Aamir Khan starrer Dangal, which has been directed by Nitesh Tiwari is receiving rave response all over. The film had a good start at the Box Office and is continuing its powerful run. Dangal, which is based on ex-wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat and his two daughters Babita and Geeta, has “wrestling” as a common factor with Salman Khan’s Sultan. In order to avoid any similarity between both the films, the makers of Dangal were constantly in touch with Sultan makers.
Talking about being in touch with Sultan team, director Nitesh Tiwari said, “We were never insecure about doing the same thing. Two films about wrestling need not be similar. Although Raging Bull and Hands Of Stone are about boxing, how similar are they to the Rocky series? Nonetheless, we didn’t want to resemble Sultan in any detail and we made sure we didn’t.”
The director also revealed that the team of both the films were quite in loop and were not secretive about each other’s content. Nitesh said, “All through the making of our film we kept them (the Sultan team) in the loop about what we were filming. And they didn’t hide their content either. Finally, Sultan was a love story of two wrestlers. Ours is a biopic of a wrestler who trained his two daughters to be Olympic champions.”
Talking about the similarities between Dangal and Sultan, the director said,“The two films are similar in their wrestling backdrops and their motivational themes. Also, Salman and Aamir bulked up to inhuman limits to look like wrestlers past their prime. But that’s it. There are no other similarities. Even if there were similarities, Aamir and Salman are stars that audiences just can’t get enough of. People don’t mind watching them do the same thing.”
Nitesh Tiwari was all praises for Salman Khan and Aamir Khan for going through such intense physical transformation at the age of 50 plus. He said, “At 50-plus, no actor can afford to take the risks with their metabolism that Aamir and Salman did. To me they are the stars of the year because they have made kushti a nationally acceptable sport for boys and girls.”
Credits: DNA
