I watched this awesome movie, last month, and couldn’t wait to share my take on it with you all. Movie with a message is one of my passion projects on this platform, as a storyteller myself, I love traveling with the characters, on their journeys to discover their purpose. Everyone needs to see this incredible film. It is in Hindi but has English subtitles, and it is almost three hours long, but it is well worth it. Now let’s get to the story.
Mr. Mahavir and his girls
There was this man, in India, who was a national champion when it came to wrestling. He loved the sport so much but wasn’t getting the financial support that should come with such a career. He was winning medals, but no cash flow was coming in. In a hard conversation with his father one day, he advised him to move on from that field and take a 9-5 job offer, because when he gets hungry what was he going to eat? Medals? His father asked him.
I got into watching Shark Tank lately (I know, I’m late to the party) but thanks to Hulu, I can watch all seasons. So one of the ‘sharks’ who is referred to as Mr. Wonderful is known for saying—if your idea/dream doesn’t make you money in 36months, then it’s a hobby. From this statement, we can say Mr. Mahavir’s wrestling career was more like a hobby.
He then decided to project his dream of being a wrestler who made money to his unborn son.
When his wife was about to have their first kid, he was so excited. He was anticipating the world’s next champion in wrestling, and behold when he heard the news ‘it’s a girl’ he was so sad. Then the advice started pouring in, have sex on only Sunday’s if you want to have a boy, recite this prayer, eat this, don’t eat that...His wife got pregnant again, and everyone who had given them advice gathered together on the day of the delivery. Mr. Mahavir’s brother told his son, ‘you are about to have a sister’ then it was announced again, ‘it is a girl!’
You can imagine the disappointment and uproar. Then everyone who gave their advice accused the couple of not following it religiously. ‘You have no self-control, I said you should have sex on only Sundays, recite the prayers in reverse, don’t eat this, eat that.’ The funny thing is that people still give people advice on what to do, to have a particular sex. But I’ve realized that the determination of people’s sexes is not in the hands of humans, but the hands of our Creator. Who I often refer to as Chief Ventriloquist, because He always orchestrates things in the way He wants them to go. Anyway, before I digress, back to the story...
The next two times the wife gave birth, she gave birth to girls. So Mr. Mahavir had four girls, none with the hopes of becoming a wrestler. He had to take that dream and shoot it, as Mr. Wonderful often said to people on Shark Tank, when he felt an idea wasn’t going to be profitable, or when he just wanted to be mean. Mr. Mahavair took down all the medals and plaques he had won over the years and laid them to rest. It was a sad day in the Mahavir household. Let’s all take a moment of silence, to mourn his dreams. Okay, back to the gist.
There is a Light at The end of this Tunnel
Then one day, something happened that would change the trajectory of Mr. Mahavir and his family’s life forever. Mr. Wrestler came home one day to angry neighbors, the neighbor's children (boys) had gotten beaten up by someone from his family. So immediately he hit his nephew, thinking he was the culprit. But it wasn’t him! It was his two oldest girls! Then he got a Eureka moment! All this while he was praying for a son, who will win gold for India, not considering girls, could also win gold.
As he put it ‘gold is gold’ so he told his wife not to involve his two older daughters in household chores anymore so that they could focus squarely on training for wrestling. He also asked the wife to give him one year, and if anything doesn’t pan out in one year, then he will forget about wrestling altogether. After rigorous training with their father over the years, the girls went ahead to win gold and silver medals in the Delhi commonwealth games in 2010.
And in 2012, the older sister Geeta became the first ever Indian woman wrestler to qualify for the Olympics, and oh yea, it is a true life story. In this present day, both sisters have won 29 medals combined, in international wrestling. Mr. Mahavir went ahead to inspire thousands of girls across India, to take up wrestling, according to the synopsis at the end of the movie.
Lessons Learned
Just because God doesn’t answer your prayers, or reward your efforts in a certain way, doesn’t mean He is without a plan. All these years, Mahavir felt that if he had a male child, the child would then carry on his legacy or dreams. But he kept on getting disappointed with each reveal of the gender of his children. He didn’t know that God was carving out an entirely different niche not just for his family, but for the country of India. If a boy went ahead and had all these accomplishments, it could have been just another story, but because it was females, and in a country where it hadn’t been done before, their story, made headlines. God sure does have a sense of humor.
I have to give kudos to the director of this film, Nitesh Tiwari, the writers, and the actors that did this amazing story, justice. This movie can be streamed on Netflix, or purchased on Amazon. Hope you enjoyed my review on this awesome movie: Dangal, and will go ahead to watch it, and find out why it is a movie with a message. Remember to comment, like, share and subscribe to never miss an update.
About The Author: Evi Idoghor is a Christian writer and content creator on letstalknationblog.com. She is a chemical engineering graduate from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Consumed by her love for writing and desire to affect change, she launched her online platform Let’s Talk Nation, to tap into her creativity and start meaningful conversations that would make a difference around the world.
Most of her writing has been influenced by her time spent in America, where she has lived for about 11 years. In addition, she has lived in Nigeria and South Korea and currently loves traveling the world while learning about other fascinating cultures. You can find her on all social media platforms with @eviidoghor.