We became victims of publicity and fake hype one more time. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is not a great film.

Despite very high production value, amazing camera and cinematography work, and a lot of preparation by Farhan Akhtar to bring the character alive, the film disappoints.

12-year-old Japtej Singh who played young Milkh Singh is probably the best thing about Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. The kid is brilliant. Farhan Akhtar was above average. Divya Dutta who played Milkha’s sister had the best role in the female star cast. Sonam Kapoor is there for just a couple of songs. Her role is insignificant and small…. (Thank god for small mercies 🙄 )

Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra’s direction is bad.

The villain of the film is the overdose of special effects. Every now and then there are super zoomed slow-motion close-ups. Be it water from Sonam Kapoor’s pitcher or the moving sand when Milkha’s feet touch the ground. It was extremely distracting and annoying. The sepia-toned flashback scenes had major hangovers from Hollywood films like “Gladiator” and “300”.

The race in the climax didn’t have the impact of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar’s final cycle race or the hockey match in the climax of Chak De. We felt the director is exploiting the audience’s anti-Pak sentiments and trying to cash in on that.

Apart from Divya Dutta and maybe Pawan Malhotra none of the supporting cast left any mark.

Hawan kund, maston ka jhund is quite a unique song but it did not help the narrative at all. Other songs like  “Slow Motion Angreza” and “Rangrez” were absolutely unnecessary.

Farhan Akhtar has used a lot of Punjabi dialect in the film but we wonder how come the director completely ignored the fact that Milkha’s father is speaking pure Hindi…. that too in an NRI accent. He was the one who got the most important dialogue in the film – “Bhaaaaaag Milkhaaaaa Bhaaaaaag……”

The D-word (Punjabi for bum) is overused too, Kinda irritating.

Milkha Singh’s journey as an athlete as well as the pain that he went through during partition is a story that deserves to be told but in a less commercial and more artistic and authentic way.