There is a scene in Dangal where Sakshi Tanwar’s Daya Phogat
wonders aloud to her husband that she is unable to understand his methods to
drive their daughters towards a career in the sport of wrestling. Aamir Khan’s
Mahavir Phogat replies that he is in a situation where he can either be a
Teacher (Guru) or a father, but not both. The line is intended towards the
audience lest they end up thinking what a cruel father Phogat was. Towards the
later part of the movie we get a brilliant scene where Phogat’s elder daughter
Geeta calls home and asks to speak to her father. This scene is preceded by an
ego-cum-wrestling clash between the teacher Phogat and the student Geeta. As
Daya hands over the phone to her husband, we get to see the Teacher Phogat say
a brusque ‘Haan’ intended to the
student Geeta. But what he hears is sobbing at the other end, from the daughter
Geeta. At that instant, the Teacher Phogat and the Father Phogat fight an
internal battle and merge into one. Aamir Khan aces this scene in a way only he
can and succeeds in making the audience buy this metamorphosis. I found this
scene to be the most significant one in this brilliantly made sports drama.
While there have been many discussions as to whether Dangal
is feminist or patriarchal, I personally found the cusp of the movie to be this
metamorphosis of the Teacher and the Father. Of course, the movie had an
engaging screenplay with some of the best casting one could see in a Hindi
movie. Aamir Khan is easily the most assured star of Indian cinema. He doesn’t need
all 161 minutes of screen time to enhance his stardom. He lets the new girls
hog the limelight for most part of the movie while coming up with frequent
scene-stealing performances. The Girls, be it Zaira and Suhani as the younger
versions of the Phogat sisters or Fatima and Sana as the elder versions, are
pitch perfect in casting as well as performance. It is hard to believe they are
young actors and not actual wrestlers. While credit for this must go to the
girls, a significant part of it must also go to the wrestling choreographer
Kripa Shankar Bishnoi. The wrestling sequences were absolutely nail biting and
never once felt staged. The second half is packed with so much of wrestling
action that if there had been a slight misstep in the action choreography, it
would have impacted the whole movie. But the sequences end up saving even the
otherwise clichéd jingoistic climax.
As Geeta stands on the podium with her medal and the
national anthem plays out, we see Phogat reacting like the true blue
nationalist sportsman who has helped his country win an international gold
medal. It is ironic that Phogat was played to perfection by the very same actor
who was called out for being ‘anti-national’ and asked to leave the country if
he found it ‘intolerant’. If Aamir Khan can give us a movie like Dangal every
year, I personally wouldn’t give two hoots as to whether he is a chest-thumping
patriot or not.
