There are many reasons for why Dangal is such a big hit - the most important being that the wrestling scenes look as authentic as any real contest.
For those who haven't seen the movie yet or don't know what it is about - Dangal is a biopic, the story of national champion wrestler, Mahavir Singh Phogat and his two wrestler daughters, Geeta and Babita Phogat, who won medals for India at international wrestling tournaments. Mahavir trained and toned their talent from a young age, fighting against social taboos and restrictions put on girls.
1. The process of casting
The shortlisted actresses for the role of Geeta and Babita Phogat had to prove their metal in a series of workshops and fitness tests before the decision was made. This process lasted for at least a month. The final workshop of two weeks was with the national women’s wrestling coach, Kripa Shankar Bishnoi, who then had to decide who looked or had the most potential to look like an international wrestler.
2. The trainer
Kripa Shankar Bishnoi, the wrestling coach who trained all five actors including Amir Khan, was two-time gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games and is a recipient of the Arjuna award (Indian national award for excellence in sports). He is also the current coach of the Indian national women’s wrestling division.
3. Amir’s workout
Amir plays the role of Mahavir Singh Phogat and his life from 20s up to his 50s. He put on 30 kilos to play the older scenes, the sum of which make up more than 50 per cent of the movie. He decided to do these roles first so that he would be motivated to lose all the extra weight to complete the scenes of Mahavir in his 20s as a national wrestling champion.
He lost 25 to 30 kilos in around 5 months (25 weeks), and while there have been speculation that he used steroids for his transformation, the fact that he had an entire team of trainers, dieticians, chefs and masseurs with him all day for these 5 months makes the change believable.
4. The girls’ workout
The lead actresses were in training for 8 to 9 months with a strict fitness routine, diet and wrestling training regime set by professionals. In an interview given to a regional TV channel, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra (playing senior Geeta and Babita Phogat) woke up with their entire bodies aching in pre-production from training. They spent 6 days a week in continuous training and would fall asleep latest by 8.30pm from exhaustion. The main aim of the training was that their wrestling moves and scenes look as original as they would in real life.
Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar played the younger versions of the sisters and had no discount in training either. Though Zaira was showing slight weakness in training, during filming, scenes with her wrestling with boys double her height and weight turned out amazing.
