How real Mahavir won his life’s Dangal
Sat Singh in Bhiwani
Balali village in Bhiwani will not forget Nov 19, 2016: a day before Geeta Phogat — India’s first woman wrestler to compete at the Olympics — was married to Pawan Kumar. That Saturday, Mahavir Phogat, her father, was up as usual at 4am, and so were the daughters, Geeta included. They had their routine practice to ensure fitness for the Pro Wrestling League. “Such is Mahavir’s commitment, his discipline. Who can deny the girls their due,” asks a villager.
“So many girls from Balali and neighbouring villages have taken to the sport because of Mahavir,” says the villager, who has been living in Balali for years. Mahavir is a disciplinarian.”
Almost a month later, the Phogat family has become an icon fuelling ambitions and bringing the Bollywood its rare moment of success at the box office with Dangal. Western critics have weighed the father differently. “Mahavir is a patriarchal thinker forced, by circumstance, to move into the 21st century. He’s a lot like India itself,” writes Owen Gleiberman of Variety. “That means, among other things, that he’s going to treat his daughters with no mercy. When they’re teenagers, he subjects them to a grueling training regimen (worst restriction: no spicy food), and the defining moment comes when he cuts off their hair. It’s a lot like a Marine cut; as the two see it, they’ve been shorn (tearfully) of their identities, which their father will now rebuild from the ground up. There is — or could have been — a resonance to all of this.” Ben Kenigberg of The New York Times says “it is the maximalist Bollywood style, with emotions set to full blast and its heart firmly on its sleeve.”
Ask Mahavir how he did it. “It took me 10 years to see Geeta, my elder daughter, win a gold in Commonwealth Games. If I had adequate facilities, she would have achieved the same in half the time,” says Mahabir Phogat, who has been receiving congratulatory messages ever since Dangal hit the screen last Friday.
Mahavir, whose role is played by Aamir Khan, says he is overwhelmed by the response generated by the biopic on him. “I want to set up a full-fledged residential sports academy for girls in Haryana.”
He says no girl should face the kind of problems which his daughters Geeta and Babita faced. “Talented girls should get training and accommodation under one roof”, he said. He says he has received dozens of calls from parents who want him to train their young daughters. He wants the state government and corporates to come forward with proposals as how he can help in promoting sports among girls.
Many in the town are full of praise for Mahavir, but say the government should do more. “Had the Haryana government going gaga over the biopic extended help to him in his struggle days, his elder daughter Geeta would have easily won a Gold in Olympics,” says Sanjay Sheoran. He runs a boxing academy named after his Dronacharya award recipient father Capt Hawa Singh in Bhiwani.
“What’s the point in supporting Mahavir, a real champion and hero, now? He had to struggle for every step to make his daughters world-class champions,” said Sanjay, who watched the movie two days after the Aamir Khan starrer hit the screen.
“Several talented boys and girls need government support. There is no point in honouring them when they become a champion through their own efforts.” His wife Mukesh Sheoran, junior Asian Medallist in Basketball, says merely having talent is not enough. “You need nurturing and support from the very beginning.” She says Dangal was very inspiring not only for wrestling but for all sports. Expecting a change in society, Poonam Bamal, women wrestling coach at local Bhim Stadium, says the movie has tried to bring home the importance of girl child in the society. “It has aptly described girls as ‘dhakad’ (bold). The movie would help in promoting awareness about gender equality,” she said.
