2016 film by Nitesh Tiwari
Dangal (transl. 'wrestling bout') is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language biographical sports drama film directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, and Siddharth Roy Kapur under Aamir Khan Productions and The Walt Disney Company India. The film stars Khan as Mahavir Singh Phogat, a pehlwani amateur wrestler who trains his daughters Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari to become India's first world-class female wrestlers. Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra portray the adult versions of the two Phogat sisters, Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar their younger versions, Sakshi Tanwar their mother, and Aparshakti Khurana adult version of their cousin, Ritvik Sahore his younger version, all of them except Shaikh, Tanwar and Sahore in their film debuts.
Development on the film began in early 2013 when Tiwari began writing the script. Khan had interviewed the Phogat sisters in 2014 on his talk show Satyamev Jayate, before Tiwari approached him with the script months later, after which Khan became the lead actor and producer. Set primarily in the Indian state of Haryana, principal photography commenced in September 2015 in the neighbouring Punjab. Satyajit Pande served as the cinematographer and Ballu Saluja as the editor. Pritam scored the film's background music and soundtrack, lyrics for which were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Kripa Shankar Patel Bishnoi, a coach with the Indian women's wrestling team, trained Khan and the cast for the wrestling sequences.
After a North American premiere on 21 December 2016, Dangal was released worldwide on 23 December to universal critical acclaim, with praise centered on the film's "honest" depiction of a real-life story and Khan's performance, including the emotional weight. The film was a commercial blockbuster, setting several records at the box office including highest-grossing Hindi film and highest-grossing Indian film worldwide The film grossed ₹1,968−2,024 crore (US$340 million), worldwide by various different estimates, including $216.2 million in China alone.
Dangal screened at the Beijing International Film Festival in April 2017 and second BRICS festival in June 2017. At the 62nd Filmfare Awards, it won four awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Khan) and Best Action (Shyam). At the 64th National Film Awards, Wasim won Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Geeta's younger self. Overseas, Dangal won the inaugural Best Asian Film award at Australia's 7th AACTA Awards, 2017's Best Foreign Film and Top Foreign Actor (for Aamir Khan) from China's Douban Film Awards, and two Jackie Chan Action Movie Awards, and was nominated in the Asian Brilliant Stars category at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival.
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.