Budhia Singh became the world's youngest marathon runner at the age of four. In 2006 he made headlines for his record-breaking 65km run from Puri to Bhubaneswar that he took seven hours to complete.

Odia filmmaker Soumendra Padhi relives the dreams of the child prodigy, who faded into oblivion thereafter, with his biopic Budhia Singh - Born To Run. Ahead of the film's release tomorrow, Anwesha Ambaly of The Telegraph spoke to the film-maker about his relationship with Budhia, his expectations from the film and more.

• The film has already been named the Best Children's Film at the 63rd National Film Awards this year. Your hopes must be very high...

Yes. We had a special screening for the sports minister of Maharashtra and film critics. We received a standing ovation at the end. The film releases on the day Rio Olympics begins and I guess that would add to the excitement. We are also planning a special screening in Bhubaneswar.

• Budhia has been with the team over the past few days. How are the promotional events going?

We had a special marathon run with Budhia and Milind Soman, who have been promoting marathons aggressively in Mumbai, yesterday. That apart, Budhia and I have been giving a lot of interviews this week. Manoj Bajpai (who plays Budhia's coach Biranchi in the film) and Mayur (who plays the role of the child runner) have been moving around the country to promote the film. We have tried to endorse the film through all possible networking platforms to make sure that Budhia's story reaches to as many people as possible.

• When Budhia was on vacation, there was a lot of speculation that this was a promotion gimmick by the production team. What is your take on that?

It was nothing like that. We took permission from the Child Welfare Committee and took him to Mumbai a few days ago for the film's promotion. It is true that we wanted to keep him away from limelight because he is still a kid. The whole idea was to protect him from unnecessary attention.

• With Budhia opting out of the government sports hostel, what do you think should be the way ahead for him?

I tried to convince him, but he is not ready to go back to the hostel. He is studying in a good school and all that he needs now is a good coach who can guide him properly. Till then, he can attend marathon workshops and keep himself in practice. We should keep in mind that he is a minor and needs to be handled very carefully. His passion for running is still the same and the state needs to give him better facilities. We also have to be very patient with him.

• What were the major revelations during the process of making the film?

There were many. The research team, which also included me, interacted with Budhia's mother, teammates, neighbours, doctors and people from his school. What we found was there was a huge difference between what the world knows and what were written in media. A look at his house in the Bhubaneswar slum speaks of how helpless his mother was. The fact that she sold her son was not completely true because somewhere down the line she wanted her son to get a good life. We have tried to be honest with the facts as much as possible. Even for the coach, he is shown both as a hero and villain. We have tried to portray as many voices as possible.

• What is your take on the scenario of marathon running as a sport in India?

It is at a very nascent stage. It is not event considered a sport in our country. Things will chance with time. Earlier, we hoped for any medal in the Olympics from Indian players, but now the desire is to win gold medals. So, the mentality is changing and the scope is increasing. Some day, Budhia might also run in the Olympics. That is what he wishes to do.