Sometime ago I saw Bahubali 1 and 2. And when I checked the ratings online after watching, I stumbled on the list of the highest grossing Indian movies of all time.
This movie, Dangal was no 1.
Since then I made a mental note to see it, but wasn’t quite blown by the storyline about a Father training his girls to be wrestlers. So despite the great ratings from critic sites Rotten Tomatoes(92%) and IMDB (8.5/10) I still didn’t watch until today when somehow I stumbled on that highest grossing Indian movies of all time list again. Infact I was going to see Elite( Review soon come), but decided to see Dangal first and get it out of my system once and for all. And as I write this review about the movie, my only regret is that I didn’t see it earlier.
Dangal, a 2016 movie is based on a true life story is a story of strength, resilience, faith, and the power of will. The movie’s central theme is strength and believe in achieving the impossible, as we see a girl from a small Indian village rise to become a world champion. We see how a devoted father against all odds gives his all to his daughters to help them achieve dreams they would never have dared to dream on their own.
From the first scene, Dangal captivates you, draws you in and excites you . While watching I kept checking the time to see how long was left because I wanted more.
One of the best things about this movie is the thrill and excitement it brings. I have never been one to be interested in wrestling ( except of course when Nigeria is involved at a final in an international tournament) and didn’t know anything about its rules. But Dangal’s great editing made wrestling so exciting to watch. Infact I found my self making faces, tilting my head, holding my breath and generally grappling while I watched the wrestling screnes. The use of slow motion particularly made the wrestling scenes very exhilarating and entertaining to watch.
The movie of course wasn’t all victory and success from the get go. There were ups and downs, challenges, tears, pain, disappointments, which ultimately led to one great moment, the moment the central character became a world champion.
Dangal is a movie you should see to remind yourself that with hardwork, focus and believe in yourself, nothing is impossible to achieve. Infact if you’re a parent with 10 year old kids and above , I strongly recommend you see this movie with your kids on a family movie night. If you have girls, you have even more reason to see Dangal because it is about destroying societal stereotypes that still limit the girl child in today’s world and reassures females that just like men, women too can achieve anything, and attain greatness.
It will be gross injustice if I end this review without mentioning the remarkable soundtrack of this movie. Music is a universal language. If it is good, whether or not you understand the lyrics, you cannot help but appreciate it. So good was Dangal’s soundtrack, I had to search out the album on iTunes. My best of the lot is the title score DANGAL. And I bet that after watching this movie, If you are a true lover of good sound and music, youd fall in love it too. DANGAL by the way means Wrestling or To Wrestle.
This movie is different from many Indian movies where so much time is wasting on exaggerated singing and dancing scenes. Dangal is straight to the point, yet despite the 2hrs 49 mins ( Yes almost 3 hours) running time, you’d still want more when the movie ends. And oh, get ready your hankie because this movie is full of deep, emotional scenes. The actors delivered a humdinger with DANGAL.
It is a must watch.
