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Ignore the headline for a moment, and let me state this basic fact straightaway - Dangal is easily one of the finest movies of not just 2016, but also of Aamir Khan's career as well. Though his last couple of movies, Dhoom 3 and PK, were huge blockbusters at the box office, when it comes to delivering a quality movie, both the movies disappoint in being iconic stuff. But not Dangal. Not only has Dangal been Aamir Khan's finest performance in years, it is also ably directed (Nitesh Tiwari), boasts of a great supporting cast, and has an appropriate music score (Pritam). Above all, it doesn't rely too much on Aamir Khan's star image, and sometimes even making him a supporting player in certain scenes, giving the new girls plenty of opportunities to shine. It also has one of the best narration devices used in recent time, thanks to an immensely likeable Aparshakti Khurrana's voiceover. The wrestling scenes are well-choreographed and it smoothly manages to combine lessons of sports spirit, women empowerment and duty towards nation, without going much overboard.
So if you have not booked your ticket to watch Dangal, you are probably missing out on a really good movie. Therefore never complain later that why Bollywood doesn't make good movies. However, Dangal is not without its issues. Here are five things that stop the movie from being a complete masterpiece.
Pacing issues
Dangal has a brilliant first half that's well-written and nicely paced. You won't feel bored and restless even for a moment. However in the second half, when Geeta goes to the academy to get professionally trained, the pace dips comparably, as we see scenes that are not anything new we witnessed in Bollywood movies before. Geeta's descent into having a lackadaisical attitude is very predictable, though her akhada fight with her father is well directed. Thankfully, the movie pick up pace when Mahavir and Geeta mends things, and we look at an interesting climax.
The unnecessary patriotic sentiments inserted
When Bollywood movies have to show patriotism, it always tends to go a bit overboard in depicting so. Unfortunately even Dangal is a victim of the same. In the climax when Geeta wins the gold medal for the first time in her international career, the national anthem is being played. While the scene is not bad per se, as we see Mahavir who is trapped in a room by Geeta's coach (more on him later) and was not able to witness her match, finally realising she has won. However the way the scene is shot, it looks like it wants to play on our patriotic sentiments, and the Jai Hind call in the end, was damn unnecessary.
A caricaturish coach
The movie's main antagonist is supremely talented Girish Kulkarni's play-by-the-book coach who snubs Mahavir in his first scene itself, when Geeta is inducted into the academy. As the movie progresses, his character becomes more of a one note caricature, who is so blinded by jealousy that he gets Mahavir trapped in an empty room, so that he will miss his daughter's match, and therefore not give her tips to win the match. It was quite unnecessary, as there were better ways to show tension in the climax. And didn't Saala Khadoos, released earlier this year, have a similar climax?
The focus on one girl's achievements
When we went to the movie we expected the see the match exploits of both Geeta and Babita Phogat, however, the movie mostly focussed on Geeta's career graph, while Babita's matches ended up just as a montage, while the character is mostly seen as a cheerleader to her sister. Why the partiality, Mahavir?
The Chak De India hangover
We have already done a feature about how Dangal shares some similarities with Shah Rukh Khan's Chak De India. Normally, it wouldn't have been an issue however, if you have seen Chak De India far too many times like me, you would find these scenes a bit jarring. Especially the scene where Mahavir Singh Phogat gives a motivational speech to Geeta just before the final match is so similar to Kabir Khan's sattar minute speech in Chak De India...
So if you have not booked your ticket to watch Dangal, you are probably missing out on a really good movie. Therefore never complain later that why Bollywood doesn't make good movies. However, Dangal is not without its issues. Here are five things that stop the movie from being a complete masterpiece.
Pacing issues
Dangal has a brilliant first half that's well-written and nicely paced. You won't feel bored and restless even for a moment. However in the second half, when Geeta goes to the academy to get professionally trained, the pace dips comparably, as we see scenes that are not anything new we witnessed in Bollywood movies before. Geeta's descent into having a lackadaisical attitude is very predictable, though her akhada fight with her father is well directed. Thankfully, the movie pick up pace when Mahavir and Geeta mends things, and we look at an interesting climax.
The unnecessary patriotic sentiments inserted
When Bollywood movies have to show patriotism, it always tends to go a bit overboard in depicting so. Unfortunately even Dangal is a victim of the same. In the climax when Geeta wins the gold medal for the first time in her international career, the national anthem is being played. While the scene is not bad per se, as we see Mahavir who is trapped in a room by Geeta's coach (more on him later) and was not able to witness her match, finally realising she has won. However the way the scene is shot, it looks like it wants to play on our patriotic sentiments, and the Jai Hind call in the end, was damn unnecessary.
A caricaturish coach
The movie's main antagonist is supremely talented Girish Kulkarni's play-by-the-book coach who snubs Mahavir in his first scene itself, when Geeta is inducted into the academy. As the movie progresses, his character becomes more of a one note caricature, who is so blinded by jealousy that he gets Mahavir trapped in an empty room, so that he will miss his daughter's match, and therefore not give her tips to win the match. It was quite unnecessary, as there were better ways to show tension in the climax. And didn't Saala Khadoos, released earlier this year, have a similar climax?
The focus on one girl's achievements
When we went to the movie we expected the see the match exploits of both Geeta and Babita Phogat, however, the movie mostly focussed on Geeta's career graph, while Babita's matches ended up just as a montage, while the character is mostly seen as a cheerleader to her sister. Why the partiality, Mahavir?
The Chak De India hangover
We have already done a feature about how Dangal shares some similarities with Shah Rukh Khan's Chak De India. Normally, it wouldn't have been an issue however, if you have seen Chak De India far too many times like me, you would find these scenes a bit jarring. Especially the scene where Mahavir Singh Phogat gives a motivational speech to Geeta just before the final match is so similar to Kabir Khan's sattar minute speech in Chak De India...
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