Biopic Or Not? – ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’

As Bhaag Milkha Bhaag gears up for release on 12 July, writer Prasoon Joshi and director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra say the film not really is a biopic.

MUMBAI: Real or Not Real? This is the biggest question in mind after watching the first look of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’. The film, a biopic on the legendary Milkha Singh’s life, isn’t really a ‘true’ interpretation of the sportsman.

While the trailer released over six months ago and the first look unveiled at a multiplex this week both claim to say that the film is a detailed account of events in Milkha Singh’s life, the versions by the makers is somewhat confusing.

The two trailers, released recently and six months before respectively say: “This July, see the real story behind the legend” and “But you have yet to see, the REAL story of Milkha Singh”.

However Prasoon Joshi, who has written the script, in a leading tabloid has said, “It is not reality. It is an interpretation of his life. That is why I don’t like it to call a biopic. I had to think of many dramatic sequences which are not necessarily what happened.”

Even the director, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra seems to not deny the fact. At the trailer launch of ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, he said, “The film is about the triumph of human spirit. Not necessarily about a sportsman or the sport. It could have been about Bhagat Singh, in this case it’s about Milkha Singh.”

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra also adds on, that the film talks about the lost childhood – the boy who lost the shadow of his parents, earns his own bread and in future manages to bring fame to the country. And it coincides with Milkha Singh’s story. This was the reason that prompted him to make ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.’

With these views coming in from the makers themselves, it is difficult to say whether ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ is indeed a biopic or not. Well we will have to wait for 12 July and see, will the film at the start have a disclaimer, which says, “All characters in the film are fictitious…. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely co-incidental.”

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