Aamir in Dangal vs Salman in Sultan: Who did what better

Aamir in Dangal vs Salman in Sultan: Who did what better

Aamir Khan has made his way to the top of social-media trends today, thanks to the trailer of his upcoming film Dangal. All of us got a slice of the Nitesh Tiwari-directed film today after the trailer was released on the internet. Aamir plays wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat in Dangal. The film traces Phogat's journey of readying his daughters Babita Kumari and Geeta Phogat for the Olympics.

ALSO READ: 5 reasons Aamir's Dangal looks better than Salman's Sultan, hands down

We've seen Aamir take his body through an entire range of physical transformation, gaining about 25kg first to play the older Mahavir Singh Phogat, and then going back to shedding all those kilos for a leaner, fitter, younger version of the wrestler. Aamir's weight gain and loss for Dangal have made people sit up and take notice of the actor's efforts for Dangal. While most people DO know that Aamir believes in perfecting himself for his films, and ends up doing only about one film a year, Dangal has beaten all of that by a light year.

Salman Khan's Sultan, the other film on wrestling which hit the screens earlier this year, seems pretty dull in comparison to Dangal. In this battle between Khans, from their Haryanvi accents to their dhobi-pachhads, we take a look at who did what better.

Bodies
Salman's beefed up body was the subject of much discussion back when Sultan was being shot. Sure, Salman had gone through rigorous training schedules to perfect himself as a wrestler. But with the Dangal trailer out now, Aamir looks better than Salman's Sultan both as the old Mahavir Singh Phogat and his younger self. There was a lot of controversy over whether Salman's six-pack abs were photoshopped in a still from Sultan too.

Haryanvi
Once Sultan was in theatres, Salman's Haryanvi accent became the talk of the town. His Haryanvi left many speechless; some with admiration, others, with amusement. Salman's accent was shaky and inconsistent all through Sultan. From the trailer of Dangal, that doesn't look the case with Aamir. He speaks Haryanvi with elan. His accent is not a wavering one that comes and goes. However, we will have to wait for the entire film to see how well (or otherwise) Aamir has pulled the accent off.

Wrestling
Salman's dhobi-pachhads got the attention of people right after the trailer of Sultan hit the web. The trailer gave ample scope to Salman to display his wrestling moves. As for Dangal, this trailer is more about Aamir's reel daughters Babita Kumari and Geeta Phogat's journey to winning an Olympic gold than anything else. The few scenes which have Aamir doing the dhobi-pachhads have all been done well, although the focus is not Aamir's ripped body here.

Presence of women
The trailer of Sultan was all about Sultan Ali Khan. The wrestler who loses his mojo, gains weight and leaves the akhada, never to return. There's Anushka Sharma in the Sultan trailer, but is completely overshadowed by Salman. Because, after all, it is a Salman Khan film. A one-man show that no one can get a share of. The Dangal trailer very cleverly uses the presence of the film's women to show what Sultan couldn't. The Dangal trailer has Aamir and his daughters, alongside his wife, in the same frame. Sultan also faced much flak for Anushka's character Aarfa leaving her glowing Olympic career to have a baby, which was spoken of as a feminist's nightmare. Dangal, on the other hand, has Aamir's Mahavir Singh Phogat saying it out loud, "Har woh cheej jo pehelwani se inka dhyaan hatawegi, main usne hata diwongi. (If anything gets their attention off wrestling, I will get rid of that.)"

Dangal is set for a Christmas release this year. Aamir has been preparing for the film for two years now. And if the Dangal trailer is anything to go by, the film looks set for yet another dream run at the box office, come December.

(The writer tweets as @ananya116.)

Dangal vs Sultan: 5 reasons Aamir's film looks better than Salman's, hands down

Same themes do not make the same film. Somehow, two of Bollywood's biggest releases of 2016 are based on the world of wrestling or kushti. While Salman Khan's Sultan was the bombastic fictional tale of a fallen Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler Sultan Ali Khan, Aamir Khan-starrer Dangal is based on the real story of Dronacharya Award nominee Mahavir Singh Phogat who trained his daughters Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari to become champion wrestlers.

