#365DaysOfWriting — Day 232

Ho gaya na Dangal

My Dangal review got a lot of good responses. But here’s the twist – not many appreciated me calling out Mahavir Singh Phogat for his abuse.

Now I admit it was the case of having to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea – and the girls chose the deep blue sea – but they eventually did become successful. They might have been married off at the age of 14, but turned out medal winners. Overall, it seems like a great rags-to-riches story.

I still believe though it is necessary to call out what happens in the film. Nitesh Tiwari has done a great job of keeping the story real and neutral – he eschews from making Phogat the hero for as long as possible (except for the last 20 minutes). It is important to call out his abuse simply to tell our country that gender discrimination is still blatantly practised under the guise of ‘tradition’. The story of the Phogats may have started in a different era, but for rural India it’s not much different even today.

It is important to remember that. Yes, hooray, the story of the Phogat sisters is inspiring and one to tell the grandchildren – but don’t leave out the part where Mahavir Singh Phogat makes them undergo strain that’s not normal for 11-year-old girls. The girls are the heroes, not Mahavir. Keep repeating that in your head. Maybe he’s a man who tried to make the most of the situation given to him, but it still doesn’t make it right. He could’ve fought the system in a lot of other ways – he could’ve protested child marriage and given his girls a normal life. Maybe I’m asking for a lot, maybe I come from a life of privilege and don’t get rural India – but to see two little girls go through that kind of torture moved me.

A bit of trivia to lighten the mood and round off my Dangal discussion: Fatima Sana Shaikh (Older Geeta Phogat in the movie) played Kamal Haasan's and Tabu’s daughter in Chachi 420. I realised that only today. Blows your mind, eh? And makes me realise that I’m old.

Archive

1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9–10–11–12–13–14–15–16–17–18–19–20–21–22–23–24–25–26–27–28–29–30–31–32–33–34–35–36–37–38–39–40–41–42–43–44–45–46–47–48–49–50–51–52–53–54–55–56–57–58–59–60–61–62–63–64–65–66–67–68–69–70–71–72–73–74–75–76–77–78–79–80–81–82–83–84–85–86–87–88–89–90–91–92–93–94–95–96–97–98–99–100–101–102–103–104–105–106–107–108–109–110–111–112–113–114–115–116–117–118–119–120–121–122–123–124–125–126–127–128–129–130–131–132–133–134–135–136–137–138–139–140–141–142–143–144–145–146–147–148–149–150–151–152–153–154–155–156–157–158–159–160–161–162–163–164–165–166–167–168–169–170–171–172–173–174–175–176–177–178–179–180–181–182–183–184–185–186–187–188–189–190–191–192–193–194–195–196–197–198–199–200–201–202–203–204–205–206–207–208–209–210–211–212–213–214–215–216–217–218–219–220–221–222–223–224–225–226–227–228–229–230–231–232*