Filmmaker-turned-actor Farhan Akhtar is playing the title role in Rakesh Omprakash Mehra's "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag", for which he needs to speak chaste Punjabi. To master the language, he is taking lessons from lyricist Gulzar.

The film is based on legendary athlete Milkha Singh's life and according to a source, the script demands Farhan's character to speak with an authentic Punjabi accent.

"In the film, Farhan needs to have the right Punjabi accent and he wants to make sure that he does it perfectly. Gulzar hails from Punjab, so Farhan decided to learn the language from him. Rakyesh Mehra is very impressed with Farhan's determination to learn the language," added the source.

The spokesperson for the film said: "Farhan Akhtar is going through extensive training. He will be multilingual at the end of his project."

Padma Shri winner Milkha Singh, also known as Flying Sikh, created a 400 meters record at the 1958 Asian Games, won the event at the Commonwealth Games the same year and ran in the 400 meters final in the 1960 Olympics.

Earlier, Farhan was taking Urdu lessons from his poet father Javed Akhtar. This is his first film for an outside production house.