Like several other directors in the Hindi film industry, casting Aamir Khan in the lead role has been filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari’s foremost fantasy. In 2013, with two films on his resume, Tiwari approached Khan to star in his next film, Dangal. The filmmaker, who has previously directed Bhoothnath Returns (2014) and Chillar Party (2011), was aware that the probability of getting an actor who often does just one film every two years was rather slim. But Tiwari was convinced that Khan ticked all the boxes: an artist who was willing to learn wrestling, would be agreeable to looking like a 60-year-old father of two teenage girls, and was ready to undergo drastic physical transformation to look the part.As luck would have it, Khan was well-acquainted with the story of wrestler sisters Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari and their father, Mahavir Singh Phogat, on whose life the film is based. The duo had earlier taken part in Khan’s television show Satyamev Jayate. But what the actor didn’t expect was the script to have broad strokes of humour to an otherwise overwhelming tale of triumph. An excited Khan evinced interest, but couldn’t provide dates for the project. The filmmaker agreed to wait for Khan, even if that meant a long haul of five years. But to Tiwari’s relief, it took Khan a year to accommodate the film, and make it his big 2016 release.
Worth the weight
If logic is anything to go by, Khan would shoot the leaner portions of the film first and then gain about 30 kilos for the rest. Even the female leads were yet to be finalised when Khan was signed on. “But Aamir’s logic was different,” says Tiwari. Khan insisted on piling on the weight first and then knocking it off to shoot the leaner portions of the film. “He said, ‘If I wrap the film as an overweight guy I would have no motivation to lose it’,” recalls Tiwari.Little did the filmmaker know that Khan’s decision would come as a blessing in disguise. Once Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra were selected to play the female lead roles of Geeta and Babita, wrestling practice commenced. Having little knowledge about the sport, Tiwari thought the actors would be proficient in wrestling in no time. But it was only when Kripa Shankar Bishnoi, the coach of the Indian women’s wrestling team, explained the complexities of the sport did Tiwari realise it would take them much longer than he anticipated. “We then spent that much time in training the girls,” says the filmmaker.
Finding new talent
Shaikh and Malhotra, are both fresh faces in the industry. When Tiwari and his team first began the auditioning process, they looked extensively for female wrestlers who could act. The intention was to sizeably cut the training period. “Some came close, but it’s unfair to expect ace wrestlers to be ace actors too,” says the filmmaker, who then started to look for actors who could be trained to be wrestlers.The criteria for selection were manifold: the actors had to look like Khan’s daughters, the elder sister had to resemble the younger one, they were required to be medically fit and have no history of surgeries and, lastly, in a position to bulk up. The shortlisted actors also had to undergo about two weeks of extensive training in wrestling to judge their aptitude for the sport. After making it through the longwinding process, Shaikh and Malhotra were finalised to play Khan’s daughters. “We were sure those two could become wrestlers in a year’s time,” says Tiwari.
Wrestling comparisons
Dangal comes out at an opportune time, when the Haryana government is advocating education of the girl child through the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign. But for Tiwari, the film is not just about women’s empowerment, but about parents’ relationship with their children, unfulfilled ambitions, and the idea of patriotism. “This film would be relevant at any given time,” says Tiwari, who has also written the script. While doing so, the filmmaker ensured that the tone of the film is light to make it universally appealing.Despite the Salman Khan-starrer Sultan, which was also set against the backdrop of wrestling, releasing in June this year, Tiwari is confident about the audience seeing a distinction between the two. For the filmmaker, Sultan was more of a love story and about mixed martial arts, while Dangal explores family relations and mud-wrestling. “Besides, it doesn’t mean that if a film has a cop as a hero another film with a cop as a hero won’t appeal to people,” he says, emphasising that the two movies are poles apart in narrative.
Directing the ‘perfectionist’
Working with Aamir Khan, who is famously touted to be a perfectionist, can be rather daunting. “As an outsider, in the beginning you think it would put pressure on you,” says Tiwari. But as they started working together, the filmmaker banked on Khan’s expertise in the industry to bail him out of tricky situations.In the past, Khan has been accused of meddling with his directors’ vision, but Tiwari believes that being concerned is inevitable for an experienced actor. “It is natural for him to be involved in the filmmaking process because he has, after all, given his name to the project.” According to the filmmaker, Khan often offered suggestions, but never insisted on implementing them.With a lack of big releases around the same time, the path seems to be clear next week for Dangal to be the big year-end movie. Much like the resolute female wrestlers, Tiwari hopes the film leaves its audience inspired, and ends an otherwise tumultuous 2016 on a positive note.
