Released in Hong Kong for less than a month, the Indian movie ‘Dangal’ (starring Aamir Khan) has received many positive reviews. The 160-minute film tucks at viewers’ heartstrings with sad, gripping and touching scenes one after the other. Some may want to learn wrestling after watching the movie, which is actually based on a real life story.
The protagonist of this real life story is Mahavir Phogat. The Phogat family lived in Haryana, in the northwest of India. Mahavir Phogat (starred by Aamir Khan) was a former amateur wrestler. He gave up his dream to make a living, and hoped his childrenn would succeed him in wrestling. However, all his children were girls. It seemed his dream was not going to be realized, but to his surprise, his two daughters Geeta and Babita showed phenomenal talents and potentials in sports. As such, he decided to train them to become some of the best wrestlers in the country.
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Despite mockery from his fellow villagers, Mahavir persisted, and his two daughters are now the ‘idols’ of Indian women. In 2010, Geeta became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in the 55kg freestyle women’s wrestling at the Commonwealth Games. She also became the first Indian woman to qualify for the Olympics in 2012. Meanwhile, Babita won her first gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. And their two younger sisters, Ritu and Sangita, have also become exceptional wrestlers. Ritu won in the same event as her sisters at the Commonwealth Games last year.
Aamir Khan’s charm is one of the factors for the success of the movie, but it is also the spirit and belief behind that move the audience. In a patriarchal society like India, a place where wrestling is not that popular, it is quite a feat for female wrestlers to stand up to the challenges and become the nation’s pride – it’s very encouraging, indeed.
It is never easy for a female to try wrestling, especially in a patriarchal society. Mahavir didn’t give up, and impressed on his daughters the concept of ‘no pain, no gain’. Everyday, they trained hard – there were tears, sweat, and scoldings, but they pulled through and paved the way for women’s wrestling in India. Last year, Sakshi Malik from Haryana won the first bronze medal in wrestling for India in the Rio Olympics.
Until now, 55-year old Mahavir is still training the two sisters for two to three hours a day. Geeta and Babita are now players for the brand new professional wrestling league in New Delhi. From mockery to admiration, parents from all over India now make a special trip to Haryana, to ask Mahavir to train their kids.
