Aamir's Dangal loved by all except Geeta, Babita Phogat's real life coach
Mumbai: Aamir Khan’s ‘Dangal’ is receiving all kinds of rave reviews from everywhere. The film joined the 100 crore club in just three days. While fans continue to shower the film with love, here is someone who isn’t that happy with the facts portrayed in the film.
According to a reports in Mid-Day, former wrestling coach PR Sondhi isn’t too happy with the way he has been portrayed in ‘Dangal’.
"They have changed the name to PR Kadam in the film, but somewhere the character is loosely based on my life. I have known Mahavirji (Phogat, wrestling coach and father of Geeta and Babita Phogat) for many years and he is a thorough gentleman. His two daughters have trained under me for more than three years and not once did he interfere. I don't understand the need to show the character as such a taskmaster. There were four other coaches, who were also involved [in the training], but they haven't been shown in the film at all," he said.
‘Dangal’, which is a biopic on wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat and how his prepared his daughters, Geeta and Babita for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, shows the sisters’ coach almost as an antagonist. In a scene, Mahavir misses a crucial match of his daughter due to the coach, who locks him inside the janitorial closet. However, the real coach, Sondhi isn’t happy with the scene.
“Distortion of facts has hurt my reputation. Once I watch the film, I will speak to the wrestling federation. I also plan to meet Aamir and seek an explanation,” the coach while alking about the scene where he gets Mahavir locked in the room.
PR Sondhi revealed that when he had met Aamir in Ludhiana during the shooting, he had no idea that things would turn out like this in the film. “Kripa Shankar Bishnoi, who trained Aamir for Dangal, has been my student. When we all met, Aamir asked me general questions about wrestling, but not once did he discuss anything about the film. He should have told me how they were planning to portray the coach's character," he concluded.
