Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra reveals Milkha Singh took just a rupee for the rights of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag: ‘He was getting Rs 2 crore from producers, but…’

Mehra went on to recount an amazing detail, highlighting that Singh agreed to give the film’s rights for a mere Re 1. Mehra recalled that the athlete turned down offers worth crores of rupees from other film producers.

The filmmaker had earlier told Aaj Tak, “Sonam took Rs 11 to act in the film. Farhan said, ‘Whatever comes to your mind, give me. The story you’re telling is straight from the heart. Hum hisaab baad mein kar lege, pehle film banate hai.’ (We will do all the mathematics later, first let’s make the movie.”

 

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Rajiv Tandon, CEO, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures Pvt. Ltd had revealed that they paid Milka Singh with a unique currency note. He said in a statement in 2013, “We wanted to give a priceless token of appreciation to Milkhaji for letting us tell his story through our film. We looked for that something special for a very long time. Then we finally ended up sourcing a special Rs 1 currency note that was printed in 1958.”

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was written by Prasoon Joshi and it became a big hit upon its release in 2013. Farhan’s portrayal of Singh received widespread acclaim.

Singh passed away due to Covid-19-related issues in a Chandigarh hospital in 2021, aged 91.