Daughters Founds for ‘Dangal’
After thousands of auditions, Dangal director Nitesh Tiwari’s film found Aamir Khan’s two daughters in the film. Fatima Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra will be playing a crucial role of Aamir Khan’s daughters in Dangal.
The film is inspired by the story of former wrestler Mahavir Singh (played by Aamir Khan), from Haryana’s Balali village, who built an ‘akhara’ in his own house and coached his daughters to historic wins in what was mainly a man’s sport back in the days. Geeta Phogat was India’s first female wrestler who won gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the 55kg free style category. Her sister, Babita Kumari won the silver. Both became role models in the conservative Jat community and a ‘dangal’ pit was dug in Bhiwani’s Government College for local female wrestlers to brush up their skills.
In addition to picking up Haryanvi accent, both girls will be seen wrestling onscreen with male opponents as in reality the Phogat sisters started wrestling at age 10 and by 12 they were traveling to neighboring villages in Haryana to take part in danglas.