The psyche of the 'Flying Sikh' Milkha Singh - an inspiration for youngsters

The movie convincingly depicts the story of Milkha, an orphaned Sikh refugee from Pakistan who grew up to join the Army and became India’s prized track and field possession. It also tells the story of Milkha Singh who, at the 1960 Rome Olympics, looked back for a split-second and heartbreakingly lost the bronze medal and the chance to earn Olympic glory.

Yet, he did what no other Indian had done before – instilling hope in Indians – and he rightly became a legend. More interestingly, the movie uses Milkha Singh as a metaphor to tell another story – the story of India. This intent is embedded in Joshi’s dialogue. He gets Farhan Akhtar to scream for all to hear: “Milkha Singh ban gaya India” (Milkha Singh has become India). The message I took from this was ‘nothing is impossible if you set your heart and soul to it’.

Akhtar trained almost exactly like a professional athlete in preparation for the movie, and the physical rigours gave him insights into the ‘mind of the athlete’.

In an interview, he remarked: “When you look at an athlete entering a stadium in any sport, they look like they own the place. This state of mind, this swagger, can only come from your self belief as an athlete, and the self belief comes from hard training. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as energetic and strong and optimistic as I felt during the making of this film.”

Farhan rightly acknowledged the importance of hard work, but not everyone who works hard has the same kind of ‘self-belief’, and if that essential ingredient is missing, all the hard work goes down the drain.

Akhtar further adds, “When you come into the final 100m or so, your brain begins to feel like it’s going to blow up. Every part of your mind and body is telling you to just stop; your legs have packed up. I have no idea how athletes speed through that final section.”

I guess that’s where professional athletes know they have to push themselves beyond everything in the final lap, as that is what they’ve worked for; the trick is to train your mind much in advance along with undergoing physical training.

The movie doesn’t simply tell the story of one of India’s finest athletes but also addresses some of the challenges in Indian sports. The high point for me was when Akhtar walks up to the coach in the flight and asks for the world record for 400 metres, just after failing to qualify at the Melbourne Olympics.

Milkha Singh at the 1960 Rome Olympics

I recall reading in ‘The Winning Way’ by Anitha and Harsha Bhogle how we need to learn lessons from failure and not let them define us. We all berate ourselves upon failing in a particular task/challenge, but we’re doomed if we choose to brood on it, instead of moving on. Icons in any field make it big by rising from failure every time. I tell the athletes who seek my consultation to see the wonderful lessons failure teaches us, especially in practice and smaller competitions – so that it is not repeated at major competitions.

I remember hearing and reading that Milkha Singh lost the medal because he ‘turned’ to see how far others were, and ended up losing the race. After researching on every aspect about Milkha Singh, I did not see any explanation given by the former athlete himself. The movie has dealt with a metaphysical aspect where Farhan makes peace with his past and ‘flies’ in the race, beating Pakistan’s favourite in Pakistan.

We’re not sure whether it was the nerves of competing at the highest level, or the anxiousness to see where his opponents were, or the ghosts of his past, or something else that made Milkha commit that fatal error. We are but human after all. Yet as I was watching the movie, I couldn’t help but think, ‘only if the buried memory had been dealt with earlier, history would have been made that day!’

This just goes to show the ‘power of the mind’ which every athlete needs to train – be it thoughts about their past or a particular opponent.

Also, it’s amazing how Milkha Singh is at first extrinsically motivated and that pushes him to excel in the race, while later it’s a more internal struggle. In fact, he manage to finish the first Army race despite a stomach catch just by focusing on the milk on offer – and chanting ‘dudh’ till the fag end.

Next, he realized that the ‘India Blazer’ got more respect, and he wanted one. Beating all odds, even after getting beaten up by insecure ‘senior Indian players’, he went on to break the national record with bruised, bleeding legs! His failure at Melbourne Olympics made him a much more disciplined and hungry athlete – this is where his motivation was internalised.

In fact, his eyes were never off his goal – so immersed was he in it. He used to run at night to ensure he didn’t miss on training – his determination was the key for his success. One cannot hope for success to just fall at our feet. This raw passion, dedication and hard work is what takes an ordinary person to the pinnacle of success.

If we falter at the drop of a hat, there is no way things will just happen. No one ever said it is easy to reach the top but when you do, it conveys everything you’ve done to reach it.