Good story-telling in cinema has an enduring appeal for two familiar
reasons: it enhances the interest of commoners and it reduces the stress levels
of movie-goers bombarded with formulaic messages. Dangal is proof that unalloyed
story-telling, intense and sincere, returns and for
that reason alone the makers of the film must take a bow and get a hat-tip from all genuine
film-lovers (beyond the undercurrents of controversies). In 161 minutes which
escapes your time-keeping, director Nitesh Tiwary gives a captivating
presentation that recreates the world of a true-life rural legend who helped
bootstrap India’s lopsided sports ways into a medal-winning spree in International Women's Wrestling championships.
The legend is Mahavir Singh Phogat whose two daughters Gita and Babita won a
total of 29 medals at world-stage wrestling matches. While Aamir Khan plays
Mahavir Singh Phogat, two debutantes Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra play
his daughters Gita Phogat and Babita Phogat.
What makes this absorbing film intense is the numerous pulse points it touches while engaging with a
true-to-life portrayal of a National Wrestling Champion’s quest to make his progeny a worthy gold medal
winner at world stage, so what if it is not a boy! From that point, where
Mahavir Singh is obsessed with male child, the director aces up the screen with
a narrative that tugs at your heart with anger at the society’s male fixation,
then calmness when good sense of gender neutrality dawns on the father who
takes that his daughters have the basic DNA to make it in Wrestling, and then
the elements of struggle, agony, ego conflit with coachand then the
final moments of glory. All these pulse points are masterfully punctuated by the
director Nitesh Tiwari to give us one of the most fulfilling cinematic
experiences of our times.
There are atleast half a
dozen moments in the film which get you goosebumps and make you connect with
the moments that every patriotic Indian feels in a country woefully short of
international medals in non-cricket sports. The resonance is enhanced by
resemblance to many moments in recent sport history which highlight something
wrong in our culture that doesn’t nurture Olympic medal-winners so easily. You can
relate to P.V.Sindhu’s moment of glory on the night before her final Olympics
game when all the media says it is okay if she doesn’t win a Gold since silver is
assured (and silver is what she gets finally!). Or, to Koneru Hampy, the
teenage Chess champion who insisted on keeping her father as her coach and had
to face wrath of a lot of people (Doesn’t happen for sure once you take your
game above National level!). Or, the high-handed way in which persona non-grata
(non-sportspersons) behave when it comes to allocating training budgets.
Director takes potshots at all of these gremlins plaguing Indian Sports
elusively and matter-of-factly. But in doing so and touching the multiple
pulse-points as discussed, there is no dodgy narrative here. The struggles of
the father and the daughters and their battles within and the system are
well-brought out with pace and gripping narration.
Bolywood has aced up on
talking turkey about India’s latest obsession with sportspersons and their
quintessential struggles through films like Mary Kom, Bhaag Milka Bhaag, MS Dhoni, Azhar
and Chak De. While most of them scored high on adrenalin and dramatization,
only Chak De remained subtle while giving an uplift to the game of hockey
fighting the odds of women and poor resource allocation to capture attention.
There were few Telugu films like Golconda High School (on cricket) and Bheemli
Kabaddi which kept the flag high in inspiring youngsters to give a game they
like their best shot. Lagaan represented an improbable episode that is
unlikely to return ever, even with demonetization as backdrop. Sultan gave a
different tilt to another street-side wrestler and the closing moments of the
film actually resemble the central thesis of Dangal where a happy love story
of Salman and Anushka restarts with the birthing of a girl child who may become
the next wrestling champ. But Dangal is different and is going to be the most-talked sports film of recent times. In 161 minutes, the director introduces the
sport of wrestling better, makes us familiar with the rules in a way your
worldview of the sport changes forever and then sucks us into the pulsations of
the sport closer than ever – in the manner it is played at medallion games, not
your WWF style or kick-boxing-blend-style. Apart from bringing out the beauty
and the maneuvres of wrestling in almost 60 minutes (which is the highest for
any sports film), it brings out the magic of bonding between a father and his
daughters which changes complexions in its course of evolution.
Peformances-wise, Aamir Khan
stands tall. It is a sign of maturity and commitment to craft that
Aamir should take up this role which is de-glamorised, sans romance and stunts. He wears obesity with such dignity and class that it doesn't come out as stark.
He doesn’t slip even once in his penance-like persistence as a father who
sculpts his wards to achieve global glory. The highlight scenes to watch out for
Aamir are one, when he goes to drop his daughter at National Sports Academy at
the grasp of a national coach; two, when his daughter challenges him with new
rules learnt and finally, in the climax when he is all of himself – ALONE. Both
the girls Fatima and Sanya have done better, their chemistry with the game and
between themselves shows up in the run-up they have had for auditioning in the
film. Sanya has had her bright moments even if she tailgates Fatima in the
story as Babita to Geeta. Music by Pritham is enthralling and different than what
you heard from him in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. The songs pump you up and the
feverishness of the game seeps in with the few songs. Cinematography by Sethu
Sriram is many-layered – you need the right mix of close-up shots and
long-shots without missing a moment of mist in the eyes of the main characters.
In that Sethu sizzles.
What takes away from the film
is the treatment of coaching in training sportspersons for Olympian success.
The conflict between the father and the coach, warts and all, is left
unattended till the end. Perhaps the only emotion left unmilked is that – of an
Aamir slapping the National Coach in the end! But that doesn’t take away the
main merits of the most entertaining and well-made sports film of this year
already surcharged with three or more films of that genre). Go watch it and if
you like standing up for the National Anthem like all Indians do, you may enjoy
doing it twice for Dangal. Remember this, if you do it spontaneously! Good to see Disney Pictures picking a real winner that every girl child and her father want to see.
My rating: 4/5
