top of page

Bollywood's Dangal: a triumph of feminism or of patriarchy?

Aimen 23110094


I remember my experience watching the magnanimously popular Amir Khan starrer Dangal for the very first time: I was inspired by the story of these two young ladies and their driven father who stopped at nothing to achieve their goals of becoming wrestlers despite immense societal pressures, strongly challenging gender stereotypes and advocating for gender equality in India. However, when I revisited the film later again in 2022, I realised the movie wasn’t all that strong a feminist film and disappointingly falls short of conveying a strong message of defying gender roles and encouraging female empowerment and agency. Here’s why:

Let’s start from the beginning. The movie begins by introducing Mahavir Singh (Aamir Khan), a national-level award winning wrestler who retired because he was unable to represent India in International Olympics due to societal pressures of “settling down” with a stable source of income and getting married. However, Mahavir deeply regrets having done so and dreams of winning a gold medal for the country by his future male heir. For this purpose, he wants a male child.

When his wife is pregnant with their first child, we see that he yearns for a baby boy to be born as he paces up and down during labour. However, when he learns that a daughter is born to him, he is visibly upset. The second time his wife is pregnant with a child, Mahavir and his wife use a couple of remedies and methods recommended to them by prying villagers for the birth of a son. However, again a daughter is born to them, and he seems deeply upset as “misfortune” overtakes him and his family. That’s when he makes a comment to his wife, “Bura mat maan na, lekin mujhe jou sapna poora karna hai woh ek beta hee kar sakta hai”. Mahavir is clearly trying to apologise for sounding like a sexist misogynist yet at the same time he shows no signs of happiness fathering daughters. Even the sweets that the villagers have brought in expectation of the birth of a male child are not distributed among the people, indicating that there is no celebration at the birth of a daughter. Instead, everyone seems visibly disappointed. While such a mindset is prevalent in many lower-middle households in India, highlighting this mindset via these events is a little disappointing for a film that was directly challenging gender inequality and gender roles. These events in the film clearly show that the birth of a son was to be celebrated and there were aims, ambitions and respect that were assumed to be pre-given to the child by society and family. However, the birth of a girl was met with disappointment and called a “misfortune”, and girls have to constantly prove their worth in order to be treated with the same respect and dignity time and again. What does a male child have to do to receive all of that? Simply be born.

Moreover, while the film attempts to make a strong feminist statement, it actually undermines ideas of females having a sense of agency and ownership in what they do and how they choose to live. As the daughters grow up, they happen to beat up two young boys who attempt to bully them. Mahavir sees his daughters have a natural knack for combat and views this as an opportunity to fulfill his dream of winning a gold medal for his country by training his daughters to become female wrestlers and compete in national games. While the girls do have a fruitful journey and eventually become the first ever female wrestlers to win internationally and represent India in the Olympics, it is actually not their own dream but rather their father’s dreams and obsessive ambition that is enforced upon them. The girls had no inner will or dreams of becoming professional wrestlers (rather they come to hate their father during early adolescence for giving them a hard time during training) but are forced into it to fulfill their father’s dream of doing the larger good by winning gold for India. In this way, the film actually renders the girls as docile puppets that are in the hands of the father, who is the patriarch of the family. The girls are used instrumentally to help Mahavir fulfill his unachieved dream of winning an international gold medal. The father also has emotional ways of making them conform to his dream, perhaps not for the sake of making them strong and independent women, but for winning the gold for India. This also makes it more of a nationalist ambition of a patriarch. It does not matter what the girls’ dreams, ambitions and hopes are for the future; they are disregarded for those of their father.

Additionally, it is problematic that the film constantly shows that in order to be taken seriously, the girls have to look “like a man” as well. In early adolescence Mahavir has his daughters’ hair cut short, wear boyish clothes (pants and t-shirts), wear no makeup or jewellery. It furthers the idea that being too “feminine” is a sign of weakness and can be a distraction from achieving goals or success. Moreover, the fact that it is all against their own will is just another example of how the film depicts that there is absolutely no sense of agency or autonomy for the girls. Nor is female empowerment promoted. Instead, the female wrestlers are seen honing celebrated masculine traits and the film makes it seem that it is one of the reasons for their ultimate success. What is worse is that all this is channelized through the patriarch of their family.

In the second half of the film, we see Geeta choosing to grow her hair and apply nail polish while she trains for international games at the camp, away from her father. These decisions are obviously against the will of her father. Instead of celebrating it, the film’s script decides to punish Geeta for this. What is a rather harmless display of independence and free thinking leads her to a series of losses and failed fights in the ring. It is as if Geeta is not allowed to exercise autonomy of any sort without being reprimanded. What’s more problematic is that by the end of the film she’s seen asking for her father’s forgiveness and mercy for this act, and it is only then that her career gets back on track. This is a way of elevating the patriarch of the family, giving in to making him the ultimate savior.


Ultimately, both Geeta and her younger sister Babita win big; Geeta bags the first ever gold medal for India in the female wrestling category at the Commonwealth games in 2010, Babita qualifies to international games. Geeta proudly wears the gold medal around her neck, however it’s not just her victory. It’s her father’s. While yes, Mahavir was instrumental to both his daughters’ success, the film tends to suggest that he was the sole reason for it, which is to disregard Geeta’s own blood, sweat, tears and sacrifices that she makes for her victory in her game.


