry in the world. It releases movies catering to different types of audiences. Some of the movies are based on biographies, some on social issues while most of them are a lovey-dovey Hollywood remakes. Such Bollywood produced movies could be catergorized as A,B,C and D. Each of the classes fulfills the requirement of a certain section of people in the society.

I am not fanatic about movies. However, there was a lot of hue-and-cry about one movies: Rang De Basanti- A generation awakens. It was recently released and there was a lot of hue and cry about it. The movie was a full 2:45 minutes flick where the story revolved around a bunch of friends.

A series of scenes where everything as just a piece of joke. The plot unfolds how a small incident changed the lives of all the characters. The characters were so nicely portrayed that it felt as if they were someone from my own group, some guy I know in the college or the boy next door. I was truly spell-bound. By the time, I came out of the hall, I was wondering what have I done for the country or even the society.

And I realised all this time what I did was I complained and pointed out the mistakes of others. I should have made an effort to correct myself, so in any case I don't fall in that category. Have I been a fool finding myself in the characters of the movie or is it really the story happening in our own society?

It's not just a question of a movie or a feature or a big speech by a big leader. It's the question every person should ask himself about his contribution to the society. The country has gone to the dogs. The question is -- IS it the people or the nation itself that is to be blamed for this? Moreover, I do not understand what the youths are doing to make a difference until now. Are we still going to blame our previous generation for the future they have given us or are we going to make it different for the next generation?

The days of the previous generation are gone. Now the future is in the hands of the youth. I know some more movies like this in the Indian society can ignite that fire, in the people to make a difference. But how long we Nepalis have to wait for that one change in ourselves to make the difference? We copy Western fashion, life style and cultures. However, when it really comes to adapting their good ethics why are we the last people in the league? Are we scared? Or do we fall in the category of people that never did and will never do anything in life? This is a question everyone should ask themselves. I have made it a point to ask myself what new thing I have done today. And, even if I wouldn't have made a difference, I will be proud that I have at least given it a try. The part of my generation within me is awakening. How about you?

(P.S. This is my first article published in daily newspaper. It was year 2005 if I am not mistaken. Even when today I read it I still feel good that I don't write but when I write,I do it from my heart.)