MY REVIEW OF "DANGAL", THE HINDI MOVIE

   My mother, her sister, her brother, my wife and I watched "Dangal" at Inox, Garuda Swagath mall on 28-Dec-2016. The Hindi movie is based on the lives of the Commonwealth Games 2010 55kg category wrestling gold medal winner Geeta Phogat, her sister Babita Phogat and their father Mahavir Singh Phogat. This blog post is my review of the movie.

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    NOTE : Please avoid reading further, if you want to see the movie. The summary of this blog post is that the movie is worth watching for the performances of its lead actors and to laud the determination of one man to challenge the norms of society in making his daughters wrestling champions. If you wish to read on, please note that this blog contains opinions and descriptions, which may act as spoilers.
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    We reached the mall at around 4:45 p.m., well in time for the 5:20 p.m. show. I think the movie started at 5:30 p.m. We left the theatre at around 8:30 p.m. I did not realise how time went by, until the interval. The movie kept me engaged through out its duration. One dampener in the movie hall during the interval was that there were separate queues for cash and card for the snacks. I stood in the cash queue with my credit card and got to know I was in the wrong queue quite late. By this time, the card queue had lengthened. So, we decided to buy fruit for which my uncle paid cash. This was the healthiest option available and also possibly the cheapest at Rs. 110 ! What I liked was that the cut fruit were delivered to our seats after the movie had resumed. I found this an interesting concept, which I had not expected : room service - or, more appropriately, seat service !

    To talk about the movie, it begins with Aamir Khan as Mahavir Singh Phogat showing a keen interest in following wrestling.  The 1988 Seoul Olympics is shown to establish the context. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/The-hero-behind-Dangal/articleshow/47660174.cms informs that Mahavir Phogat was a wrestler of considerable local fame, within Haryana. Mahavir dreams of making his children gold medal winners for India.

    As it turns out, he becomes a father to four daughters, over time. For some time, he forgets his dream. One day, his daughters get into a fight with an older boy and thrash him. Hearing the mother of the boy complain about the girls' combativeness is a moment of epiphany for Mahavir. Immediately, he decides to groom his daughters to fulfill the dream he has of achieving a gold medal winner in wrestling ! What follows is a gruelling training regime for the young girls. This is the best part of the movie, in my opinion. As the girls undergo the training and Geeta attends her first wrestling match against a boy, the one-liners keep on coming. Humour is used well to counter the seriousness of the training.

    Geeta wins various championships at the national level in different age groups, as time progresses. She enters the National Institute of Sports, Patiala where the coach emphasises technique and a defensive approach. After the years of strict learning, Geeta learns to enjoy the luxuries of urban city life along with other wards at NIS. Returning home, she challenges her father about his manner of teaching her and other students of wrestling.

    Unfortunately, the conflicting ways of teaching result in her losing in international competitions. Facing a crisis of confidence, she calls her father. This is one scene that Geeta terms as her favourite, as narrated in https://www.thequint.com/videos/2016/12/28/geeta-babita-mahavir-phogat-talk-real-dangal-with-quint-aamir-khan-bollywood-interview-video-wrestling-film-movie. To me, this scene shows the talent of Aamir Khan. When he takes the call, it is with obvious reluctance, since his daughter has challenged his teaching methods some time ago. However, after he listens to his daughter's plaintive cry his paternal and coaching instincts come to the fore and he says that he will come to Patiala. Aamir excels in this scene. Mahavir goes to Patiala, trains his daughter before the formal coaching practice begins and asks her to revert to her natural attacking game.

    Geeta faces tough opponents during the course of the Commonwealth Games. She wins over each, her final win resulting in a gold medal. At the end of the movie, she earns kudos from her father. http://d2010results.thecgf.com/en/Comp.mvc/DetailedScheduleByDate?sportCode=WR&day=07-10-2010&expandAll=False shows the actual results from the Commonwealth Results, indicating Geeta's triumph. Apart from the national anthem played before the movie begins in the theatre, the audience stood up when the anthem was played in the movie also, exhorted by one fan !

    That was the long summary of the movie ! There are a couple of aspects that turned me off: first, the movie could have been more accurate. http://www.thebetterindia.com/79838/dangal-facts-mahavir-singh-phogat-geeta-phogat/ has five differences between the movie and reality. One of the coaches is portrayed almost as a villain, since he emphasises technique and the defensive approach. http://www.mid-day.com/articles/aamir-khan-dangal-wrestling-coach-pr-sondhi-hates-mahavir-phogat-geeta-babita-bollywood-news/17864199 reports on the unnecessary controversy. Now, coaches may have differing ways of teaching, but it does not make them villains ! I feel that the script writers could have focussed on the internal struggle that Geeta faces : she has combated prejudices, social norms and a crisis of confidence to emerge victorious in the Commonwealth Games 2010 event. That is quite a significant achievement in itself, which could have made the movie stand on its own. Second, the usage of the narrator is inconsistent. The movie starts with a narration by a cousin of the girls, but gradually the narration decreases. In the second half of the movie, it is used only at the end. Another quibble I have is with the editing: the sequence where Mahavir asks his daughters to swim is not shown well, I feel.

    The positives in the movie far outweigh the minor negatives observed above. The first positive is the powerhouse performances by Aamir Khan and the girls playing Geeta and Babita Phogat, both young and old, i.e. Fatima, Sanya, Zaira and Suhani. The producers have paid a lot of attention to detail, including a stunt coordinator for the wrestling scenes and two dialect coaches. The credits can be seen at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5074352/fullcredits/ for reference. All the performers have acted well, but Aamir, Fatima, Sanya, Zaira and Suhani stand out.

    The transformation that Aamir underwent for the movie shows his commitment towards it. He is extremely convincing as the demanding taskmaster of two young girls. His air of authority and his desire for his girls to excel appear very realistic.

    The second positive is the way the movie pokes fun at the preference for male heirs. Humour is used effectively to bring this out. On the other hand, when Geeta wins her first wrestling bout, she earns the admiration of the afficionados. Initially, the crowd is more only to see how a girl would combat male wrestlers. The audience is contemptuous of Geeta's chances and derisive comments are tossed about by the paying public. The transformation at the end of the bout is brought out nicely. The belief of Mahavir in his daughters' talent demonstrates the power of determination and constant effort. It is a useful message conveyed by the movie.

    The music suits the mood of the movie well, particularly the Haanikaarak Bapu and Dhaakad songs. This is the third positive.

    The fourth positive in the movie is the realistic portrayal overall, whether it is the plastic comb and toothpaste stand in the house of the Phorgats or Geeta and Babita's fondness for "golgappe". All actors have used the services of the Haryanvi coach well. The young girls call their father "Pappa" in a Haryanvi accent and Aamir Khan also fits into the role of the Jat father superbly.

    The wrestling scenes with the voice-over commentary are depicted well. The advice of the wrestling coach is evident in all the wrestling bouts, including those when Geeta is young. Even the scoring of the points is explained in brief, which helps the viewer to appreciate the Commonwealth Games wrestling bouts better. Full marks go to the producers for making the wrestling scenes realistic.

    Overall, the commitment shown by the actors and also the producers is commendable. Dangal is an earnestly made movie that deserves watching for the performance by all the lead actors, its wrestling bouts, the determination of one man to make his daughters champions and the efforts of the girls to achieve the expectations of their father.