Can a movie change a life? After watching Budhia Singh: Born To Run, you wish for a miracle. Or anything that can help a young prodigy unlock his enormous potential. At the age of four, Budhia ran the 65 km between Bhubaneshwar to Puri in a little over seven hours, and was featured in the Limca Book of World Records as the 'youngest marathon runner in the world'. His feat, amazing for someone so young and frail, was lapped up by the media, and he began being hailed as Odisha's pride. Overnight, he became a star; so did his controversial coach Biranchi Das, who rescued him, some said, from one kind of exploitation only to exploit him for his (Biranchi's) own glory. As is usually the case with films which state that they are 'inspired by' true events, instead of calling themselves bio pics, we are left wondering how much is fact and how much fiction. Some thorny things are bravely introduced and then left hanging: there is a build-up, for example, to a potential dope test scandal, but the result of Budhia's test is left hazy (did it even happen?); do Biranchi and his wife have other means of income (they are shown collecting money from a few establishments in one throwaway scene; in the rest, they run a judo school cum orphanage); does Biranchi really think that depriving such a little boy of water in such searing heat during such a long race is a good idea or is he just being harsh and cruel (overtly concerned characters are shown asking these questions); does he do this because he really wants the boy to proudly participate in the 2016 Olympics (the date is mentioned loud and clear a couple of times) or are his efforts geared towards gaining personal publicity? Does the boy's mother (Shome) understand the gravity of 'selling' her little boy to a travelling salesman, or is she truly confused and naïve? Are those politicians who can't stand Biranchi's guts as venal as they are made out, or have they been outlined too much?
Review of Budhia Singh: Born to Run
