National coach PR Sondhi, who’s the anti-hero in Aamir’s piece, upset with portrayal of his character in hit film
Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; December 28, 2016)

Aamir Khan-starrer Dangal may have won over critics, movie buffs as well as grapplers, but former wrestling coach P R Sondhi is hardly amused.

The man, who had trained the Phogat sisters ahead of their participation in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, is miffed with the makers for showing a character modelled after him in a negative light.

Sondhi says he is aware that few fictional events were added to make the film entertaining, but it should not have been at his expense. “They have changed the name to PR Kadam in the film, but somewhere the character is loosely based on my life. I have known Mahavirji (Phogat, wrestling coach and father of Geeta and Babita Phogat) for many years and he is a thorough gentleman. His two daughters have trained under me for more than three years and not once did he interfere. I don’t understand the need to show the character as such a taskmaster. There were four other coaches, who were also involved [in the training], but they haven’t been shown in the film at all,” he says.

The 70-year-old argues the film’s final scene is purely fictional — the coach is seen locking Mahavir in a room during the Games so that he is not able to cheer for his daughter. “Distortion of facts has hurt my reputation. Once I watch the film, I will speak to the wrestling federation. I also plan to meet Aamir and seek an explanation.”

Sondhi met Aamir in Ludhiana when he was shooting for the film there. “Kripashankar Patel Bishnoi, who trained Aamir for Dangal, has been my student. When we all met, Aamir asked me general questions about wrestling, but not once did he discuss anything about the film. He should have told me how they were planning to portray the coach’s character,” he says.

Dangal girls Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra talk mentor ‘AK’, wrestling and how they are dreading the release of their debut film uninterrupted
Aastha Atray Banan (MID-DAY; December 11, 2016)

"Dangal has truly changed our life,” says Fatima Sana Shaikh, 24, who makes her acting debut as wrestler Geeta Phogat in Aamir Khan Productions’ Dangal, that releases on December 23. “It’s been an experience we wouldn’t have got as just actors. An actor’s journey is confined to the sets, but we are also interning with AK (Aamir Khan), and hence we know things about filmmaking, why is what happening, scripts, camera…” “Yes, yes, or things like why a movie needs a background score,” adds Sanya Malhotra, Shaikh’s co-star, who plays her sister, wrestler Babita Kumari.

We are sitting on the sixth floor of a Carter Road high-rise talking to the two young actresses who are all the talk of the town right now. They both star in Dangal, a movie focusing on Mahavir Singh Phogat (played by Aamir Khan), who taught wrestling to his daughters daughters Geeta Phogat (India’s first female wrestler to win Gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games) and Babita Kumari (who won silver).

They look younger than their 24 years, and much more delicate than the posters of the film, where they sport a boyish avatar. They talk of Khan like a mentor, and there are many AKs dropped through the conversation. “He knows everything!” exclaims Shaikh, “It’s true what you hear.” “Yes, he is truly cool and a really nice man. I mean we have become family – AK and us, Nitesh Tiwari (who has written and directed the movie), Sakshi Tanwar – and I feel it’s going to continue, this relationship, you know,” says Malhotra.

The familial feeling could come from the fact that it’s almost been two years since the girls first auditioned for the movie. Malhotra had come to Mumbai from Delhi where she was a dancer, and was trying to act, and Shaikh was almost at the verge of abandoning her acting dreams for cinematography. In April 2015, they auditioned along with a thousand other girls, and for the next few months, were called over and over again for more auditions. “Every time we thought, this is it, we have got the film. And then they could call us again and say, ‘There is one more round’. And every time we were told to keep it hush- hush. It was like a sword dangling over our heads,” says Malhotra, to which Shaikh adds, “When it did happen, it was pretty bland.” “Ya, we were called in, and AK was there, and he just said, ‘You are Geeta and you are Babita’, and after that they started talking about shooting and all. We were both just sitting there thinking, ‘What just happened!’” laughs Malhotra.

What followed was intense wrestling training with the coach Kripashankar Patel Bishnoi. The day would be almost regimental — they would wrestle for three hours, have lunch, sleep, gym, learn Haryanvi, and then sleep, only to wake up and to do it all over again. “We would chat with each other on the phone also in Haryanvi – even if it was dumb, nonsense chatter,” says Shaikh, “I think our bond became stronger and you can see it translating on screen.” “Some things were too funny! Since I was a dancer, I would do a wrestling move, and in the end, point my toes, and Mahavirji would go ‘Yeh ballet nahin hai’” says Malhotra. Ask them if that’s what worked on their body language and transformed them from city girls to village girls, and Shaikh says, “Both those girls aren’t very different you know. I was always a tomboy, and actually really hard to work hard on being feminine. But wrestling did help, as we started standing like that, talking like that — we actually spent nine months living the life of a wrestler,”

They say that they haven’t been able to grasp the “fame” thing, yet, as Dangal has been almost all- consuming. “We don’t have any free time, so it hasn’t really sunk in. Yes, people have messaged and called, and that is overwhelming, but right now, we just don’t want this to end. We are dreading the release of the movie, because it means, all this will end. We have really been spoilt. We are in love with our lives,” smiles Shaikh.

It seems that the future will have to wait for a bit, but as Malhotra puts it, “We have wrestled, we have acted, and we have learnt so much. I feel, now, that whatever comes next, we can do it. We can do anything.”

National wrestling coach Bishnoi on how he made wrestlers out of greenhorns
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; November 7, 2016)

Kripashankar Patel Bishnoi was readying women wrestlers for the Rio Olympics, which took place in August this year, when Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra were sent to train under him as part of their prep for Aamir Khan’s Dangal. Although it was just for a film, the national wrestling coach was determined to make their moves seem as authentic as can be when the cameras rolled.

Bishnoi made Sanya and Fatima follow almost the same drill as the Phogat sisters — Geeta and Babita, who they essay in Dangal — and Sakshi Malik, who clinched a bronze at Rio. “This film is not just a mere acting job,” the coach says, adding, “They were trained as professional wrestlers. Though the intensity was a tad less, the process was the same. They fought wrestlers of various weight and strength categories. In 14 months, what they pulled off is phenomenal. Even Geeta and Babita couldn’t have done as much justice to the film as Sanya and Fatima have.”



Bishnoi, an Arjuna awardee, along with popular wrestler Jagdish Kaliraman, had taken the final casting call for Dangal. “The initial plan was to cast young wrestlers and accordingly, Shilpi Sheron and Pooja Dhanda were shortlisted for the film. However, the raw intensity of Fatima and Sanya gave depth to the movie. Another young woman called Annie had also caught our attention. They were chosen from among 10,000 girls,” he reveals.

When we got down to rating, Fatima scored better than the other two: “She lacked strength, but compensated for it with her grappling abilities. Sanya was stronger. Being a former ballet dancer, she was more flexible, too. Over months of training, Sanya picked up pace. Fatima broke her bone [Bishnoi refuses to divulge more about the injury], and ended up training harder.”

The coach credits Aamir for infusing energy into the film. “I was worried that he, as an overweight 50-year-old, could possibly hurt himself. But, he proved to me that zidd is what superstars are made of. While training, he would perform a stunt twice or thrice over, but when in front of the camera, he didn’t need a retake,” says Bishnoi.