Banner: Walt Disney Pictures, Aamir Khan Productions & UTV Motion Pictures
Producer: Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao & Siddharth Roy Kapur
Director: Nitesh Tiwari
Star Cast: Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar, Ritwick Sahore, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra, Zaira Wasim, Suhani Bhatnagar, Rohit Shankarwar, Vivan Bhatena, Aparshakti Khurrana, Kaustubh Pile, Girish Kulkarni et al
Music: Pritam
Aamir Khan is not known as Mr. Perfectionist for nothing. And with the finesse that he has displayed in his year ending presentation Dangal he has surpassed even his own volcano of filmmaking talent beyond any doubt. Need I say anything more on this front?
The flawlessly & perfectly scripted scenario of Dangal reveals that Mahavir Singh Phogat (Aamir Khan) is a wrestler whose sole dream is to win gold for India in the sport of wrestling and since he is unable to do so himself, he decides that he will train his son to become a champion. However, Mahavir is blessed with 4 daughters continuously and feels his dream of winning a medal for India lies shattered. But one fine day, Mahavir gets to know that his young daughters have had an altercation with neighbourhood boys and bashed them black & blue. That’s when he realises that his dream of winning a gold medal for the country in wrestling could be achieved by his daughters. Mahavir decides to train his young daughters into world class wrestlers. The girls are reluctant initially and find it tough to cope up with the gruelling training sessions, but soon become proficient in the sport.
With Aamir Khan at the helm of the entire filmmaking process of Dangal some of the perfection has rubbed off on director Nitesh Tiwari too, who had directed Chillar Party & Bhootnath Returns in his earlier two outings. So in his 3rd outing Dangal, Nitesh Tiwari delivers his most accomplished work so far. Most of the films take a long time to come to the point, but the middle & the final acts of Dangal are as attention grabbing & as eye catchingly enticing as its 1st act. In fact Nitesh Tiwari deserves a well – deserved standing ovation in tandem with Aamir Khan, his better half Kiran Rao & Siddharth Roy Kapur and of course Walt Disney & UTV Motion Pictures backing a finest film like Dangal all the way from “The Start” to “The End”. That apart a fair amount of Brownie Points should also go to the behind – the – scenes team comprising of Nitesh Tiwari, Piyush Gupta, Shreyas Jain & Nikhil Meharotra (writers), Pritam (music composer), Setu (cinematography), Ballu Saluja (editor), Amitabh Bhattacharya (lyricist) and last but not the least Kripa Shankar Bishnoi (coach with the Indian women’s wrestling team) who trained Aamir Khan and the entire crew for the superbly executed wrestling sequences.
Performance wise it is Aamir Khan who tops the list of the entire brigade of actors of Dangal. He has given an extraordinarily superb performance which even crosses the par excellence limitless category. The way he has worked hard for his unbelievable act of Mahavir Singh Phogat, including his bodily transformation, is just seen to be believed. He makes his return to the celluloid silver screen after a long hiatus of the alien PK. But it does make wonder as to why he had to shred his clothes in PK when he has a Volcano of talent ready to erupt any time on the celluloid silver screen. Having said all that what adjectives can one use for the other stellar cast except that they are all perfection personified and tried their level best to match Mr. Perfectionist step by step nay scene by scene. And the rooster of extremely talented performers are Sakshi Tanwar as Daya Shobha Kaur wife of Mahavir Singh Phogat, Fatima Sana Shaikh as Geeta Phogat, daughter of Mahavir Singh Phogat, Zaira Wasim as young Geeta, Sanya Malhotra as Babita Kumari, daughter of Mahavir Singh Phogat, Suhani Bhatnagar as young Babita, Aparshakti Khurrana as Mahavir’s nephew, Ritwik Sahore (Aparshakti’s younger part), Girish Kulkarni as the coach of Geeta & Babita. Besides Vivan Bhathena, Rohit Shankarwar, Kaustubh Pile et al in a cameo.
Tail Piece: Dangal is a rare masterpiece albeit interesting, lively & entertaining. So go for it. Dangal is no doubt a terrific film that stays in your heart and remains etched in your memory much after the screening has concluded. It Is indeed a classic film which blends drama, emotions, sportsmanship & patriotism extraordinarily. In fact Dangal is seeped in Indian ethos. The highs & the lows, the triumphs & the failures, the laughter & the heartbreak while watching Dangal make you smile, laugh, weep, cheer, ecstatic et al. So Dangal encompasses it all adroitly, with the finale leaving you extremely exhilarated. Dangal is no doubt a must, must watch film.
