We live at times in very myopic circumstances, covered by what we wish to see and believe, within the confines of that small independent world, without a care of what goes outside or even next door ..

I wrote yesterday on the play at the theater, on meeting colleagues, on discussing their projects. Rakeysh Mehra was one and one that was in the throes of developing a story on Milkha Singh. Many among those that read about this did not know about him. Which I thought was natural from those that live particularly in the USA, for, Americans do limit themselves to within their own country and nothing beyond. But those that are from our own land will find Milkha Singh a household name, primarily because of the glory he brought to our country. An exceptional athlete in the 400 meters, he was the only track and field star that came a millionth of a second from winning a medal at the Olympics. For India this was historic. Never a country that came anywhere near success in these excursions, except in Hockey in the early years of the Games, Milkha Singh’s achievement was lauded nationally. Particularly so because in the heats he had done a time that was better than his timing on the final and definitely better than those that qualified for a prize. His name became legendary and it still is, but little is known to our readers of his story.

Satyam in particular has written a great deal on why such a subject should be made and his reasons thereof. But perhaps he and those that have no knowledge of Milkha Singh’s past are completely unaware of what he went through as a child.

The point that drew my immediate attention to the idea of Rakyesh was the fact that Milkha and his entire family were caught tragically in a massacre during the time of the partition of India soon after gaining Independence from the British. As a young kid barely in his teens he saw his entire family hacked to death in front of his eyes during the rioting that took place on the Pakistan side. And all he could see and remember was his dying Father screaming to him ~ ” bhaag .. bhaag Milkha bhaag ” , run..run Milkha run, to escape from being killed by the marauding rioters.

As Milkha ran for his life from this gruesome scenario, the voice of his Father urging him to escape, what would have crossed this young mans mind heart and indeed his world. The visuals of the dastardly act perpetually within him, his entire family killed before his very eyes, impoverished and alone he ran across to the Indian side of the imaginary border and became one of the greatest ‘runners’ of the country !

This is a terrific story and one that within my very limited acumen of film story judgement, a subject that carries immense potential to become a great film. There is history, patriotism, humanity, achievement against odds and a story of incredible pathos and poetic justice.

I asked Rakeysh who they were thinking of casting, because that would be the most difficult task ~ to find an athlete and an actor. He was equally non plussed, for they had not even started thinking of it - the task being mammoth. I looked at Akshay seated next to me in the theater and told Rakeysh ‘take him’ …

KBC rehearsals began again with great intensity at the office and today we did some mock ups with contestants picked from outside. They were most cooperative and had some great stories to tell. One of the ladies actually cracked the jackpot ~ the 1 crore prize !! Now if only this had been for real !!

Alright point taken on the recitals of my Father’s works and for them to be done on a more regular basis. All now being worked out and hopefully we shall start something within the country first before setting out to other regions outside the shores of India. Happy ..??

Happy is good to be a word for the time of departure ..

And so good night and God bless .. love to all

Tomorrow is Raksha Bandhan ~ the bond between brother and sister ~ the sister shall tie a ‘rakhi’ around the right hand wrist of her brother and he shall pledge to protect her for life .. she will feed him sweet meats, he shall gift her something to wear. And there shall be an atmosphere of love and care throughout ! A custom, an auspicious day, a coming together ~ love and bonds forever ..

Amitabh Bachchan