Goofs

During the race in which Milkha breaks the National record, the dressing on his leg and foot comes off during the race, but still remains spotlessly clean even though he has been running in the dirt.

When the Indian team's coach writes the world record on the tissue paper, he writes the numbers 45.9 in double quotes(" "). When Milkha burns the paper, there are no quotes.

The movie starts with 400m race of Milkha Singh in Rome Olympics. Preoccupied by the memories of his past,he looked back and lost hold over the race, thus finishing at 4th place. Then there comes the scenes of press being mad on "Why Milka looked back ?" and all those protests of angry people asking Milkha "Why he looked back ?". The rest of the movie explains why he looked back in Rome Olympics. But the reality is that in the actual footage of Rome Olympics 400m race, Milkha Singh never looked back.

The movie implies that Milkha breaks the 400m World record in 1960 with his time of 45.8s. Although 45.9s was the 400m World record in 1948, Lou Jones set a new world record of 45.4s in 1955. Lou Jones then broke his own record and set a new record of 45.2s in 1956. Beating 45.9s was Milkha's personal goal, and he accomplished it many times, but he never set a World or Olympic record.

The movie is set in the 1950s but when Milkha's fingerprints are taken when he is released from jail, the date written on the form has the year 2013.

The movie is set in the 1950s but when Milkha visits Pakistan for the competition he rides a 2012 model Royal Enfield.

Milkha sings the song "Nanha munna rahi hoon" while trying to woo Sonam. This scene is supposed to be in early 1950s but the song was released in 1962.

When national flags are shown fluttering in the stadium, the new flag of South Africa is shown rather than the Apartheid-era South African national flag, which would have been the right flag at the time that the film story is set.

A mobile tower is seen various time in movie, but the movie is set in the 1960s.

Post Rome Olympics as Indian contingent bus crosses international border to visit Pakistan for friendly races, an advertisement is shown for recruitment by Border Security Force (BSF). The race took place in 1960 but BSF was established in 1965.

In the movie it was shown that Sonam Kapoor lives near Shahdara (New Delhi) as suggested by signboards on Police Station and school. When Milkha was carrying water for Sonam he used to pass through a Railway Station. The real twist is that in the background you can see that the name of station is Rewari (Haryana) which is around 100 Kms from Shahdara.

When Milkha Singh ( Farhan Akhtar ) Is Practicing for his race ( The one when he is found putting the coat on) he is seen wearing shoes. But when he running in the race, he runs bare foot.