Women Power. Review on Dangal

When a movie makes you stand for the national anthem while the movie is playing then it's a given that the movie has struck a chord with the audience. And Dangal does this and how.

The excellent opening sequence sets the tone of the movie and raise your expectations with each passing scene and fulfils them. Eyes hardly waver from the screen while we laugh, go moist eyed, bite our nails, enthralled by intricacies of wrestling, and inspired performances by both the girls(the young and the grown ups), and Aamir, who completely controls the viewer's emotions like a master puppeteer. Special mention must be made of both the actors who portrays character of aamirs nephew. Never mind the familiarity of its theme(triumph against odds), the running length of 160 minutes, the movie is wonderfully written, directed, acted. The biopic is engrossing that makes you care about its humaneness and finely etched central characters, thereby stirring your emotional reserves. Only the stone-hearted are likely to be left unmoved by Dangal. The movie is female centric depicting prejudice against young women from a smalltown who venture into an arena traditionally associated with men. The movie advances portrayal of women who refuse to be subjugated in our mainstream movies.“Maari chhoriyan chhoron se kam hai kya, ” says Aamir proudly.

The rigorous training the girls are put through, the sniggers from chauvinistic society, the clashes with sports authorities, and the thrilling, nail-biting combats push you to edge of seat and are portrayed authentically. There are layers of emotions too like the scene between aamir and his daughter where they wrestle or the scenes between two grown up sisters. It’s these layers, tucked away but easily sought, that separate Dangal from a standard sports movie. The script digs deep to give us genuinely affecting moments like Geeta’s discovery of her own feminity, her first brush with boys outside her home town, her sheer amazement over the effect DDLJ can have on girls.

What swings in the favour of Dangal are Aamir Khan’s career-best performance, authentic emotions, super photography, realistic wrestling, in-built patriotism, and a little bit of jingoism. With mainstream films espousing cause of women, and major stars doing the flag bearing, it would be injustice to this wonderful movie if we nitpick faults in the movie.

Strongly Recommended.