Dangal, Dhoni and Milieu of Indian Sports Drama

I was a little bit taken aback when one of my friends registered in a group chat that Dangal
that he had seen in a decade of Indian Cinema. Not because I didn’t like the film. I did like it.
I wouldn’t nod my head to the statement that it is the best movie ever made.
I did feel inspired during the movie. Goosebumps, wolf whistle moments were there for me
too. I was awestruck by the performances. The level these actors could go to to bring
originality to the film still amaze me.
But apart from that these are the elements without which a sports movie couldn’t exist.
Dangal is another usual sports drama you would see in Indian milieu. The only difference is
that Dangal is inspired from true events rather than being an art of fiction.
Mahavir Singh Phogat and his legendary daughters does exist and that is where exactly the
film fails (for me atleast).
For one thing the protagonist here is Aamir Khan who turns to a “hero to be worshipped”
kind of character in the later part of the movie. Throughout the initial parts of the movie,
Aamir sheds his stardom and enacts the least likeable father character. Laudable attempt, yes
salute to that. He sheds tears in front of board members to save his daughters from being
kicked out off NSA itself. He scores in that scene and that is the only scene where the father
in him is depicted.
Apart from that, he is a different form of misogynist in the society. He is yet another typical
Indian parent who chokes his dream upon his daughters. He decides to spoil her childhood
without her permission.
For the points that I have mentioned, Aamir perfectly fits the graph and has executed well
too. But towards the end the graph delineates on this. He starts to rule the screen as a great
teacher. I am not telling he is not a good coach, but that his negative shades are hidden
underneath this great nametag of great coach.
Geeta and Babita, the real heroes in the movie are shadowed. Except in the hair tonsuring
scene which is sure to stir some emotions, the girls are not given a chance to express their
emotions.
The girls hate the training at first. With one magical speech they not only start loving their
father, but also do start loving the game.
I can understand that if they want to express minute details of the emotional graph on scene,
it is sure to consume time. But in that long a movie, if the time is not dedicated for the hearts
of these girls what else is it for.
The girls are not only made of strong muscles. They do have a heart. A good part of the
movie is spent in showcasing the girl’s talent and their acting prowess in the game of
wrestling, which is beautifully choreographed.
One would be a no brainer if one has to complaint on the games in the movie. My take is that
the game scenarios are given more importance to the movie where the sole reason being that
it applies to the masses and it works commercially.
There is no difference between Dangal and a documentary on the life story of Mahavir Singh
Phogat (if one is ever taken) if the director tries to recreate the game scenario in the movie.
We go to the theatre to watch a movie where interesting characters play their parts and
entertain us. In the story of Mahavir Singh and Geeta wrestling is inevitable but that is not the
vital part.
I feel that importance should have been given to the emotional war between the girl and her
father rather than the nail biting game.
The girl fighting her father to prove that his age old techniques do fail is one hell of a scene
for which I felt my money was worth. There right in that scene the girl was fighting her
demons rather than her father. She wanted to be proved right. It was like her way of taking on
a devil which ripped happiness off her childhood.
One another scene where Geeta wells up over the phone with her father really took me down.
I did break down a little in the cinema hall itself. It is this kind of scenes that had my money
worth.
The reason I am writing this post is because Dangal is becoming the second film in a row
which changes a cinema hall into a mini sports library. The other movie was the biopic of the
ingenious wicket keeper. If unchecked this practise is sure to become a trend in the coming
days.
Remember how we had and are still having the long list of ghost/ horror comedy movies.
Those kind of movies are still lined up for releases thanks to the Hit formula created by their
fore-father kind of movie (MUNI). The other filmmakers and producers caught the trend fand
traded up the same path with very little innovation because money is guaranteed by the end of
the tunnel.
The same scenario goes up here. M.S.Dhoni and Dangal is sure to give birth to movies that
will look like a silver screen version of star sports highlights.
We will keep praising and encouraging the same for the out of the world dedication and
performances, and we will break down at nostalgic sports events. We will forget that we are
watching a movie, while the cinema dies right in front our eyes.
Dangal lovers will still claim that the move was encouraging enough for the rural kids to take
up sports seriously. Well for your information Irudhi Sutru did the same. Indeed IS was far
better than Dangal in my eyes. IS had the right proportion of game and the story. None of
them spoiled the other.
One of my friends said the fights in IS were not that great and the wrestling scenes in Dangal
were far better. For him yes, IS might lack something in the fights that Dangal might have
excelled in but IS had scored in places where Dangal hadn’t even stepped in.