Would've loved to play Milkha Singh: Manoj Kumar

Yesteryear actor Manoj “Bharat” Kumar said he would have loved to play Milkha Singh in his hey days.
“Watching films is my obsession and I am lucky that my obsession became my profession. However, I could not watch this film as I was in the hospital. However, I have spoken to Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra and told him that today, Milkha won the race and invited him for a cup of tea.Mehra’s father used to see my shooting chup chup ke.”
Manoj Kumar, who got critical acclaim for his portrayal of Bhagat Singh in Shaheed, said, “After Bhagat Singh, agar Milkha Singh ka khayal aa gaya hotato main zaroor karta because I was a good athlete. I was a good hockey player too. To make a film on Milkha Singh is a very big step. Rakyesh immortalized Milkha Singh and promoted sports through this film.”
Putting forth his views on patriotic films these days, he said, “Lagan was not a patriotic film. It was more of a mercy petition from our end. I found it to be a gripping one-day final. Then when they made Mangal Pandey, I knew it wouldn’t work because it focused on only one incident of the man. Then came Rang De Basanti. I loved the second half of the movie. It was patriotic in the true sense."
The actor went on to say, "Our problem is that we are trying to capture foreign market with our brand of cinema. We think that Oscar is the ultimate destination. If we have to become international, we have to make national cinema first, which is connected to our roots. Then we will become international in the right sense.”