 Coverage page of The Race of My Life | |
| Author | Milkha Singh with Sonia Sanwalka |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Indian Athlete |
| Genre | autobiography |
| Published | 2013 by Rupa Publications |
| Pages | 160 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | 8129129108 |
| OCLC | 857897315 |
The Race of My Life: An Autobiography is the autobiography of Indian athlete Milkha Singh, coauthored with daughter Sonia Sanwalka. [1] [2] The film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is based on it.
Milkha Singh, a sikh boy born around 1930s, [lower-alpha 1] runs against trains for fun. A lot of his family members who belong to Milkha Singh family, including his parents, are killed in the Partition of India. After many attempts, he is finally able to join the Indian army. Whilst in the army, his athletic skills show. He wins gold medals in the 1958 Asian Games and 1958 Commonwealth Games. After winning the friendly race between India and Pakistan, in 1960, he earns the title of The Flying Sikh by Ayub Khan. However, he loses the bronze medal by fraction of a second at the 1960 Summer Olympics, due to a judgement error on the race track. In 1963, he marries his longtime love Nirmal Kaur, former captain of India's women's volleyball team. In 1971, their son Jeev Milkha Singh is born. Jeev, also a sportsman, became a world class golfer.
Singh said that after reading his autobiography, a few Bollywood directors approached him, asking to make a film on his life. Singh's son, Jeev Milkha Singh, decided that the film rights be given to Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. Singh sold the rights for ₹1, with a clause that 10-15% of the film's profits would be donated to his charitable trust. [3]
Farhan Akhtar starred as Singh, and Sonam Kapoor starred as Biro–inspired by one of Singh's real love interests. Made on a budget of ₹30 crore, [4] Bhaag Milkha Bhaag grossed ₹164 crore worldwide. It was one of the highest grossing 2013 Bollywood films. [5]
Of the film and Akhtar's portrayal of him, Singh said "Farhan Akhtar has done a brilliant job. He looked like my duplicate in the movie. The director, too, did a great a job. Also, the dialogues and the lyrics by Prasoon Joshi are brilliant. There was nothing which I felt should be changed in the movie, it was perfect." [3]
IBN Live panned The Race of My Life as disappointing, as they felt that it was "nothing but part of a deal for the movie's production." [6]
Divya Dutta is an Indian actress and model. She has appeared in Hindi and Punjabi cinema, in addition to Malayalam and English-language films. She has received many awards including a National Film Award, a Filmfare Award and 2 IIFA Awards.
Farhan Akhtar is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, dialogue writer, playback singer, lyricist, producer and television host who works in Hindi films. Born in Mumbai to screenwriters Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, he grew up under the influence of the Indian film industry.
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is an Indian film director, occasional actor and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing Rang De Basanti (2006) and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013). He is the writer and director of the films Aks (2001) and Delhi-6 (2009).
Prasoon Joshi is an Indian poet, writer, lyricist, screenwriter, communication specialist and marketer. He is the CEO of McCann World group India and Chairman APAC, a subsidiary of the global marketing firm McCann Erickson. He was appointed as the Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification on 11 August 2017.
Dalip Tahil is an Indian film, television and theatre actor. He studied at Sherwood College in Nainital, India. After attending Aligarh Muslim University for a year, he graduated from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. Tahil is best known for his work in Baazigar (1993), Raja (1995), Hum hai rahi pyar ke (1993) and Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988).
Excel Entertainment is an Indian production company, founded by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar in 1999. Based in Mumbai, they mainly produce Hindi films. In 2017, they released India's first original series for Amazon Prime Video, Inside Edge, which was nominated for the International Emmy Awards for Best Drama Series.
Pavan Malhotra is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films and television alongside Punjabi and few Telugu films. He has played lead roles in Buddhadeb Dasgupta's National Film Award-winning Bagh Bahadur and Saeed Akhtar Mirza's Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro, both released in 1989. He is famous for his role as the cold-blooded mafia don Irfan Khan in the Telugu blockbuster Aithe (2003) and in his acclaimed role of Tiger Memon in Black Friday (2004). In 2005, he acted in the Telugu movie Anukokunda Oka Roju as a Tantrik. He gained further acclaimed in SonyLIV's web series Tabbar (2021).
Milkha Singh, also known as "The Flying Sikh", was an Indian track and field sprinter who was introduced to the sport while serving in the Indian Army. He is the only athlete to win gold at 400 metres at the Asian Games as well as the Commonwealth Games. He also won gold medals in the 1958 and 1962 Asian Games. He represented India in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour, in recognition of his sporting achievements.
Darshan Doshi is an Indian drummer and composer, who is currently touring with Salim–Sulaiman, Farhan Akhtar, Adnan Sami, Diljit Dosanjh and Amit Trivedi. He has played drums for several Bollywood films such as Rock On, Black, Dhoom 2, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Queen, Secret Superstar, Fitoor, and Dear Zindagi.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is a 2013 Hindi-language biographical sports drama film directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, written by lyricist Prasoon Joshi and produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures in association with Rajiv Tandon and editor P.S. Bharathi under the ROMP Pictures banner. Based on the life of Milkha Singh, an Indian athlete and Olympian who was a champion of the Commonwealth Games and two-time 400m champion of the Asian Games. it stars Farhan Akhtar in the titular role alongside Divya Dutta, Meesha Shafi, Pavan Malhotra, Yograj Singh, Art Malik, and Prakash Raj in supporting roles with Sonam Kapoor in an extended cameo appearance. Sports was coordinated by the American action director Rob Miller of ReelSports.
Nawab Shah is an Indian actor, who works in Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada-language films and television series. Before entering into films, he played character roles in television serials.
Fukrey (transl. Slackers) is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language comedy film, directed by Mrighdeep Singh Lamba, produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, and starring Pulkit Samrat, Manjot Singh, Varun Sharma, Ali Fazal, Priya Anand, Vishakha Singh, Pankaj Tripathi and Richa Chadda. The story and dialogues are written by Vipul Vig and the screenplay is written by Vig and Lamba. Produced under the Excel Entertainment banner, the film was released on 14 June 2013. Despite a poor opening, the film went on to become a sleeper hit. The film is available on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar.
D-Day is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film co-produced by DAR Motion Pictures and Emmay Entertainment. The movie is directed by Nikhil Advani and stars Rishi Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Arjun Rampal, Huma Qureshi and Shruti Haasan in prominent roles. The film was released on 19 July 2013 to generally positive reception.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is the soundtrack album, by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, to the 2013 Hindi film of the same name, directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra that stars Farhan Akhtar and Sonam Kapoor in the lead roles. The album features eight tracks, and was released digitally on 14 June 2013.
Siddharth Mahadevan is an Indian film composer who is known for his songs in the film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag in which he sang "Zinda" and the rock version of the title song "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag".
The 59th Filmfare Awards were held to honor the best films of 2013 from the Hindi-language film industry. The nominations were announced on 13 January 2014. The ceremony that was held on 24 January 2014 was hosted by Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor.
The 2014 IIFA Awards, officially known as the 15th International Indian Film Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the International Indian Film Academy honouring the best Hindi films of 2014, took place between 23 and 26 April 2014. The official ceremony took place on 26 April 2014 at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, in the United States for the very first time. The ceremony was televised in India and internationally on Star Plus for the tenth & last consecutive year. The ceremony was co-hosted by actors Shahid Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar, returning as hosts for the third and second time respectively.
Divya Kumar is an Indian playback singer who has lent his voice in a number of Hindi, Gujarati,Telugu and other language films.
Lalit Mathur is an Indian sprinter. He was part of India's six-member 4 × 400 metres relay team at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
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