The Ambiguous Treatment of Patriarchy in Nitesh Tiwari’s Dangal (2016)

Similar to many of the Bollywood films starring Amir Khan, Dangal retells the experience of an aged former wrestler with a combination of witty entertainment with thought-provoking social critique. By depicting how the wrestler breaks the norm of the male-dominant wrestling field, the film seeks to critique the patriarchal society and the bureaucracy of the sports industry in India. Dangal portrays a father devoting himself to train his daughters not only to fulfill his dream, but also for the sake of their future and independence, which uncannily inspires other littles girls to pursue their dreams. Similar to Billy Eliot, the courage to go against the convention breaks gender stereotypes on what men and women should do. Although the film attempts to portray the growth of Geeta, the elder sister, it fails to shape her individuality, such that she has little voice in the story. One gets the impression that the dream she is chasing remains that of her father but not herself.

Dangal is satirical towards gender stereotype in two aspects: local conventions and the national sports institution. In the first half of the film, the father, desperate to have a male offspring who can fulfill his dream of winning the international wrestling championship, turns to local superstition such as magic spells and rituals. These superstitions, ineffective in producing a desirable result, even perpetuates the local patriarchal mindset against women. The sisters under their father’s harsh training are contrasted with a teenage bride, who laments for her unfree life after marriage. Teenage marriage is criticised for encapsulating women in tedious routines that limit their chances of self-fulfilment. The subversion of gender stereotypes would be incomplete if men refuse to take up ‘women’s job’. To nurture strong physiques of the sisters, their cousin learns to cook meat for them, showing the importance of mutual participation in breaking gender conventions.

Harsh physical trainings (photo credit: http://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/7ggVzVS9szpRRi58g58tyI/Dangal-Do-we-celebrate-a-father-like-this.html)

This film spreads the message that women, instead of being entrapped by marriage and patriarchy, have the right to develop their talents and lead a life they choose. Behind this belief is the celebration of freedom to pursue your goal and independence from other people’s control and expectations. Yet, to what extent do the sisters, especially Geeta, gain independence? Doubtlessly, they are trained to take up a personal skill, so that they don’t have to be married off at a young age and rely on other men. At the last competition in the film, Geeta manages to win the world championship without her father’s guidance and instruction. However, there are moments when the attempt to gain independence gets discouraged. After Geeta enters the Sports Academy, under the influence of her friends, she takes up habits thatare forbidden during the trainings of her father. The deviation from the father’s will is treated with suspicion and scrutiny, as we see that not only does she develop ‘bad’ habits, she also starts to doubt her father’s teachings, and think less of her trainings and success. We learn later that the Academy aims only to win a certain number of medals (be they bronze, silver or gold) and does not encourage athletes to push their limits to achieve the best. Geeta’s laze and ungratefulness leads to her failure in international competitions, and only after she trusts her father again that she regains her morale and attain success. One gets the impression that this film does not celebrate independence from the father’s tutoring. An easy dichotomy stands here, which says: because the Sports Academy is bureaucratic, you should not follow any of their instructions; your father is an experienced wrestler and knows you well, so you should follow his guidance on the use of technique, strategy, diet, and even hairstyle. What the father teaches is right throughout the trainings, creating the indisputable male omniscience that should never be challenged. On the one hand, this fatherly omniscience poses satirical contrast to the bureaucratic governmental sports sector, which disregards the potential of every athlete. On the other hand, however, this opposition further reinforces the image of the authoritarian father who refuses to be judged and challenged. The result of creating a flawless father image is the belittling of the female character, whom the father aims to empower. A paradox thus exists which deviates from the subject of the film.

Though the film may not resolve the dilemma between shaping the father’s positive image and giving a voice to the female character, it remains an inspiring and encouraging film to anyone who are frustrated by any judgements made by people based on one’s gender. I particularly appreciate the long and continuous shots of wrestling scenes, which assist hugely those who have limited knowledge of wrestling techniques and rules. All of them are very authentic and well-choreographed with occasional surprises to the audience. The meticulous efforts made by the director, choreographer, cameraman, coach, and actors show that this film is not made solely for entertainment, but would like the audience to gain some fruits of thought after watching, and hopefully to bring some little change to daily life.

Lastly, a note on the Dangal posters. These two are similar in the way both the father and daughters pose in a manly way. Yet, with contrastive arrangements of the characters, the posters are telling different stories. The bottom one shows Amir Khan as an imposing, authoritative figure, with his daughters (mentees) standing behind him, smaller in size, as if telling us that the father is the centre of the film. Such design makes the same mistake as the one I mentioned above, that is belittling the female characters while claiming to liberate them. The one on the top, however, presents Amir Khan as a relatively more empathetic figure, whom his daughters can be close to. In this poster the actor's image is closer to the father image, placed in equal terms as his daughters.

(photo credit: https://www.filmibeat.com/bollywood/news/2016/dangal-poster-starring-aamir-khan-and-his-four-daughters-is-out-232437.html, http://movies.ndtv.com/bollywood/dangal-box-office-collection-day-2-aamir-khans-film-collects-rs-64-crores-so-far-1641601)