Dangal Makes You Fall In Love With Aamir Khan All Over Again

Two films, two stars, one subject -wrestling.Can it get more boring than this?

But if both stars reserve special praise for each other's venture one tends to take notice even if to find out if this mutual back slapping is sponsored.

Sultan, starring Salman Khan was released on Eid and after watching it Aamir Khan had come out teary-eyed, telling the media that he wished Salman all the luck he deserved.

And now comes the Tweet from the @BeingSalmanKhan handle saying,"My family' saw #Dangal today evening and thought it was a much better film than #Sultan.Love u personally Aamir but hate u professionally!"

We know that Salman and Aamir have been close buddies but Salman is not the only one declaring Dangal a hit. The people are, even though Aamir Khan told Karan Johar in a Coffee with Karan episode that opinion of well wishers and the common man could have entirely different parameters of judging a film and he was nervous before his film release.

We will wait for the verdict of the box office but as far as critics are concerned they are once again spluttering for words to say what exactly makes this Khan’s films so heart wrenching.

Normal terms like women empowerment and emancipation appear so cliched when talking about this Aamir Khan film.He has proved once again that a film can touch you deep inside without being a love story like Sultan.

A comparison with Sultan cannot be avoided for obvious reasons. But the two stories are entirely apart.Sultan is a Salman Khan film and even though it has a very powerful heroine in Anushka Sharma, the audiences go home singing peans to Salman as if nothing else matters, neither storyline,nor heroine nor the theme.

Aamir, on the other hand is an actor who merges his entire personality in the characters he portrays on screen.Like my all time favourite Dilip Kumar, he has no mannerisms,no style of acting.He just walks,sits,talks,cries,laughs and shouts while the camera capture his images like the Discovery Channel, and you fall in love with the man once again.

There have been many films on sports,mostly based around a failed genius who had given up his career after a shocking defeat or conspiracy of circumstances.But when given a second chance this person utilises all his hidden talent to train a person to achieve what he could not do himself in life.

But Dangal is different.When a pot-bellied Mahavir Singh Pogat, a retired wrestler from a remote village in Haryana and father of four girls realises that he cannot have a son to fulfil his ambition of getting a gold on the international level he takes upon himself to groom his daughters to fulfil his elusive dream.

Remember Sultan?When the heroine Anushka is about to have a baby her husband Salman is no where around because he has a championship to win. Anushka, herself an established wrestler, is very categorical that this is unacceptable in their relationship because she had given up her flourishing career when she became pregnant.

Here the fight is not about women empowerment as some critics have been writing.When the villagers resent girls entering the male centric sport of wrestling Mahavir takes a stand that is so rare though natural that it needs to be stated.

He tells them and everyone else that there is no fundamental difference between men and women and their capacities to take on tough vocations.It is just a state of mind created through centuries of suppression and subjugation and his task is to wake up that innate potential of fifty percent of humanity.

Everyone knows the acting potential of Aamir Khan but he needed an equally matching script and director to covey this fundamental, though important message.

Nitesh Tewari matches up to the task exceptionally well. But the scene-stealers in this film are two girls Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra as the gutsy daughters who perform whatever is given to them to perfection to make this an extraordinary film.

Sakhshi Tanwar as the wife of Aamir is an already established small screen actress who has proved her credentials whenever given a chance.In the company of Aamir she underplays her role as a tongue in cheek Haryanvi woman providing some humour and banter to a subject that could have become too heavy and predictable without laughter even if it is at the cost of Haryanvis.