Much to learn from Milkhaji, he had the spirit of a champion: Prasoon

Milkha Singh, nicknamed The Flying Sikh, passed away on Friday after a month of battling COVID. His wife, former India volleyball captain, Nirmal Kaur, had succumbed to COVID just days before. The legendary athlete was a four-time Asian Games gold medallist and the 1958 Commonwealth Games champion, but his greatest performance was not a podium finish — fourth place in the 400m final of the 1960 Rome Olympics. However, his timing at the Italian capital remained the national record for 38 years. Prasoon Joshi, who wrote Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, and the film’s lead Farhan Akhtar remember the legend:

- PRASOON JOSHI

Charaiveti Char-aiveti — keepwalking, keep walking and keep inspiring, this seemed to be the mantra of Milkha Singh.

I knew little about athletics before I started writing Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. Milkhaji knew this early in our interactions that I am more interested in exploring a side and those dimensions, which probably a very few knew. After our many conversations over weeks and months,he did tell me that such intense discussions about his own life he hadn’t had with anyone before we interacted.