Path-breaking and inspiring

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker, Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Aamir Khan, Dangal is a stoic tale of the hardships endured by a father to make his daughters worthy of gold medals in wrestling, against all odds in the society.

It is indeed a strong and unwavering combat against all the odds and the emergence of a successful lead in the course of women empowerment. The greatest Christmas release this year and Nitesh Tiwari’s crowd-fawner Dangal follows a pathway to its great plot and alluring impact on the spectators. Mahavir Singh Phogat (Aamir Khan) sketches the life story of Phogat, cuts an unsightly figure in an off-white kurta and pot-bellied attire.

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Grey, grizzly and old, he plays a character much older for his age. His wishes of becoming a National-level wrestler are crushed due to financial crisis and decide to train his son to fulfill his dreams.

To his misfortune, his wife, Sakshi Tanwar, gives birth to a daughter followed by three more girls and he witnesses his desires getting crushed, underneath his fortune. Later on, when his two daughters, Geeta Kumari Phogat essayed by Fatima Sana Sheikh and Babita Kumari Phogat played by Sanya Malhotra grow up to become proficient brawlers and engage in a fight with two boys in the neighbourhood, Mahavir Phogat believes that they are born to wrestle and not live a life only confined to the thoughts of the male-dominated society.

From firing the words, “Mera sapna sirf chhora hi poora kar sake” to fearlessly living the lines, “Mhari chhoriyaan chhoro se kam hai ke?”

Aamir makes us believe in his words. He trains his daughters in defiance of the disapproval and assumptions of the villagers to grime wrestling and instills in them, feminism and the right to churn the discordance of the society. He stitches boyish clothes and prohibits his daughters from wearing salwar kameez, since it would be a hindrance in the way of wrestling.

To make things more eye-catching, they are asked to shave their heads since they wrestle on mud. The training gears up as it begins at five in the morning and they jog, complete the push-ups and wrestle till they go to school. Dangal, on the highlight spool includes the older daughter Geeta who trained by her father, rises from mud wrestling to pro and further goes to Patiala in Punjab for training in the National Sports Academy to compete in the National level wrestling championship.

Based on the true story of Geeta and Babita Phogat, the movie advances and avails the amount of time and the number of scenes it devotes to unadulterated wrestling. Fatima wins hearts with her performance, both as a wrestler and a debutante, and Sanya runs neck-to-neck with her. The two make each scene so plausible that it is difficult to imagine them as non-wrestlers. Aamir Khan's return to the silver screen after a gap of almost two years which left the critics wanting for more is undoubtedly relevant with grappling storyline, lesser known yet a potent cast and great ideas. The Haryanvi dialogues would force laughter and amazement. The wrestling scenes are mingled with a few background scores which add splurge to the actions. However, the film lacks to be entertaining on the succulent note due to lesser number of songs which lets the spectators to concentrate on the ground-breaking realities of wrestling which is not just a sport but a way of life. Dangal is one such movie which has been made to inspire, motivate and encourage women to breakfree from the taboo in the male-dominated society that wrestling is thus far only made for men.

Coordinator, Class IX, St Mary’s Day School, Coochbehar.