Movie buffs in the city are all set to watch the story of Milkha Singh unfold on the big screen.

In a nation obsessed with cricket, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has dared to bring on to celluloid the sports movie, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.

Rarely do directors in Bollywood consider films on sports to be a safe bet. However, some films such as Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Iqbal, Chak De! India and Paan Singh Tomar and others made the audience cry and laugh with the protagonists, while others like Victory, Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal and Patiala House let people down. Aamir Khan’s Lagaan was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language film category. Stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan have already praised the movie on Twitter.

Not only stars, who had the opportunity to watch exclusive screenings, even sport film buffs and regular moviegoers in the city are looking forward to catch Bhaag Milkha Bhaag on the silver screen. Directed by the versatile Mehra and the lead role being played by Farhan Akhtar, the movie is set to release on Friday. Movie lovers on Thursday rushed to theatres to book their tickets in advance.

The cinemas in the state capital have slotted 14 shows for the biopic on the life of the athlete who came fourth in the 400m race at the Summer Olympic Games in Rome in 1960. Cinepolis will run 10 shows while Mona will screen three. Elphinstone will run a single show. The promos, being aired for the past two months, are a huge hit on the telly and the teasers had gone viral on the Net in the past year.

“Farhan is very choosy about his films. Also, the biopic has been made by Mehra, who had directed Rang De Basanti. This time he has come up with another good script,” said Cinepolis manager Abhishek Ranjan.

He added: “Seeing the demand for the film, the management has decided to cut down the shows of last Friday’s release Lootera from six to three and Policegiri from five to one. We could have increased the number of shows but the duration of the film stands at three hours and eight minutes compared to other movies which run for an average of two hours and 15 or 30 minutes.”

The advance booking of the film opened on Wednesday and Cinepolis received 40 per cent booking. Mona and Eliphinstone, too, received advance bookings of 30 and 40 per cent, respectively.

Sharad Gupta, the manager of Mona and Elphinstone, said people booking tickets in advance is a good sign. “The advance booking trend is still picking up. It is good when you have moviegoers booking in advance. This film is all set to be a huge crowd-puller.”

Standing in queue to book his ticket at Cinepolis, Vineet Singh, a Patliputra Colony resident and a student of Patna Science College, said: “I heard it took almost two years for Farhan to sculpt his body. The last sports film, which I liked was Chak De! India. I hope there would be a similar kind of excitement in this film.”

“I think the film will be an inspiring one. I will also come to know about the life of Milkha Singh. I want to know why he was christened ‘The Flying Sikh’,” said Ravi Ranjan of Nageshwar Colony after buying advance tickets at Mona.