Post Bhaag Milkha Bhaag,Farhan Akhtar enters the A-list of solo heros

There may be some quibbles about the length,the repetition of similar shots and so on,but in bringing alive the story ofa forgotten sport star with a particular emphasis on the setbacks he faced in his life,or the temptations he overcame,Joshi and Mehra cleverly set Milkha up to be an even bigger hero off the racing track.

But,somewhat more interesting is that other story of overcoming odds and oneself,finely entwined with this cinematic story of Milkha Singh — that of its lead actor Farhan Akhtar. The son of noted scriptwriter/ lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani,Farhan has often spoken about his idle days of youth when he had no idea about what he would do in life. There was a phase he went through when he only sat at home and watched movies until his concerned mother threw him out,insisting that he do something.

Well,after assisting Pankaj Parashar,Akhtar joined hands with friend Ritesh Sidhwani,started his very own production house Excel Entertainment and gave us a brilliant coming-of-age Dil Chahta Hai,one of the earliest Hindi films that could make the cut as “cool”. In fact it made “being cool” cool in Hindi films,and thus spawned a whole new genre that could be loosely termed as ‘Urban Cool’.

After a clutch of films like Lakshya,Rock On!!,Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.,Don,Luck by Chance,Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Talaash,he cemented his status with cool,classy and catchy cinema. As a director,he also stood out among his peers for continuing with his philosophy that it was not necessary that every film should relay a message,and that films could be fun without being mindless.

And soon after he had made a name for himself as a director,Akhtar decided to switch gears and face the camera. Though,every time one reminds him of it,he says that his family was rather surprised that he had taken to direction than acting in movies in the first place. Turns out,their hunch was right. He has proved himself to be quite a natural even before the camera.

However,now with his turn as Milkha Singh,he goes way beyond his comfort zone of playing urbane characters. Akhtar’s physical transformation to Milkha would not have been possible without sweat and toil. Hours of gruelling training,besides the challenge of getting into Milkha’s mind.

For Akhtar,categorised so far as a multiplex hero best put to use in multi-starrer films with metropolitan subjects such as Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara or Rock On!!,BMB is sweet revenge. Not only does he get under the skin of his character matching sinew for sinew after training for five to six hours every day for 13 months,Akhtar in pulling it off with an opening weekend of ‘ 32.75 crore,marks a new inning in his career— that of a solo hero. Quite like Milkha Singh,a flying start indeed.