‘Love you with all my heart’ – Farhan Akhtar pens emotional note for Milkha Singh

Legendary Indian athlete Milkha Singh died last night in Chandigarh of COVID-19 complications. He was 91.

Milkha Singh, popularly known as the Flying Sikh, had contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus last month. Though he tested negative on Wednesday, his condition worsened last evening as he developed a fever and his oxygen level dipped alarmingly. He died at 11:30pm in the intensive care unit of the Union territory's PGIMER hospital.

Just five days earlier, on Sunday, his wife, former India women's volleyball captain Nirmal Kaur, had died, also of COVID-19 complications, at a private hospital in Mohali, Punjab, near Chandigarh. She was 82.

Farhan Akhtar, who played the athletics legend in the biopic Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013), directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, posted an emotional note on Twitter on learning of his death.

Sharing his picture taken with Milkha Singh when the film was being made, Farhan Akhtar wrote, “Dearest Milkhaji. A part of me is still refusing to accept that you are no more. Maybe it’s the stubborn side I inherited from you... the side that when it sets its mind on something, just never gives up. And the truth is that you will always be alive. Because you were more than a large-hearted, loving, warm, down-to-earth man.”

He continued, “You represented an idea. You represented a dream. You represented (to use your own words) how hard work, honesty and determination can lift a person off his knees and get him to touch the sky. You have touched all our lives. For those who knew you as a father and a friend, it was a blessing. For those who didn’t, as a constant source of inspiration and a reminder of humility in success. I love you with all my heart.” 

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag won critical and commercial acclaim and Farhan Akhtar was lauded for his portrayal of Milkha Singh.

The Flying Sikh won four Asian Games gold medals and one Commonwealth gold medal for India. But he became a legend for his fourth place finish at the 1960 Rome Olympics in the 400m final when he missed out on the bronze medal in a photofinish. The national mark he created at that event of 45.6 seconds endured for 38 years.

Milkha Singh was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1959.