Dangal () is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language biographical sports drama film directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, and Siddharth Roy Kapur under Aamir Khan Productions and The Walt Disney Company India. The film stars Khan as Mahavir Singh Phogat, a pehlwani amateur wrestler who trains his daughters Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari to become India's first world-class female wrestlers. Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra portray the adult versions of the two Phogat sisters, Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar their younger versions, Sakshi Tanwar their mother, and Aparshakti Khurana adult version of their cousin, Ritvik Sahore his younger version, all of them except Shaikh, Tanwar and Sahore in their film debuts.
Development on the film began in early 2013 when Tiwari began writing the script. Khan had interviewed the Phogat sisters in 2014 on his talk show Satyamev Jayate, before Tiwari approached him with the script months later, after which Khan became the lead actor and producer. Set primarily in the Indian state of Haryana, principal photography commenced in September 2015 in the neighbouring Punjab. Satyajit Pande served as the cinematographer and Ballu Saluja as the editor. Pritam scored the film's background music and soundtrack, lyrics for which were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Kripa Shankar Patel Bishnoi, a coach with the Indian women's wrestling team, trained Khan and the cast for the wrestling sequences.
After a North American premiere on 21 December 2016, Dangal was released worldwide on 23 December to universal critical acclaim, with praise centered on the film's "honest" depiction of a real-life story and Khan's performance, including the emotional weight. Considered one of the greatest sports film of all time the film was a commercial blockbuster, setting several records at the box office including highest-grossing Hindi film and highest-grossing Indian film worldwide The film grossed (), worldwide by various different estimates, including in China alone.
Dangal screened at the Beijing International Film Festival in April 2017 and second BRICS festival in June 2017. At the 62nd Filmfare Awards, it won four awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Khan) and Best Action (Shyam). At the 64th National Film Awards, Wasim won Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Geeta's younger self. Overseas, Dangal won the inaugural Best Asian Film award at Australia's 7th AACTA Awards, 2017's Best Foreign Film and Top Foreign Actor (for Aamir Khan) from China's Douban Film Awards, and two Jackie Chan Action Movie Awards, and was nominated in the Asian Brilliant Stars category at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival.
Plot Mahavir Singh Phogat, a former amateur wrestler trained in the traditional Indian pehlwani style, is a national wrestling champion from Balali, Haryana. Pressured by his father, he abandons his wrestling career to pursue steady employment. Despite his disappointment at being unable to win a medal for India, he vows that his future son will achieve his goal. However, upon having four daughters, he initially resigns himself to the belief that his aspirations will remain unfulfilled.
His perspective changes when his eldest daughters, Geeta and Babita, demonstrate exceptional strength by defeating boys who insult them. Recognizing their potential, Mahavir begins training them rigorously in wrestling. As a part of the coaching, he subjects them to gruelling early-morning exercises, enforces short haircuts, and insists on discipline, often drawing criticism from the local community. Initially resentful of their father's harshness, the sisters gradually come to appreciate his dedication and the opportunities he seeks to create for them. Using equipment such as mattresses instead of wrestling mats due to financial constraints, Mahavir teaches them freestyle wrestling, preparing them for competitive tournaments. Geeta emerges as a prodigious talent, winning both junior and senior state and national championships, and eventually enrolls at the National Sports Academy in Patiala to train for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
At the academy, Geeta forms new friendships but begins to deviate from her father's training regimen under the influence of her coach, Pramod Kadam, whose methods differ significantly from Mahavir's. This divergence leads to a series of defeats at the international level. During a visit home, Geeta, in a moment of arrogance, challenges and defeats her exhausted father in a wrestling match. Babita reminds her sister of the importance of respecting Mahavir's guidance, prompting Geeta to reconcile with her father. Meanwhile, Babita wins the national championship and joins Geeta at the academy, supporting her emotionally and reinforcing the bond between the sisters.
As the Commonwealth Games approach, Pramod assigns Geeta to compete in the 51 kg weight class instead of her customary 55 kg division. Angered by this decision, Mahavir travels to Patiala with his nephew Omkar and resumes coaching the sisters in secret. The sports authorities, learning of Mahavir's interference, issue a warning but allow the sisters to continue competing, while Mahavir is barred from the academy and the girls' movements are restricted. Undeterred, Mahavir continues to train Geeta remotely, reviewing tapes of her previous matches and providing guidance over the phone.
During the Games, Geeta competes in her 55 kg weight category. Despite Pramod's instructions, she follows Mahavir's tactical guidance, progressing the final match. In the gold medal bout, trailing 1-5 in the final session with only nine seconds remaining, Geeta recalls her father's strategies and executes a decisive 5-point move in the closing three seconds, clinching a 5-6 victory and winning the match 2-1. She becomes the first Indian female wrestler to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. Mahavir rejoices with his daughters, overshadowing Pramod's attempts to claim credit, and the sisters' triumph is widely celebrated in the media.
