Bollywood movie Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, a biopic on India's legendary athlete Milkha Singh, is off to a flying start at the Indian box office. The movie has done excellent business in its opening weekend despite receiving mixed reviews.

The three hour long biopic stars Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, Divya Dutt, Prakash Raj and Pavan Malhotra and this is Farhan's biggest solo opening. The movie has collected more than 32 crores (INR) in its first weekend, which is the third highest opening weekend collections of 2013, according to Koimoi.com. The movie on Friday started on an iffy note but it picked-up momentum from evening shows onwards. Bollywood Hungama states that the movie "maintained the momentum all through the weekend" and has done good business in Delhi-U.P., Punjab, Mumbai and Mysore.

According to trade analyst Taran Adarsh: from Thursday's paid preview show, the movie collected 1.05, on Friday -- 8.50; on Saturday -- 10.70 crore; and on Sunday -- around 12 crore.

The movie, directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, is an interpretation of Milkha Singh's life, according to the movie's screenwriter, Prasoon Joshi. Olympian Milkha Singh, also known as the Flying Sikh, lost his parents during the partition riots post India's independence and rose from abject poverty to become one of India's greatest sportsmen. At the 1960 Rome Olympics, he finished fourth in the 400 meters, missing bronze by 1/100th of a second.

"He believed in hard work, he had nothing in life and he still persevered, while we complain about the lack of things in our life all the time," Joshi told Reuters. "I wanted to capture that persona in the film."

"What interested me was the person Milkha Singh and I explored what goes on into his head, because that is what drives him when he was running."

Popular Bollywood actress Vidya Balan has praised the performance of Farhan in the movie. She told news agency IANS, "I have just seen the movie and he has done a fabulous job as Milkha Singh." She is paired opposite Farhan in the movie 'Shaadi Ke Side Effects'.

Crime-thriller D-Day is releasing on July 19, 2013 and it may affect the life time total of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag as the movie's trailer and snippets have generated a strong buzz.