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| Milkha Singh |
Chandigarh, March 20: Those surprised that Milkha Singh doesn’t think India will win any athletics gold medals in the October Commonwealth Games may find their answer in a film.
The life of the Flying Sikh, who came within a whisker of capturing a 400m medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics, will now be captured on celluloid.
The film, tentatively titled Bhag, Milkha, Bhag (Run, Milkha, Run), is being made by Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra.
As the announcement was made, Milkha, who had witnessed the brutal murder of his parents during Partition, described how he would stretch his body to its limits to become an athlete.
“I trained so hard that my sweat would fill a bucket. I was on the deathbed several times because of my training. But I overcame everything because of my love for my country. The army, too, played a major role in my achievements,” he said.
He said Indian athletes were likely to fail in the October Games in Delhi because of poor preparation.
Milkha had set an Asian Games 400m record in 1958, won the Commonwealth Games gold in Cardiff the same year, broken the world record in 1960 and created a flutter at the Rome Olympics despite returning empty-handed.
“When Jawaharlal Nehru asked me to seek anything for my showing in Rome, I simply said ‘Declare a holiday in India’,” Milkha said.
He has approved the film’s script, written by Prasoon Joshi.