Aamir Khan’s ‘Dangal’ Isn’t B-Town’s First Brush With Wrestling

Mahavir Singh Phogat’s coach Chandgi Ram also acted in a couple of movies.

Cricket and Bollywood have always influenced the Indian society. In terms of stature and popularity, both are at par. If Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan are celluloid gods, the likes of Tendulkar, Dhoni and more recently Virat Kohli are no less in the sporting world.

There may not have been movies made on cricket then, but the game had a strong connect with Bollywood even in the ‘60s. For every cause or during a national calamity like floods, famine and earthquake, Raj Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Rajender Kumar and others always led Bollywood in organising festival cricket matches to raise funds.

But surprisingly, even as cricket was hugely popular, wrestling and other contact sports had a much more direct connect with Bollywood. It was mainly because action-packed thrilling fights had always been an integral part of Hindi movies and what could have been a better way than to depict it through macho male wrestlers.

The Quint takes a look at Bollywood’s quest with wrestling.

1. Aamir Khan’s Next – Dangal

Aamir Khan’s next Dangal is another one in that line. Film’s protagonist Mahavir Singh Phogat was a wrestler in real life. He was a disciple of Master Chandgi Ram, an Asian Games gold medallist.

A well-known wrestler, Chandgi Ram himself acted in two films – Veer Ghatotkach and Tarzan.

Much before Chandgi Ram, freestyle wrestler Dara Singh had made his Bollywood debut in 1952 with Sangdil.

2. The Mumtaz-Dara Singh Pair

The first sportsperson to be nominated to Rajya Sabha, Dara Singh acted in around 120 Hindi and Punjabi films. He was popularly known as `The Ironman of Indian Cinema’ or `The original muscle man of Bollywood’.

Some of his movies that clearly projected him as a strong man were King Kong, Rustam-e-Hind, Veer Bajrang and Rustam-e-Baghdad.

Post 1963, he partnered with one of Hindi cinema’s most famous actors – Mumtaz, with whom he performed in 16 Hindi films. The couple became the highest paid B-grade actors, with Dara Singh receiving nearly Rs 4 lakh per film – a respectable amount then.

3. Wrestling Over Cricket?

In the recent past, we have had cricket-based films like Lagaan, Iqbal, and several others. But cricket never attracted Bollywood directors in the past because the pace of the sport was too slow for action-dominated Hindi cinema. No one would have enjoyed a hero in a white baggy playing a slow Test format game. Wrestling in contrast offered the original six-packers in a sport that most movie-goers played post-dinner in the villages.

Watching these bare-chest hulks gave a high to the fans who actually fantasised themselves being macho heroes.

4. Athletes With Giant-Like Physiques in Demand for TV Serials

Even in TV serials, athletes with giant-like physiques were in demand. Former Asian champion in discus throw and Olympian Praveen Kumar as Bheem was a great hit in the Mahabharat serial. In fact, as an athlete not many people knew him. But after the serial went on air, whenever he travelled by train to his hometown in Punjab, people would flock the platforms with flowers, coconut and incense for aarti!

Even Dara Singh, in the late 1980s, played the role of Hanuman in the television adaptation of Ramayana.

Now that Sakshi Malik has won a medal in the Olympic Games, wrestling has got more respect as a sport. And when Dangal is released, the second edition of the Pro Wrestling League would have just finished. Could Aamir Khan have asked for more?