2016 will probably be remembered for the pain and misery caused by demonetization, but if we leave that aside, we can definitely say that this has been a golden year for Indian wrestling. Sakshi Malik made us proud by winning a bronze medal in the Rio Olympics, and we got two block-buster Hindi movies on wrestling: Sultan and now Dangal. We already have a good infrastructure of wrestling in our country, and these two movies will further popularise wrestling. As a wrestling fan, I was left with no choice but to watch the movie. In this short review, I will try to focus on those points which are not written in other reviews.
Dangal is a Bollywood girl-power drama about a father-coach turning his daughters into star wrestlers. Mahavir Singh Phogat, played by Amir Khan, a national level champion, could not fulfill his dream of winning an international medal due to lack of support. He had to settle with a petty government job, but he desired his son to fulfill his dreams. He took four attempts, and each time he was bestowed with a girl. Amir had almost given up until he realised that his two elder daughters were strong and fighters. So, he took up the challenge of making them champions. He coached them under his strict-control regime. Initially, the girls protested, but later on they realised that their father had been trying to etch a path for them which was different from the stereotype neglected Hariyanvi woman. They practised with boys, and scaled the path of success step by step. Geeta, the eldest sister, after becoming the national champion, joined the national academy in Patiala. But there she seemed to have lost focus, and could not make any impact in the international arena. She had a clash with her father over wrestling techniques. Eventually, she made up with her father, and started to get success. In the mean time, Babita, the second sister, too joined the academy. The climax of the film is set in the Commonwealth Games 2010, which was held in India.
In the movie "Sultan", there was a beautiful romantic story running parallely with some good sporting actions. Though the romantic part is missing in this film, I would say "Dangal" is no less in entertainment value. Acting as an aged man, with his short muscular body, cropped hair setting off jutting ears, plunging eyebrows, and a serene scowl that almost never left his face; Amir looked like a jock version of Rushdie. Yet within that tight-lipped mask, he found a hundred ways to communicate emotions. After the stupendous success of Salman Khan in Sultan, Amir knew he could never match him in wrestling actions, so the actor with a good head on his shoulders chose to play the role of a mentor. The main wrestling action was played by Fatima Sana Shaikh. She did a great job in both action and acting.
Nitesh Tiwary, a little known director, did quite well in scripting and building up the climax. The rules of wrestling were nicely explained in the movie. Never for a moment, the film lost its momentum. Sakshi Tanwar didn't have much role to show her talent, but whatever chance she got, she did well. The two child actors, Zaira and Suhani flourished in their roles. The music was not that good, but this was not a romantic movie. The dialogues were witty. The choice of costume was apt for such a biopic. One interesting point is that Geeta (Sana) looked almost similar to Priyanka Gandhi.
Now, here are some of my critical observations: no action of Babita was shown, even when we know she too won international medals. Perhaps, the director was handicapped to feature her within this 2 hours 40 minutes movie. It was not as if Hariyana didn't have wrestling infrastructure for females. But, it was not shown. The wrestling match between a grown up girl and her father was bit obscene. This does not happen anywhere.
The film is doing really well in the box office: it crossed the Rupees 100 crore mark in just 3 days. It also got rave reviews. I shall give 7 out of 10, and recommend you to see the film.
Pictures taken from the net
No comments:
Post a Comment