The film starts in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, where a coach says "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag!" The runner is taken back to the memories of his childhood days which haunt him, resulting in him dropping to fourth. The Partition of India in 1947 caused chaos which resulted in mass religious violence in Punjab in British India, killing the parents of Milkha Singh (Farhan Akhtar). He reaches Delhi and later meets his sister there. Living in impoverished refugee camps, Milkha makes friends and survives by stealing with them. He falls in love with Biro (Sonam Kapoor), but she asks him to live a life of honesty.

Milkha finds himself in the army where he gets noticed by a havaldar (sergeant) after he wins a race in which the top 10 runners will get milk, two eggs and excused from exercise. He gets selected for service commission where he is miffed and gets beaten up by senior players whom he had defeated earlier, on the day before selection of Indian team for Olympics. In spite of being injured, he participates in the race. Overcoming his pain, he wins the race thus breaking the national record.

During the Melbourne 1956 Olympics he is attracted to the granddaughter of his Australian technical coach. After a frolicking night in a bar, they have a one-night stand. The following day he feels exhausted from the night's activities and loses the final race. He realizes his mistake. Suffering from guilt, he even slaps himself in front of a mirror. On the flight back to India he asks his coach what the world record is for the 400m race and learns that it is 45.90 seconds. He trains hard and wins in several places. He then breaks the previous world record for the 400m race with a time of 45.80 seconds.

Jawaharlal Nehru (Dalip Tahil), the prime minister, convinces him to lead the Indian team in Pakistan for a friendly race with Abdul Khaliq (Dev Gill), also known as the fastest man of Asia. In Pakistan he misses the press conference and goes to his village where, in a flashback, it is shown how his parents were murdered and the last words of his father were "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag!" He starts crying and is comforted by a boy who turns out to be his childhood friend's son. He also meets his friend Sampreet.

In the games, initially the Pakistani favorite is winning, but Milkha takes the lead overtaking opponents one by one, taking a convincing lead, and winning the race and respect of the two nations. The president of Pakistan, General Ayub Khan, impressed by his effort gives him the title The Flying Sikh. Jawaharlal Nehru declares a day in the name of Milkha as national holiday as desired by Milkha himself.

• Farhan Akhtar as Subedar Milkha Singh
• Sonam Kapoor as Biro, Milkha's fleeting love interest
• Divya Dutta as Isri Kaur, Milkha's elder sister
• Meesha Shafi as Perizaad
• Pavan Malhotra as Hawaldar (Constable) Gurudev Singh, Milkha's coach during his days in the Indian Army
• Yograj Singh as Ranveer Singh, Milkha's coach
• Art Malik as Sampooran Singh, Milkha's father
• Hikaru Ito as Emperor of Japan
• Prakash Raj as Veerapandian
• K.K.Raina as Mr. Wadhwa
• Rebecca Breeds as Stella
• Dalip Tahil as Jawaharlal Nehru
• Dev Gill as Abdul Khaliq
• Nawab Shah as Abdul Khaliq's coach
• Jass Bhatia as Mahinder
• Japtej Singh as young Milkha Singh
• Salim Zaidi as Pakistani reporter
• Mahendra Mewati as Kirpal Singh

Development

After the release of Delhi-6 (2009), director Om Prakash Mehra started developing two projects: a historical love story, Mirza Sahiban, and a biopic of Milkha Singh. The biopic developed better, and he chose the latter. Prasoon Joshi, who co-wrote Delhi-6 with Mehra, started working on the script. Joshi later clarified that the film's title, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Run Milkha Run) was never actually spoken by Milkha's father. Rather, it was phrase coined by him and was used liberally throughout the narrative.

Growing up in Delhi, Mehra was familiar with anecdotes from the life of Milkha Singh, the ace runner popular as "Flying Sikh". He used to visit the National Stadium, Delhi for swimming, where Singh also came for his practice. Gradually, he came to know details regarding his early life, including how he witnessed his entire family being killed during the partition and traveled alone to Delhi as a refugee. Mehra started developing the project as personal story rather than a sports film, taking the theme of "zindagi se bhago nahin, zindagi ke saath bhago" ("don't run away from life, run with life"), depicting his life from 13 to 28 years.

For research, he visited Chandigarh several times, where he talked for hours with Singh. Jeev Milkha Singh, the son of Milkha Singh and a notable golfer, arranged his meetings with the family members. Milkha Singh refused a large offer for allowing his story to be adapted and charged a token amount of ?1 (1.5¢ US), as he believed if the film could "inspire our young people and result in India's first Olympic track gold, that would reward enough for him."

It took the next two and half years to write the story. According to the director, it is not a sports film, but a film about human spirit.

Casting

In 2010, early contenders of the lead role were Abhishek Bachchan and Akshay Kumar. While Bachchan was preferred by Mehra, Kumar was preferred by Milkha Singh. However, Mehra deferred the final decision on the cast till the final script was completed. After months of search, in September 2011, the principal cast were announced. Actor-director Farhan Akhtar and Sonam Kapoor received the lead roles. Thereafter, Akhtar visited Punjab to meet Milkha Singh and his family. Before deciding, Akhtar met Mehra once for a story session and immediately agreed to play the role. He was inspired by Milkha Singh's life and underwent extensive physical training for the role.

Pakistani actress and singer, Meesha Shafi — who got fame after her song "Alif Allah (Jugni)," played RAW agent in the hit Pakistani film Waar and in 2013 made her Hollywood debut with The Reluctant Fundamentalist — was selected for the role of Perizaad (Milkha Singh's best friend).

Filming

The principal photography commenced in February 2012 and mainly took place in Punjab, India, with some scenes shot in Delhi, Tokyo, Melbourne and Rome.

International company ReelSports coordinated the sports action for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and cast all the elite runners.

The music and the background score were composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, their first film collaboration with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. The soundtrack features seven tracks with lyrics written by Prasoon Joshi. The audio was released by Sony Music on 14 June 2013, on digital platforms including iTunes and Amazon.

Marketing

Farhan Akhtar and director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra launched the movie's official mobile game at the Reliance Digital electronics store in Times Square on 3 August 2013.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag released on 12 July 2013 in 1200 screens worldwide including 140 screens in USA.

Entertainment tax exemptions

Maharashtra government and Madhya Pradesh government granted an entertainment tax exemption to Bhaag Milkha Bhaag on 20 July 2013. On 24 July 2013, the Delhi government also announced a tax exemption. On 25 July 2013, Goa's government gave tax-free status to the film for three months. On 29 July 2013, Haryana government made the film tax-free in the state. On 1 August 2013, Uttar Pradesh government approved a proposal to exempt Bhaag Milkha Bhaag from entertainment tax in two installments or for a maximum of two months.

India

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics.

Bollywood Hungama's Taran Adarsh predicted that it would "win accolades, admiration, respect and esteem, besides emerging as a champ", while Sneha May Francis of Emirates 24/7 gave a thumbs up, saying that the film is "truly epic" and that "despite the prestigious Olympic glory eluding him, Mehra deservedly honors the runner’s other victories and impeccable talent, allowing us to applaud the prodigy." Desimartini, with almost 5000 ratings by the end of the weekend stated the following: "Superbly directed, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is an outstanding film with an incredible performance by Farhan Akhtar. Though long, it keeps you hooked throughout. Don't miss this patriotic tribute to Milkha Singh."

Madhureeta Mukherjee of The Times of India stated, "While you are on-the-run, pause to watch this one." The India Today review concluded, "Go and run with Milkha. In this fast-paced life, this race will definitely soothe your senses."