Filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari recently opened up about the creative challenges he faced while writing ‘Dangal’. In a conversation on Game Changers, a podcast hosted by film trade analyst Komal Nahta, the National Award-winning director revealed that since the audience already knew Geeta Phogat would win gold, the challenge was to keep them engaged in the journey.
Nitesh Tiwari on Dangal
Speaking on the podcast, Tiwari shared, “It was very alarming for us as writers as the audience knew that Geeta was going to win the gold. Now how do we make it a little difficult or different for the audience? So when what is known, how becomes important.”
To add an element of suspense, the team decided to keep Mahavir Singh Phogat, played by Aamir Khan, out of the finals. Tiwari revealed that they explored five different ways to make this happen before settling on the one that best complemented the film’s emotional payoff. “We decided Mahavir Singh cannot be there, he has to be outside. So we wrote five different versions of what can keep him out. And then we finally agreed to this one as it was paying off for the national anthem. So the audience will not think that Geeta will win gold but they will think about how will she win when Mahavir Singh is not there. That was the whole idea to keep him out of the finals,” he explained.
Amitabh Bachchan pointed a mistake in Dangal
Meanwhile, Aamir Khan called ‘Dangal’ his “best-acted” film and also shared that Amitabh Bachchan pointed out a mistake in the film
“It is difficult for me to say which is my favourite film. ‘Dangal’ is my best-acted film. There is only one shot in the film, which I did wrong, and Mr Amitabh Bachchan is so sharp that he got that shot. I asked him, ‘How did you find the film?’ and he said, ‘Very good but in one shot you were out of character.’ “The particular scene is during one of the wrestling sequences in the film I get up and say, ‘yes’, so that shot I got wrong because the character of Mahavir Phogat can never say yes. He could’ve said, ‘waah’ or ‘shabhash’ because ‘yes’ is a very English or Mumbai thing. That didn’t get cleared in editing. So, in every film I’ve done something wrong, no film’s perfect,” Aamir said at the Red Lorry Film Festival, where his 1988 film, ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’ was screened.
