Dangal

Dangal
Directed by	Nitesh Tiwari
Produced by	Aamir Khan Kiran Rao Siddharth Roy Kapur
Written by	Nitesh Tiwari
Starring	Aamir Khan Sakshi Tanwar Fatima Sana Shaikh Sanya Malhotra Hafiz Khan
Music by	Pritam Chakraborty Komail Shayan
Cinematography by	Setu
Editor(s)	Ballu Saluja
Studio(s)	Disney World Cinema Aamir Khan Productions
Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Released	December 21, 2016 (US) December 23, 2016 (World Wide)
Running time	160 minutes
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹700 million
Gross revenue	₹7.3 billion (US$110 million)

Dangal (English: wrestling competition) is an Indian biographical sports drama film directed by Nitesh Tiwari. The film is produced by Disney Studio India. The film stars Aamir Khan portraying the role of Mahavir Singh Phogat, who taught wrestling to his daughters Babita Kumari and Geeta Phogat. Geeta Phogat was India's first female wrestler to win at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, where she won the gold medal (55 kg) while her sister Babita Kumari won the silver (51 kg). Dangal is the native name of a wrestling site in Hindi which is popular in India. It has also regional names like Kusti and Pehlwani in India. Dangal is released on December 23, 2016. The music for Dangal will be composed by Pritam while lyrics will be written by Amitabh Bhattacharya.

Cast

• Aamir Khan as Mahavir Singh Phogat
• Sakshi Tanwar as Daya Kaur, wife of Mahavir Singh Phogat
• Fatima Sana Shaikh as Geeta Phogat, daughter of Mahavir Singh Phogat
• Sanya Malhotra as Babita Kumari, daughter of Mahavir Singh Phogat
• Zaira Wasim as child Geeta Phogat
• Suhani Bhatnagar as child Babita Kumari
• Ananya as Sarita, youngest daughter
• Vivan Bhatena
• Aparshakti Khurrana
• Girish Kulkarni
• Rohit shankarwar
• Hafiz Khan

Plot

Mahavir Singh Phogat is an amateur wrestler who was forced to give up wrestling in order to obtain gainful employment. He was unable to win a gold medal for India and vows that his son will. He is disappointed when his wife gives birth to four daughters. He gives up his dream thinking that girls cannot wrestle and should only be taught household chores. But when his older daughters, Geeta and Babita, come home after beating up two boys in response to derogatory comments, Mahavir realises his daughters have the potential to become wrestlers.

Mahavir begins coaching Geeta and Babita in wrestling. His methods seem harsh, including grueling early morning workouts and short haircuts to avoid lice. Initially, the girls resent their father for his treatment but they soon realise that their father wants them to have a future and not grow up to be stereotypical housewives. The girls become motivated and willingly participate in Mahavir's coaching. Mahavir takes the girls to wrestling tournaments. Geeta and Babita both wrestle with boys and beat them, much to everyone's dismay. Geeta eventually wins the Junior Nationals and goes to an institute in Patiala for further training so that she can participate in the Commonwealth Games.

Geeta makes friends at the institute and begins to disregard the discipline she has been brought up with. She regularly watches TV, eats street food, and grows her hair longer. Her coach's training differs significantly from her father's techniques. Geeta believes her coach's techniques are better and that Mahavir's techniques are outdated. On a visit home, she is determined to show her father she can wrestle well without his techniques. This leads to a ferocious bout between Geeta and Mahavir. Mahavir loses against Geeta due to his age. Babita tells Geeta that she shouldn't forget her father's techniques and reminds her that it is because of their father that she is where she is now.

Babita soon follows Geeta to the institute. Geeta finds herself losing every match as she is not following her father's techniques or she is not fully focused on wrestling (painting her nails and growing her hair long). Realising her error, she tearfully makes peace with Mahavir. Mahavir comes to Patiala and begins coaching Geeta and Babita secretly, using the same methods as when they were younger. Their coach comes to know about this and is furious with Mahavir's interference and wants to expel them both from the institution, but a deal is struck to allow them to continue as long as Mahavir does not enter the institution or train them elsewhere. Determined to continue assisting his daughters, Mahavir obtains tapes of Geeta's previous unsuccessful bouts and coaches her by pointing out her errors over the phone.

