"You have to fight in a way that people remember you."

Rating: 7/10 (4 March 2018)

Most of the reviewers for this film here on IMDb appear to be folks of Indian background; nothing wrong with that but with most of them offering glowing praise and a '10 rating, it's difficult to get a true perspective on the movie. I thought it was OK, though not a '10' rated film by any means. The picture utilizes a tried and true sports movie formula depicting a rigorous training schedule, a demanding coach and notable accomplishments along the way before the principal character encounters some roadblocks on the way to a Commonwealth Games gold medal. There's also the idea of success achieved by defying conventional thinking, in the way Geeta Phogat (Fatima Sana Shaikh) and her sister Babita (Sanya Malhotra) rise to prominence in the traditionally male sport of wrestling. That's perhaps the film's best takeaway, as the girls in question endured a lot of physical and mental anguish to achieve their goals, thereby serving as role models for other young women to follow.
I couldn't help thinking however, that if the setting for this film was present day America, the father (Aamir Khan) might never have gotten past the first month of training his daughters because someone would have turned him in for child abuse. Cutting the girls' hair and restricting their diet would have gotten someone to notice, and Mahavir slapping his young nephew Omkar for some slight was totally uncalled for. It might not have appeared so bad if the man had lightened up his approach from time to time but his expression was always so grim it looked like he was mad at the world. One could say that his style eventually paid off in the end, but the emotional toll on his daughters, especially Geeta, could have been avoided with a more 'fatherly' approach.
The one American film this most reminded me of was 1984's "The Karate Kid", but without a bully opponent and with national prestige at stake in the tournament matches. The film makers for that earlier movie put together a compelling and entertaining story in just about two hours, The additional forty minutes of screen time in "Dangal" is padded by repetitious scenes of training activity in the early part of the story that aren't all that necessary, while others are characteristically set to a musical accompaniment that seems to be a trademark of Hindi films. I did like the realism involved in staging the wrestling matches throughout the story, and the climactic final match was filled with suspense. With seconds to go, one will recall Mahavir's earlier explanation of the point scoring system, fully hoping that Geeta would somehow manage a five point take-down to insure a victory. The fact that this movie was based on the real life story of Mahavir Phogat and his wrestling daughters make it all the more fascinating.