Dangal Film Review

A true event of a wrestling family in India brings to the screens an intense and fulfilling story.

As a viewer you’re brought straight into the feel of the movie when a young Mahavir Singh Phogat played by Aamir Khan takes on a fellow office worker in an onsite match. The feel of the wrestling on TV commentary running through the background as Mahavir Singh Phogat shows why he was a National Champion opens up the adventure that Nitesh Tiwari directs so well.

The film itself is produced by Walt Disney Studios and Aamir Khan Productions but the Disney edge is seen differently in the contrast of the Aamir Productions where a vibrant feature of Indian life is brought to the screen. Reaching 20 billion rupees or 2000 crore, it’s became a huge hit in China and isn’t stopping there. Now in the IMDb top 250 films to watch this summer, it’s actually a must see.

As the story goes on, we get to see the growth of  two Indian future wrestling stars: Babita and Geeta. The daughters of Aamir Khan’s character. Throughout we see the development of the passion the father has for his daughters to achieve a medal not for them but for the country and prove everybody wrong. With this came downfalls of crossfire between national coaches and Mahavir over training techniques and when Geeta reaches an international level, the coaches training is clearly not good enough as Geeta begins to fall behind, forgetting that of her fathers wrestling techniques. It’s only when the loss of love brings Geeta and her father closer to return from the modern techniques that aren’t working to the powerful and dominating instincts influenced by Mahavir Singh Phogat.

As the commonwealth games approach, a rather interesting change in camera angles brings the actual coverage to cross with that of Dangal’s is seen but doesn’t let the film down, it simply reminds the audience of the true events that India’s two wrestling champs went through to reach the top.

A few rounds of tough wins and clever moves brings a glimpse that Geeta should be in WWE but when the realisation that her final is against the Australian whose beaten her twice, a twist in mindset hits. Added to the fact that the international coach is a complete idiot and locks her father in a janitors closet, Geeta reminds herself of her fathers lessons about him not always being there and that is certainly what happened in her biggest fight yet.

A mix of scenes of Mahavir Singh Phogat trying to open the door with a metal rod and charging at it which was quite humerous and the fight, tension builds over a 1-1 in rounds with the Aussie 5-1 up until a miracle is needed.

*The undertaker enters the ring*

On a serious note, the final move is a 5 five pointer and in slow motion really gives a build up of emotion as the clock ticks down in the final seconds with the move made just in time. It is then that I realise I was getting far to into the film, cheering as though my own national team in a sport I’m not usually fazed by but after Dangal, I’ll definitely be checking it out. Maybe even take it up…

A classic film that deserves the recognition it’s been getting. It is in subtitles but that didn’t change a thing as the attention was all in the film and the acting was top notch.

IMDb: 8.7

TRoaW: 8.7/10        A must see if you haven’t already.