In all, Dangal is a good and inspiring, moving watch that forces its audience to rethink social roles for females in India and puts spotlight on female excellence in sports. However, when read between the lines, the film is not a very careful or well thought-out piece on female empowerment and falls short on truly challenging gender inequality or representing females in India. Perhaps if the film were written or directed by a female, the story would have reflected the girls’ lives, thoughts and stories with more honesty and greater accuracy. What do you think?


Let me know in the comments below!

72 views14 comments

Recent Posts

See All

14 Yorum


That is a very good post. I believe that if this movie was written by a female writer and directed by a female director then the portrayal of women would have been very different. I believe as a society we are only stuck on showing the gender biases and power structure struggle. I wonder when will be move on showing equal representation of men and women in movies and dramas. There is inherent power struggle in our society regarding men and women but we will stay stuck in showing power struggles till we do not move out of it we would not be able to make inspiring dramas.

Beğen

Sana Khan
06 Ağu 2022

Aimen these are some good observations! Dangal remains one of my favourites and it is very emotional for me, given how I believe that fathers are underrated and the credit of good children always goes to mothers for having raised them that way and fathers are either discredited or not acknowledged at all, being only the providers. On that note, I would like to disagree with you on how the film tends to make Mahavir the sole reason of the girls' victory and disregard the girls' own efforts. It does not at all do that! In fact, the film quite aptly shows the painstaking journey of the girls and how they had to fight their way through sexism, all made…


Beğen
Aimen 23110094
07 Ağu 2022
Şu kişiye cevap veriliyor:

Hi Ayesha!

I concede to the fact that not every film is perfect, and despite its flaws Dangal is one of my favourites too.

I'd like to add that yess, Geeta's father had the right to be upset because she had defied what her father thought was best for her. But it should have stayed there.

Instead, we see that as soon as she starts growing her hair and wearing them in a ponytail, painting her nails etc, she sees not one or two but a series of defeats in the international wrestling ring. The placement of her failures right after the scenes when she decides to grow her hair, as well as the contrast that is shown during that…

Beğen

Sabeeh - 24020369
Sabeeh - 24020369
06 Ağu 2022

Great blog, Aimen! Really like the detail and effort you have put into the blog.


I watched Dangal when it was released and enjoyed it a lot back then. However, I actually didn't pay attention to the patriarchal undertones in the film back then, being a teen.


These problematic parts take so much away from the movie, which otherwise could have been a film that broke a lot of gender stereotypes. I think the movie highlighted the father's dismay over the birth of daughters intentionally, to later break the stigma by showing them win and highlighting how daughters can do the same as or better than sons. But, one still can not dismiss that the film does indeed have a…


Beğen
Aimen 23110094
07 Ağu 2022
Şu kişiye cevap veriliyor:

Hi Sabeeh!

I think if emotional appeal had been added to the film in this regard without having patriarchal undertones then it would have been a win in the film.

When I first watched the film, I was actually looking forward to a narrative where the girls, having seen their father's medals on the walls in their house, would ask their father about his story and upon hearing of his hard work, perseverance and victory, would be inspired to follow in his stead. This would have been their own conscious choice and as a result would have given them a lot more passion and motivation in order to achieve success. Having their father as a support figure who would train…


Beğen

Hello! Although, the movie seemed very inspiring to me. But, after reading your blog, it led me to think that the problematic themes are not in paucity in the movie. There's a point that sound very prickly is that the woman (Wife of Mahavir) is being emotionally abused by him. As, he always mourns of not having sons who can become what he want to see. This relates to South Asian women like they being submissive to their oppressors or we can husband's. Obviously, it's because of traditional patriarchal organisation in families that owe to marriage-related disharmony. Or specifically in Pakistan, we are conditioned in the way that husbands are "Majazi Khuda". We just have to obey them no matter…


Beğen
Aimen 23110094
07 Ağu 2022
Şu kişiye cevap veriliyor:

Hello Ammara!

Okay so basically in this scene in the film, the mother is sad because the father is disappointed at the birth of another daughter in the family and shows no signs of happiness. To express his disappointment, he says, "Bura mat maan na, lekin mujhe jou sapna poora karna hai woh ek beta hee kar sakta hai." She hears this ans is visibly upset, however, she does not say anything to him, because she is submissive and does not stand up to her husband.

I don't exactly categorise this as abuse. However, his statement does have sexist and misogynistic undertones to it.

The statement aptly captures the disappointment many parents face upon the birth of a daughter. In…

Beğen

Aiman Rahman
03 Ağu 2022

Hello! You have made some thoughtful observations. Dangal has remained a family favorite since years. Reading your blog, I get where you are coming from, but I believe that the film is attempting to critique the stereotypes by making them prominent rather than propagate for them. It is actually reframing the narrative by painting the 'daughters of India' (and elsewhere) to be just as capable as sons.

Nevertheless, an observation that you made was incredibly apt and I am surprised most of us didnt pick on the subtle misogyny-the one about Geeta being 'punished' for exercising her freedom and liberty. That just sends out a wrong message since it makes it seem like daughters owe something to their parents for…

Beğen
Post: Blog2_Post

Subscribe Form

Thanks for submitting!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

©2020 by EDU 274: Media Policy Project. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page