Dangal - Movie Review

Cast: Aamir Khan, Fatima Sana Sheikh, Zaira Wasim, Sanya Malhotra, Suhani Bhatnagar, Sakshi Tanwar, Aparshakti Khurana, Girish Kulkarni, Vivan Bhathena.

Director: Nitesh Tiwari

Dangal is the story of a Haryana man who dared to do the unthinkable. It is just as much the tale of a pugnacious girl who went where nobody from her tradition-bound village had ever gone.

Sweaty bodies gripping each other in places strangers should not touch, violence as a form of entertainment, our baser human instincts getting official and mass encouragement – if you ask me why I cannot stand contact sports, these would top my answer.

Young Geeta and Babita Phogat have far more mundane reasons for hating wrestling: no girl they know does it, so why should they? Dangal is the story of their father’s bulldog-like determination to make them gold medal winners for India, and the girls’ own passage from aversion to passion for the sport.

Nitesh Tiwari’s third film as director is based on the real-life story of Haryana’s Mahavir Singh Phogat, patriarch and coach of one of the country’s most unusual sporting families: his daughters are all wrestling champions, the eldest two — Geeta and Babita — are Commonwealth Games gold medallists, and Geeta is the first Indian woman wrestler to have ever qualified for the Olympics.

This achievement is particularly striking considering that Haryana has one India’s worst child sex ratios and a horrifying track record in the matter of female foeticide and infanticide.

Dangal is about Mahavir’s single-mindedness which brings him into conflict with his wife, his community, the country’s sporting establishment and ultimately, even Geeta.

Now For the Performances:

There comes a time when a star gives in to the demands of a role which he knows will make him not-pretty: as a wannabe wrestler past his prime, Aamir Khan is squat, with a heavy belly, a deliberate gait, and a grizzled beard. Only his jutting ears are familiar: the rest of him is pure character. I would not be wrong to say that this is his BEST performance TILL DATE … Even better than LAGAAN …. Yes “YOU” read it right “EVEN BETTER THAN LAGAAN!”.

A man making his daughters chase his dream. He cries, frowns, gets angry, looks old and tired, but is definitely one of us. When he shakes his head helplessly, you see a father in him. When he gets into a brawl, he is the brother you always depended on. When he wants to see you win, you know you have to perform. It’s not just his pride, it’s yours as well.

Geeta and Babita as children are played by two brilliant debutants, Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar, who knock it out of the park in every scene (if I may borrow a phrase from another game). And the storytelling matches up.

Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra who play the older versions of Geeta and Babita are gifted performers. They both come in the second half of the film and show us how the two little wrestlers become their own persons / personalities.

Sakshi Tanwar – who plays the apologetic wife shows how you start liking your oppressor because there is nowhere else to go. Not so directly, though. Tanwar’s comic timing tries to deflect the focus from her life to the little girls who are forced to fight the local chauvinists because their father has decided to transform them into world-class wrestlers.

A scintillating Aparshakti Khurana (who we recently saw in Saat Uchakkey) plays their sweet, supportive cousin is superb too.

But HANDS DOWN Winner Apart From AK is Girish Kulkarni who plays older Geeta’s coach at the academy – he is BRILLIANT in his role.

Full marks to the Casting Director Mukesh Chhabra he has really outdone himself in this film.

Music:

Music director Pritam and lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya manage an earthy soundtrack with Daler Mehndi’s title track pumping up the adrenaline. Also, the soft track ‘Gilheriyaan’, the Haryanvi rap and hip-hop ‘Haanikarak Bapu’ and the ‘Dhakaad’ number, are in perfect tandem with the narrative.

Final Verdict:

Dangal could have easily turned into a vanity project, which is a clear and present danger. But it stays real. A personal salaam to Nitesh Tiwari for that.

In one line – I’d say “DO NOT MISS DANGAL … EVEN IF THE WORLD HAS TO BE DAMNED FOR IT!! “

My Rating: 5/5