Dangal Mangal.

Hola guys, just 5 more days for the New Year and we will be on the other side then. It’s Holi-Holiday season and in India especially it’s meant for those last minute trips, shadis to attend and spending some quality time with the dear ones. And obviously our filmy Bollywood can’t let this window go waste, so this Christmas we got Dangal as a gift.

From past few years, Indian cinema has given us lots and lots of biopics ranging from Neerja to Mary Kom to Rustom to M.S Dhoni to Azhar, like literally Bollywood being the biggest film industry in the world, it doesn’t have anything novel to serve on the plate to the audience. And funnily the year is also ending with Dangal, another biopic.

The film opens up with Omkar, Mahavir Singh’s brother’s son (Ritwik Sahwre first then Apaarshakti Khurana) narrating us the story in the background and we start loving it because he is funny with the observations and the remarks. Mahavir Singh Phogat (Aamir Khan), a struggling Haryanavi wrestler whose dream is to win a gold medal for his Bharat mata but fails in life. Then in India comes Shaadi and with that comes bache not just one or two but four. Daya Kaur (Sakshi Tanwar) and Mahavir try their best for a son who would accomplish his dreams but in a serious time lapse years have passed and his two eldest daughters Geeta(Zaira Wasim) and Babita(Suhani Bhatnagar) are now those typical gaon ki choriyaan who love chaat, have teekhi zabaan and can give boys some tough times with their punches.

This just ignites the fire within dead Mahavir Singh and decides to train them for Kushti. Daya tries to revolt against it but he just asks for a year and you don’t realize how time sails and Geeta (Fatima Sana Sheikh) and Babita (Sanya Malhotra) have grown up to be National champions who are now being trained by a professional coach (Girish Kulkarni) who definitely gives us a sour reality check of our country. With all the struggles and conflicts our Geeta and Babita manage to make their family proud especially their father who gave this opportunity and by not expecting his girls to just make rotis in the kitchen.

Certain scenes and dialogues in the film win over audience’s hearts.The director Nitesh Tiwari who has done films like Chillar Party and Bhootnath returns has paid much attention to all the elements. Sethu Sriram has shot it beautifully and Production designers Laxmi Keluskar and Sandeep Meher have made sure that each frame looks as authentic as the people watching the film can feel the background, the house, the walls and most importantly our mitti. Music for the film has been composed by Pritam, even though I didn't like the songs when they came out but in film the songs capture the mood of the characters fantastically. Maxima Basu has done the costumes for the film and certainly did a fabulous job.

The transformation of Mahavir Singh from the full body man in tight fitted “Bushat” our hindi word for those half sleeves collared t-shirt and shirts with trousers and that mooch to slowly shifting to little muted checked shirts in brown and mustards which are not so fitted. Then as time passes we see seamlessly the attire denoting his give up attitude, he has a potbelly, he has put on weight and can’t wear those jazzy outfits anymore and has to settle for Pajama, Kurta shirts and that typical gaon ka gamcha. Through the costumes as well one could feel each and every detail be it those dirty akhaade ki mitti wale clothes, which are over washed and are worn out or his overall attitude towards life.

Daya Kaur on the other hand has been a simple woman from the beginning itself, her salwar kameezes remained constant through out the movie but surely one could see the change with the age. Initially we see brighter colors and florals on her with dupattas and bare minimum jewellery and neatly set hair. With time colors of the salwar kameez change to those deeper typical colors teaming the sets with mismatched worn out dupatta, which is always on her messy hair. Loved the mismatched detail as it definitely gave the true essence of woman’s life in Rural India.

Our girls as teens were seen in salwar kameez as well which of course seemed dirty and unwashed and worn out. One could make out that mother stitches these for them with leftover old fabrics or just alters her dresses for her daughters and they wear random dupattas. Hair is messy and long in the beginning. Once the training begins then girls are running in those salwars and dupattas and being trained by their father. Then comes the list of excuses, number one that Baapu we cant run in Salwars, Baapu immediately takes the clothes from Omkar and Maa machine chalaake cut shorts the trousers. The Bushat or t-shirt girls wore were worn out and looked cheap, so again a great eye to the detailing. Excuse number two that their long hair is getting damaged and next morning their hair is chopped. At that point of time one could surely connect with the girls and felt Baapu is being selfish but later I guess they manage to change our perception really well in the wedding scene.

Time passes and as girls become champions they get access to urban life and malls, and we see the difference in their wardrobe, they get into better gym wear cum sports wear dressing like those tights with polo tees and sweat jackets. They grow up to be prettier and that pixie hair cut becomes their identity.

Other supporting cast like Omkar and the villagers and relatives are also seen sporting traditional Harayanavi clothes with a little modern touch for men of course.  Their urban life companions also had the right clothing and the right kind of attitude to top it all, be it Geeta’s friends or the coach and other supporting cast.

Each and every detail has been taken care of and shows the amount of research gone into it by all the cast and crew of the film. At certain points it becomes little repetitive with all the Kushti and wrestling matches but still it looks authentic as if its not scripted and they are actually playing their sport. The story is definitely not just about Mahavir Singh and Aamir Khan doesn’t take the screen space completely, at every point we have focus on the Dangal girls, their mother and other cast as well. I guess that’s what makes the film balanced.

So guys we end the year on Dangal, which is definitely a blockbuster and you’ll must go watch it this vacay season. When you look back to the whole year, there was no movie at all that one could say wow that was a great one. With 100’s of movies releasing in a year with all the sweat and blood of the cast and crew we only get one movie to call it as great in 2016??

Anyways lets hope the year 2017, brings us some more great movies to enjoy and look upto till then,

Merry Christmas.

Love,

Cine Closet.