Dangal: An experience in itself...when a movie can make you want to get up and start wrestling yourself, it's in a league of it's own😆.
Sports movies come with some pre-set expectations...everyone knows where it's going, there are the usual expectations of an underdog rising against all odds to come out on top and the expected healthy dash of patriotism to leave everyone happy.
Where Dangal scores IMMENSELY as a film is in the near ELEMENTAL depiction of the sport of wrestling as a metaphor for the larger struggle against immense odds in life...that struggle feels literal in all the wresting scenes in the film. It is especially striking even more so that this is a story about WOMEN rising against many odds in a sport considered to be traditionally macho, male, in a state, a country where women are left to be objectified or married off as brood mares.
Even more striking is the real story from which this is inspired...I found myself struck with that thought many times while watching the film...one can't even imagine the odds the real Phogats overcame to reach that level in the sport. And I love the fact that the film never got preachy on that point...showed the evolution in Mahavir's own thought process when it came to his daughters (Mhaari chhoriyaan kisi chhoron se kam hain?" and then literally RUNNING with it...world be DAMNED😆.
I'm not sure how Aamir Khan manages it time and again but this is an IMMENSE effort as a film...a game changer in the way sports films are made...everything from the casting, the script, the performances are just top notch...right down to the cousin doing the narrative...barring a few cop out blemishes like the coach storyline, pretty much everything is top notch in the film.
The two Geetas stand out the most...absolutely FLOORED by their performances...especially Zaira's...the grit she brings to the evolution of a young Geeta defying her father's imposition of wrestling onto them and then later EMBRACING it with a killer instinct. Fatima was excellent as well...she has the most amount of screentime in terms of the actual wrestling and BOY was she fantastic👏👏...one can't tell even for a second that they aren't actual wrestlers...Aamir is fantastic as Mahavir Phogat as well...the crux of the film is his relationship with his daughters and that is the thread that binds this all together in such an emotionally powerful way...just the right dash of disappointment, hope, zeal, pain, faith and finally PRIDE in his eyes. Sakshi was fantastic as well! The J2K2 cousin...super adorable😆
A special mention again for the wrestling sequences...SUPERB all of them...in particular, I LOVED Geeta's fights...the first one with the boy in the local dangal competition and then later on the grown up Geeta's fights in the Commonwealth games...the semi-final with the Nigerian lady really stands out for the MOVES in it, man...I had no prior knowledge of this sport before but now I feel like I can watch it with the zeal and knowledge of a veteran😆...tremendous achievement as a film to translate a new sport for a cricket crazy nation in such a way that everyone can follow along.
Geeta and Mahavir's wrestling bit was just WOW to watch...so gritty...so raw👏👏...the struggle both real and metaphoric between father and daughter there...
We've had some great films come out this year but none with the sheer THRILL that this one evokes...in terms of both the triumph of the human spirit in the face of immense odds as well as the sheer thrill of the sport itself...it is hard to articulate the thrill of watching the elemental struggle of life play itself out during a wrestling match.
4/5
Hats off to the grit and determination of the real Phogats...Geeta, Babita, and Mahavir Phogat👏👏👏
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