Just as "Chak De India" brought emotions and passions brimming inside, so does this biopic with an honest depiction of the athlete, Milkha Singh. His struggle, his heart rending pains of his childhood, that kept eating into the core of his being, with his strength of character. All the characters have been played out in perfection, from the south Indian trainer at the camp in Secundrabad played by Prakash Raj to Nehru played by Dalip Tahil. This movie spanning over 3 hours has everything, from the histrionics of a youthful Milkha falling to the bawdy humour of fellow jawaans to a maturer one, who says, "Yeh ladai meri apne aap se hai" when respectfully resisting the overtures of the olympic swimmer serenading him while acknowledging the lady’s dignity.
The honesty is in the depiction and that too in the detail of the practice involved and the sheer physicality of the sport wedded to the psyche at work behind the tremendous effort. As viewers we get to peep into the life, and trials of a great human being, who maintains his humility, honesty and character while charting his destiny from the hostilities of fate that could have broken a lesser mortal.