Aamir Khan-starrer Dangal hit the theatres today and is getting rave reviews from the audience and critics alike. The biopic of the Phogat family including father Mahavir and daughters Geeta-Babita, who went on to win Gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, also stars Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sakshi Tanwar and Aparshakti Khurrana.
Though it is a film based on wrestling, Dangal features a scene with reference to the style of two legendary Indian batsmen – Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag. In one of the scenes in the film, Geeta Phogat’s national coach suggests that the wrestler should be defensive and change her technique.
Aamir Khan, who plays Mahavir Phogat, is present there and strongly counters the coach by explaining things with a cricketing analogy.
Telling the coach that Geeta is an attacking wrestler, Mahavir Phogat says, “Yeh toh wahi baat hui ki Sehwag ko bolo ki Rahul Dravid jaise khele. Yeh karne se na woh Dravid ban payega aur na Sehwag reh jayega (This is same as telling Sehwag to play like Rahul Dravid. This way, neither will he become Rahul Dravid, nor will he remain Virender Sehwag).”
While it is a small scene with little impact on the storyline, referring to two of the greatest Indian cricketers is a clever way of connecting to the Indian audience as well as glorifying Mahavir Phogat’s wrestling strategies at the same time.
According to many trade analysts, including Taran Adarsh, the film opened with packed houses and saw around 75% occupancy during the morning shows, which is a tremendous feat for a movie on its opening day. The film has already collected Rs. 7.81 crore from US, Middle East and the UK after just a day of its release.
The real life Geeta Phogat, in conversation with India Today, talked about getting used to walking on the red carpet. “Dangal has changed our lives”, she said.
"It is a very proud moment for our entire family that a movie has been made on our lives and we have taken a small village of Haryana to Hollywood. We have won laurels for the country in wrestling but still, in spite of winning medals, not many people recognised us.
“They had a hazy image of us in front of them. Now we are famous and everyone calls us by the name of Phogat sisters. The biggest thing is that nobody knew our father. We won medals, came on TV, but very few knew the man who actually got us there. Now the entire world would know who Mahavir Phogat is and how hard has he toiled for our sake," Geeta said.
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