During Geeta's bouts in the Commonwealth Games, Mahavir constantly contradicts her coach's instructions while sitting in the audience. Geeta disregards her coach and follows her father's instructions and wins every bout. Just before the final bout, Geeta's jealous coach conspires to lock Mahavir in a closet far away from the arena. Due to her father's absence, Geeta starts lagging behind in the bout where she manages to win the first round but loses the second. It's the final round and the score is 4-1 where Geeta is down.In the last handful of seconds Geeta becomes desperate to win some points but in return loses another. Now, the score is 5-1. Only a quarter of the final minute is left, and now, Geeta starts recalling her father's teachings. She recalls her father talking about a 5 pointer suplex back when she was young. Mahavir said that the suplex is difficult but can be applied. She also recalls her father saying that one has to play with the opponent's mind. Mahavir said that one has to show something and do something else. Combining these two teachings, Geeta gives her opponent a suplex in the final 3 seconds, leading to a score of 6-5 (Geeta being up) and becomes the first Indian female wrestler to win gold. Mahavir returns just in time to embrace his daughters, frustrating the coach's hopes of obtaining credit before the news media.

The end credits reveal that Babita also won a silver medal in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games in 2014, Geeta became the first Indian female wrestler to qualify for the Olympics and Mahavir's efforts inspired dozens of Indian women to participate in wrestling.

Production

Development

In our society, especially in backward areas, most families want a son to carry forward their legacy and if they end up with daughters, very few give them equal opportunities. But Phogat, who hails from Balali village near Bhiwani in Haryana, encouraged all his four daughters to become wrestlers. Out of his four daughters, two - Geeta and Babita - won gold and silver at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, respectively. The film will also focus on how he coached them personally against all odds ignoring people who made fun of him for preparing his daughters to become wrestlers. What is most astonishing is that he never gave up and proved that if given equal opportunity, daughters are no less than sons. ——Nitesh Tiwari, director of Dangal, in Hindustan Times interview.

Casting

In April 2015, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra were cast as the daughters of Mahavir Phogat, who hails from the Jat community of Balali village of Bhiwani, Haryana. Geeta Phogat had also participated in the London Olympics in 2012. Babita also won gold in 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In June 2015, child actors Zarina Wasim (from Kashmir) and Suhani Bhatnagar (from Delhi) were roped in for Dangal. Ayushmann Khurrana's brother Aparshakti Khurrana has also been cast in the film. Mukesh Chhabra is the casting director of Dangal. Vikram Singh has been recruited to play the role of the villain in Dangal. Aamir has lost some weight and learnt Haryanvi lessons and dialect training for the film. However, Aamir Khan has reportedly gained 30 kg weight for the new role and now weighs 98 kg. He is playing two distinct roles in the film: one is the 60-year-old wrestler Mahavir Phogat, and the other is a 20-year-old who is depicting the role of the young life of the same wrestler. Aamir Khan's nephew Pablo (son of Mansoor Khan) is working as Dangal's assistant director. Mallika Sherawat had auditioned for a role in Dangal. As per the news in August 2015, Rajkumar Rao, who has previously worked with Aamir Khan in Talaash, was approached for an important role in Dangal. Finally, after auditioning 70 actresses for role, Sakshi Tanwar was brought onto the film as Daya Kaur (the wife of Mahavir Singh Phogat). Ananya was chosen to play Sarita, youngest daughter of Mahavir Phogat. In October 2015, Vivan Bhatena was selected to play negative role in the film.

Filming

The shooting schedule of Dangal commenced on 1 September 2015. Villages of Ludhiana have been given a Haryanvi transformation. The shooting took place in the villages of Gujjarwal, Narangwal, Kila Raipur, Dango and Leel in Punjab and Haryana. Interestingly, the village of Dango, which is in the Pakhowal Tehsil in Ludhiana, is veteran actor Dharmendra's ancestral village. From September 2015 to December 2015, Aamir Khan will be gaining 9% fat, weighing around 98 kg for Dangal, and from January 2016 to April 2016, he will gain the shape that he had opted for Dhoom 3 and will hear the script for next future films, halting shooting of Dangal for said period. The first scene taken on 21 September 2015 in ludhiana with the presences of Mahavir Singh Phogat and his both daughters Geeta Phogat, Babita Kumari. The first schedule of shooting was also done in schools and in Dango village which is located in Pakhowal Tehsil in Ludhiana.

Box Office

Dangal is performing exceptionally well in India and overseas. Till 3rd January Dangal has collected 284.69 crore in the Indian market. The film is still running in theatres and has potential to break all previous box office records.

Gallery

External links

• Template:IMDb title
• Dangal at Bollywood Hungama