That she will compete at atomweight (52kg) can affect the gas tank, but could also amplify her natural strength. Uske baad dekhti hun kya hota hai.”, The Indian Express is now on Telegram. The real-life family is from conservative Haryana state, known for the high prevalence of social issues such as gender inequality and child marriage. It makes me happy that they identify me as a Phogat sister.”. "I think the father really cared about his daughters' future. I hope she is very successful, hope we can team up to bring the sport to India soon after.”. "Some film makers are only concerned with money.

“I wouldn’t have taken this step without him saying yes. The promotional image for the film shows the father with his two daughters, when they are children and then later in life, Dangal is the word for a wrestling competition, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan gained weight, learned wrestling and was made to look older and younger in the film, Reema Lagoo: Bollywood's 'favourite mother' dies, The strange ways Bollywood meets real life in India, Meet the Briton taking Bollywood by storm, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39958041. Wrestling is a tight community, and everybody knows everybody when you are on the top. First Indian to get a silver at the U-23 World Championship (to add to a bronze earned earlier), and an Asian Championships bronze-medallist, Ritu fell one win short of a medal at last year’s Senior Worlds. It is their love, but it definitely adds to the pressure.”. People have this image that it’s a new game, it’s very violent. I'm a big fan of Aamir Khan. There’s also the Russian variant Sambo, but the most effective way of taking somebody to the ground remains good ol’ wrestling.

Now she’s learnt the basics of how to strike, punch, kick and grapple.”, The consensus among coaches is that Ritu “keeps a low profile, is humble and works hard. First time living away from family, that too this far. Dangal's box office collection was an eye-opener for the world.

This movie stared Aamir Khan in lead role an directed by Nitesh Tiwari. This is a case worthy of reflection," he said. The movie had only been out three months, but Ritu Phogat’s world had already been changed by ‘Dangal’. Copyright © 2020 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. But I am not thinking of going back to wrestling. When the movie finished and they started showing the credits, seven to eight of them rushed to the toilet - turned out they had been holding off going to the bathroom. "It could totally have been a Chinese story. Those are some of the most important traits for any athlete to possess.”, “Other guys sometimes just flow and go through the motion but she takes it upon herself to be a better fighter every chance she gets,” says Shinzato. The film, dubbed Shuai Jiao Baba (Let’s wrestle, dad), made ‘Aamir uncle’ and ‘Phogat’ household names. Learning to live full-time in foreign land however took a while. “ONE announced these regional plans, we discussed it before I signed and I’m excited to be leading that push. Before this movie release, Aamir Khan was a star in China but after this movie, he became the superstar. Film critic Nan Jiang told the BBC she thinks it's because the Chinese film market is dominated by commercial interests. Basically, the dad forced his dream on his two daughters. “Dangal was very successful in China, it got a very good reception from the people. Chinese critics say Dangal has helped break China's "prejudice" against Bollywood films, including their excessive length and elaborate but "puzzling" dance scenes. Specialists still exist, but elite fighters are aces of all trades. Nothing else matters.”. “All fights start standing up, but wrestlers are used to adjusting,” says Bhullar, who won the freestyle wrestling heavyweight gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. And many social media users and critics are inevitably comparing Dangal to Chinese films, saying it was better than a lot of domestic cinema.

The 33-year-old believes Ritu’s pedigree will help her make a mark. Since its release on 5 May in China, the film has already made more than 487m yuan ($70.7m; £54.5m) at the box office, according to state news agency Xinhua and continues to do strong business.

He didn't teach them to wrestle so that they could avoid being child brides. That will always be your strongest suit’. All he said was, no matter what the game, you have to give it all. And while it was not the pair of Phogat sisters the crowd assembled had hoped for, the euphoria surrounding the Aamir Khan-starring film was palpable and engulfed the two twenty-somethings. Five of the seven current male UFC champions were originally wrestlers. The big Difference in China vs USA is that China doesn’t have a lot of indian diaspora and Dangal is appealing to hardcore chinese audiences Don’t forget that.

“I follow it all. When MMA naysayers parrot the infamous pejorative by John McCain, they forget that the 2008 US Presidential candidate softened his stance over the years, going as far as to wishing the sport was around when he was a youngling in the Navy. Babita says Ritu’s sojourn acted like a ‘Dangal’ sequel, bringing the band back together. “I used to watch all these interesting fights on YouTube, and I would look at all the names and thought, ‘why isn’t anybody from India competing?’” says Ritu. We also watched MMA and shared inputs once we understood some of the moves.”. “Wrestlers are very tough, and adapt to challenges after years and years of high-level training.”.