Cast
Aamir Khan as Mahavir Singh Phogat Sakshi Tanwar as Daya Shobha Kaur – Mahavir's wife Fatima Sana Shaikh as Geeta Phogat – Mahavir's eldest daughter Zaira Wasim as Child Geeta Sanya Malhotra as Babita Kumari – Mahavir's second daughter Suhani Bhatnagar as Child Babita Aparshakti Khurana as Omkar Singh Phogat (Also narrator) – Rajpal's son; Mahavir's nephew Ritvik Sahore as Teenage Omkar Ishika Gagneja as Sunita Ananya Sharma as Child Ritu Phogat – Mahavir's third daughter Lakshita Goyal as Child Sangeeta Phogat – Mahavir's youngest daughter Girish Kulkarni as Pramod Kadam – Coach at the National Sports Academy Vivan Bhatena as Harkinder – Mahavir's colleague Shishir Sharma as Head of Department of the National Sports Academy Meenu Prajapati as Jasmeet – Geeta's friend at the National Sports Academy Badrul Islam as Shamim – Owner of meat shop Karmveer Choudhary as Maan Singh Phogat – Mahavir's father Anurag Arora as Rajpal Singh Phogat – Mahavir's brother; Omkar's father
Production Development
Divya V. Rao, a member of Disney India's creative team, read a newspaper article in 2012 about Mahavir Singh Phogat, who trained his daughters to become world champions. She thought this would make for a great film, and spoke about this to Siddharth Roy Kapur and other Disney personnel. Disney approached Nitesh Tiwari to write and direct the story. Tiwari met Phogat and his daughters, who instantly agreed to tell the story. Tiwari worked on the script for close to a year with Piyush Gupta, Shreyas Jain and Nikhil Mehrotra before going to Ronnie Screwvala, the CEO of UTV Motion Pictures, and Kapur with the final script, while suggesting that Aamir Khan play Phogat.
Months prior to being approached for with the script, Khan had invited the Phogat sisters onto his television talk show Satyamev Jayate, interviewing them on the first episode of season three in 2014. A few months after he interviewed them on Satyamev Jayate, he was approached by Tiwari. Kapur and Tiwari went to Khan with the story, and Khan loved it in its first narration. Khan had just finished Dhoom 3 and had begun shooting for PK. He wanted to do the film after 5–10 years when he would turn 60 because the role demanded him to be 55 and he was still doing younger roles. But the story remained in his mind and a few months later, he called up Tiwari and asked him to narrate the script once again.
After the release of PK in 2014, Khan announced that he would play the role of a wrestler in his next film titled Dangal directed by Tiwari, a cinematic biography of the former wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat. Khan, who was to produce the film himself with Disney, said to reporters, "Nitesh has written a wonderful story. The topic is very important, it's very dramatic. It highlights the discrimination that is meted out to the girl child in India. The best part is that he has done it in a very entertaining manner. The heart of the story is emotional, but it also has a lot of humor. Raju Hirani has this unique way to tell a story where he says something socially very relevant but he tells his story in a very entertaining manner. Similarly, Nitesh has written a very entertaining lovely script, the dialogues are very entertaining. Each time I listen to the dialogues, I laugh a lot. I cry as well as laugh."
In March 2015, Junior Indian women's wrestling team coach Kripa Shankar Patel Bishnoi was approached by Aamir Khan Productions to train Khan and the entire crew of Dangal. Bishnoi said about the film in a Hindustan Times interview, "Very few Indians encourage women for wrestling, especially because of the uniform. This film will change that perception too. People would hopefully want to see their daughters taking up wrestling as a sport."
Khan lost some weight and took Haryanvi lessons and dialect training for the film. He played two distinct roles in the film: the 60-year-old wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat, and the 20-year-old version of Phogat. Khan reportedly gained 30 kg and weighed 98 kg to play the role of the older Phogat, and then lost the weight to play the younger role in Dangal. The film was produced on a budget of .
Casting In March 2015, Taapsee Pannu, Deeksha Seth and Akshara Haasan were being considered for the roles of Khan's on-screen daughters. In April, Shaikh and Malhotra were cast as the daughters, who hailed from the Jat community of Balali village of Bhiwani, Haryana. Geeta Phogat had participated in the London Olympics in 2012, while Babita had won the gold medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In June 2015, Wasim and Bhatnagar were roped in as child actors for the film. Khurana was also cast in the film, making his debut after a career as a VJ. Mukesh Chhabra served as the casting director, with Vikram Singh being recruited to play the role of the villain. Khan's nephew Pablo, who is the son of Mansoor Khan, was the film's assistant director. Mallika Sherawat auditioned for a role. Mrunal thakur also auditioned however she opted out citing scheduling conflicts. In August 2015, Rajkumar Rao, who previously worked with Khan in Talaash, was approached for an important role. After auditioning 70 actresses for the role, Tanwar was brought on as Daya Kaur, the wife of Mahavir Singh Phogat. Ananya was chosen to play Sangita, the youngest daughter of Mahavir Phogat. In October 2015, Vivan Bhatena, who appeared in a key role in Talaash, was selected to play a supporting role in the film. In an interview in January 2017, Rao stated that if Khan had declined the role, the only other choices would have been Mohanlal and Kamal Haasan.
For the film's Tamil language dub, Khan initially approached Rajinikanth to voice his role. Despite Rajinikanth enjoying the film, they both eventually decided against it, as they found Rajinikanth's voice to be too recognizable to go along with Khan's appearance.
Filming