The last sequence of Dangal is going on and there is complete silence in the theatre. Geeta Phogat (played by Fatima Sana Shaikh) is in the process of flipping her Australian opponent during the last few seconds of her gold medal bout at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Despite knowing what is going to happen, the theatre erupts in joy when Phogat brings her opponent down and is declared the winner, welcoming the scene with lots of claps and whistles.
Nothing can capture the essence of Aamir Khan’s latest offering to the Indian audience better than that response.
Dangal is the journey of an ageing man whose sole aim in life is to see his country win a gold medal in wrestling on the international stage, and the story of how he manages to live that experience through his two dynamite daughters. It is the victorious struggle of two girls living in one of India’s most socially backward regions, where patriarchy is as intrinsic in the air as oxygen.
Director Nitesh Tiwari’s biopic on the incredible Phogat family delivers what it promised in the trailer– entertainment, thrills, inspiration and fantastic performances from an incredible cast including Aamir Khan (Mahavir Phogat), Fatima Sana Shaikh (Geeta Phogat), Sanya Malhotra (Babita Kumari), Zaira Wasim (young Geeta), Suhani Bhatnagar (young Babita), Sakshi Tanwar (Daya Kaur) and Aparshakti Khurrana (Mahavir’s nephew).
The film begins with a dramatic sequence that shows Mahavir Phogat, a former wrestler now working in a government office, wrestling one of his colleagues within the office premises while the 1988 Seoul Olympics are being broadcasted live on television. Forced to quit wrestling due to family pressure, Mahavir Phogat wants to see India win a gold medal in an international competition through his son.
Unfortunately for him, his wife (played by Sakshi Tanwar) delivers girls one after the other. Four deliveries and as many girls later, Phogat is resigned to the fact that his dream shall remain unfulfilled for life – until one day his young daughters rough up some boys. The incident comes as a revelation that compels the man to realize that even his daughters can win a gold medal. From there commences the stunning journey of hard work, sacrifice, emotions, social battles, victory, loss and some amazing wrestling.
Dangal’s first half is filled with emotional highlights and also features the film’s best performance by Zaira Wasim, who takes the screen by storm. Playing young Geeta, Wasim captures your imagination with her completely natural expressions, her spot-on Haryanvi accent and an innocence not seen in many child actors. She is ably supported by an equally innocent-looking Suhani Bhatnagar, and the duo share some lovely moments.
However, the highlight of the first half is Aamir Khan’s chemistry with his on-screen daughters; it is bound to melt your heart.
The second half is an upgrade on the first one in terms of Aamir’s performance, but is a bit too melodramatic in certain scenes. Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra deliver fantastic performances as the older Geeta and Babita, respectively, with the latter playing a strong second fiddle to the former, who gets a lot of screen presence. The ups and downs of an Indian athlete’s career beautifully blend with the path of a village girl coming to the city and getting a taste of the city life, which briefly dilutes her focus.
Aamir Khan almost hits bull’s eye with his portrayal of Mahavir Singh Phogat. Juggling a myriad of emotions throughout the film, Khan looks the part at all times and does not make you feel there is anyone but Mahavir Phogat on the screen.
The one aspect where he lacks a bit is the Haryanvi accent and dialect. While the tone is in place, the dialect sometimes goes to Punjabi and simple Hindi on certain occasions. However, the actor knocks it out of park in all other departments and shows why he is a cut above all his contemporaries. His depiction of an ageing and brooding old father with a soft interior but strong exterior is perfect, and there is no sense of entitlement or starry airs – which you might find in the performances of the other “Khans.”
Nitesh Tiwari's depiction of the village in Haryana, which revels in patriarchy, misogyny and male dominance, is accurate and empathetic. Right from resenting the birth of daughters to females being subject to the bracket of household chores, early marriage, reproduction and following the orders of males, Dangal manages to communicate this social paradigm with refreshing matter-of-factness.
Not only are the men shown to be misogynist, Dangal shows how even women, due to lack of better education and social upbringing, look down upon their own gender.
The director takes you through the personal ordeals of each character, and the screenplay is tightly knit to ensure that the film moves seamlessly from highlight to highlight. It is an excellent film to educate the masses about wrestling and Indian sport. There is a strong but subtle dig at the country’s sporting set-up, including the the administration and the coaches, but the wrestling sequences are pretty real and come as close to reality as they can in a Bollywood film.
There are plenty of moments in the first half of Dangal that are sure to give you goosebumps. Nitesh Tiwari, Piyush Gupta, Shreyas Jain and Nikhil Mehrotra have written the script quite impeccably to make it both substantial and populist. There is an underlying tone of patriotism throughout the film that reaches its zenith in the final sequence.
Dangal has an excellent support cast in the form of Sakshi Tanwar, who beautifully portrays her character, and Aparshakti Khurrana, the simple-minded but nice-hearted cousin present in the film to provide comic relief during some exceedingly heavy sequences. The background score has been done well to build up the wrestling sequences while the music is both entertaining and contextual.
One of the most important films in recent times, Dangal captures the canvas of women’s wrestling in India with élan. It shows the importance of battling odds in the most aggressive manner and how desire can break barriers that transcend social and gender-related stigmas.
Dangal celebrates the success story of two girls and their father, a man who goes to extreme lengths for achieving his dream. It shows the kind of sacrifice an athlete has to make to succeed at the international level, especially in an individual sport. It is a movie as much for wrestling aficionados as for the regular film buff.
Dangal is an emotional rollercoaster full of stunning performances, populist dialogues and an excellent story. Go watch it.