On the one hand, where Aamir Khan is known for sensible, cerebral, challenging cinema, Salman Khan is known for his masala blockbusters. As such, it is understandable that both films will be vastly different. By the looks of Dangal's trailer which released today (October 20), Aamir Khan's film seems like it is the better movie.

Here are five reasons why Aamir Khan's Dangal looks better than Salman Khan's Sultan...

1. More screen time to women

Salman Khan's Sultan was a one-man show where it was Salman, Salman and Salman throughout the film with Anushka Sharma's Aarfa playing second fiddle to her husband Sultan Ali Khan. However, Dangal is predominantly the story of women and more importantly, women empowerment. Mahavir Singh Phogat's (Aamir Khan) daughters Geeta Phogat (Fatima Sana Sheikh) and Babita Kumari (Sanya Malhotra) get equal to, if not more than Aamir's screentime, in Dangal's trailer itself.

2. Dangal, A truly feminist film

In Sultan, Aarfa (Anushka Sharma) who has trained all her life to wrestle for India at the Olympics miraculously gives up wrestling forever to take care of his husband Sultan (Salman) and their unborn child. In Dangal, however, no such thing happens. Aamir's Mahavir is a determined person who wants to make sure his daughters Geeta and Babita bring gold home to India. The real-life Mahavir had to ward off societal pressure and stigma as he was constantly criticised for letting his daughters fight in the mud. In a country where gender ratio is so skewed, a film like Dangal is very important.

3. More realistic than Sultan

Probably it is only Salman who makes the plot of Sultan believable, but otherwise, its story is ridiculous. Sultan wants to learn wrestling as he believes only a wrestler can win the heart of a wrestler and his crush is on Aarfa, a wrestler. When Aarfa rejects Sultan, Sultan literally learns wrestling like a boss in a month and within a matter of fifteen minutes in the film, he becomes an Olympic gold medalist. On top of that, Aarfa is shown wearing clips in the film while she is wrestling, which is factually incorrect; female wrestlers have closely cropped hair like Geeta's and Babita's in Dangal (see the trailer). The film is expected to focus on the training of the two girls which took place over decades, not a matter of minutes.

4. Aamir's Haryanvi accent is spot-on while Salman's, is well...

Aamir Khan is a perfectionist extraordinaire. Salman, on the other hand, is a mad bull. Granted, Sultan is Salman's best work in years, his Haryanvi accent looked silly and childish in front of Govind , played by Anant Sharma whose Haryanvi accent is pure gold. However, in the Dangal trailer, even though we do not hear much of Aamir's dialogues (it is, after all, a trailer), one thing is for sure: Aamir has nailed both the look of a wrestler and that thick desi accent needed to play Mahavir with conviction.

5. Nitesh Tiwari, Dangal's director has a National Award, while Sultan's director made Gunday

Ali Abbas Zafar, the director of Sultan has Gunday and Mere Brother Ki Dultan in his credits. On the other hand, Nitesh Tiwari has made the 2011 children's film Chillar Party which won the National Award for Best Children's Film. He also directed Bhoothnath Returns. Nitesh's wife Ashwini Iyer Tiwari directed the 2016 comedy drama Nil Battey Sannata. So, on one hand, you have apples and on the other, you have oranges.

Originally posted by: glace-bleue

Dangal will wipe the floor with Sultan...just the trailer is enough to guess that the movie will be miles ahead of Sultan...Salman is lucky that Sultan released before Dangal..😈

Originally posted by: cricketfan1

I think it wouldn't have mattered really...Because Sultan by itself, is a good movie...People who hated Salman also ended up reluctantly liking it..😉😆...Sultan and Dangal are movies which belong to two different genres...

Originally posted by: glace-bleue

well I slept through half of the movie...so maybe I missed the good part😉😆

No if Dangal had released first ...Sultan would have suffered big time...IMO.

Originally posted by: glace-bleue

well I slept through half of the movie...so maybe I missed the good part😉😆

No if Dangal had released first ...Sultan would have suffered big time...IMO.

Originally posted by: cricketfan1

But why? You are forgetting that Salman enjoys a fan following that can watch him even in movies like 'kick' and 'PRDP'😳..And Dangal or no Dangal, Sultan is still a Salman movie which will have its audience no matter what...