'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' - Run to Watch This Marvel

The absolutely seamless editing by P. Bharathi is impressive. The film is very stylishly cut, but not at the cost of losing the simplicity and the innate ascetism of the sportsman-hero. 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".

This is as good a time as any to tell you that Farhan Akhtar does the Bhangra as well as any Punjabi. Actually, he doesn't dance. He just flows with the rhythm. I've never seen any actor dance with such rhapsodic abundance. Neither have I seen any actor run like Farhan.

I don't know how fast Milka ran, but Farhan's Milkha doesn't fake it for even a second. When he runs, he really runs. When he stumbles and takes a fall, we flinch and wince in our seats. Farhan's body language and emotions and expression as Milkha is pitch-perfect.

Farhan doesn't 'play' Milkha. The actor occupies Milkha's mind, body and soul. 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".

This isn't just a film about a sportsperson who brought untold glory to our country. "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.

In Prasoon Joshi's interpretation of Milkha's amazing success-story, yearning is the cornerstone to achievement. 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. Only his dear sister, played wonderfully by Divya Dutta, remains. As we see it, Milkha never stopped running since the partition trauma.

The 'run' as a metaphor of life's expedient circumstances, runs through the narrative.

Happily, the screen time is as much taken up with Milkha's record-breaking achievements on the field, as it is with vignettes from his personal life. There is a robust heartwarming romance between Milkha and the vessel-friendly 'kudi' Biro (Sonam Kapoor, looking prettier than ever). The writer and director invest inexpressible warmth in the protagonist's courtship scenes. We've seen this kind of love blossom on Punjab's soil before. But it still feels special and unique.