Movie · 2016 · Drama, Family, Comedy · 2h 41m · PG · HI
Curator score: 8.3/10 (328.2K ratings)
Overview
Dangal is an extraordinary true story based on the life of Mahavir Singh and his two daughters, Geeta and Babita Phogat. The film traces the inspirational journey of a father who trains his daughters to become world class wrestlers.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.3/10
IMDb: 8.3/10
Letterboxd: 3.93/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
TMDB: 7.9/10
Director
Nitesh Tiwari
Production
Aamir Khan Productions, UTV Motion Pictures, Disney World Cinema
A stirring, crowd-pleasing sports drama with real emotional lift, strong performances, and memorable wrestling sequences. It does lean hard on familiar underdog beats and a controlling-father framework, but the energy, humor, and payoff make it an easy recommendation for most viewers.
Best for
sports drama fans
viewers who like inspirational true stories
audiences interested in women breaking barriers
fans of emotional, high-energy crowd-pleasers
Skip if
you want subtle, morally ambiguous character writing
you dislike inspirational biopics with familiar genre beats
you are sensitive to stories centered on authoritarian parenting
you prefer low-key realism over heightened melodrama
Overview
Dangal is built from familiar sports-movie parts, but it knows exactly how to make them land. The training montages, family friction, and final-match suspense are all engineered for maximum uplift, and the film earns a lot of that feeling through sheer momentum and confident performances.
Worth noting
What gives it extra force is the way it turns a wrestling story into a broader conversation about gender, ambition, and social expectation. The film is not especially nuanced about the father’s control, but it is compelling in the way it stages that tension and then channels it into achievement.
Bottom line
It’s also just very watchable: funny in the right places, rousing when it needs to be, and grounded by a rustic, lived-in texture that keeps the melodrama from floating away. Even if you can see the beats coming, the film still hits with real emotional impact.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Shikhar Verma (3.5★) · 422 likes
I've never had goosebumps and tears in a sports film that follows all possible cliches. That'll tell you how powerful this film really is.
Chris W (3.5★) · 353 likes
Girls be happy your father is controlling and using you to live out his dreams, rather than marrying you off: The Movie.
I really wish Bollywood movies would actually interrogate gender and class relations in a nuanced way which isn't just this oppression leads to a better life than that oppression.
Wrestling scenes kinda slap tho
Milez Das (5★) · 200 likes
Over the years Bollywood has tried making biopics, but instead they just made whatever they think was the meaning of a Biopic. Even though Dangal has its moments of Bollywood as it has to reach an audience of the second most populated place in the world, it manages to thrive in every moment and finally nurturing the true meaning of a biopic.
Dangal is a story about Mahavir Singh Phogat who was a really great wrestler, but had to leave… more
kate (3.5★) · 181 likes
watching this got me so PUMPED im going to PUNCH SOMETHING and RESPECT WOMEN
Michael James (4★) · 161 likes
The biographical sports drama is both inspiring and entertaining. The narrative is straightforward with the usual underdog sports template with predictable genre tropes, but the emotional connectivity, lighthearted humor, father-daughter moments and the compelling performances, elevate the drama and keep it engaging right though. Aamir Khan is outstanding as the stubborn patriarch father, while he’s terrifically matched by Fatima Shaik and Sanya Malhotra as the Phogat sisters. The rustic tone of the movie add to its flavor. A solid watch.