Flying Sikh: The Movie
News Reports
Milkha Singh, one of India's greatest track athlete, has sold his life story to a film maker for a bargain price of one rupee (two cents) in the hope that the biopic might inspire the youth of his country to excel in the sport.
Known around the world as "The Flying Sikh" for the last half-a-century, Milkha Singh was twice Asian Games champion in the 400 meters, Commonwealth champion in 1958 and narrowly missed out on a medal at his second Olympics in Tokyo in 1960.
New Delhi hosts the Commonwealth Games in October this year but India have little hope of any titles on the track.
"This is the year of the Commonwealth Games," said the 74-year-old, whose son Jeev is a top international golfer,"I feel sad to say that 52 years after I won a gold in the Cardiff Games, India hasn't been able to win a gold in track events."
Milkha Singh was born in the part of Punjab now in Pakistan and was witness to the murder of his parents during the Partition of Punjab before making his escape to a newly carved India as a refugee in the chaotic population exchange that followed.
"I want Indian youth to understand what determination and purpose can achieve," film director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra told the paper.
"If a Milkha, who didn't have access to even basic necessities of life, can aim for the skies, why not others who've been provided the best of facilities?"
[Courtesy: Reuters]
March 21, 2010
News Reports
Milkha Singh, one of India's greatest track athlete, has sold his life story to a film maker for a bargain price of one rupee (two cents) in the hope that the biopic might inspire the youth of his country to excel in the sport.
Known around the world as "The Flying Sikh" for the last half-a-century, Milkha Singh was twice Asian Games champion in the 400 meters, Commonwealth champion in 1958 and narrowly missed out on a medal at his second Olympics in Tokyo in 1960.
New Delhi hosts the Commonwealth Games in October this year but India have little hope of any titles on the track.
"This is the year of the Commonwealth Games," said the 74-year-old, whose son Jeev is a top international golfer,"I feel sad to say that 52 years after I won a gold in the Cardiff Games, India hasn't been able to win a gold in track events."
Milkha Singh was born in the part of Punjab now in Pakistan and was witness to the murder of his parents during the Partition of Punjab before making his escape to a newly carved India as a refugee in the chaotic population exchange that followed.
"I want Indian youth to understand what determination and purpose can achieve," film director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra told the paper.
"If a Milkha, who didn't have access to even basic necessities of life, can aim for the skies, why not others who've been provided the best of facilities?"
[Courtesy: Reuters]
March 21, 2010
