Superstar Aamir Khan visited the village of Balali in Haryana to attend the wedding of Mahaveer Singh Phogat's daughter, Geeta.
It is a big day for the people of Balali in Haryana, which seldom makes news for the wedding of a woman. But this time, the bride is special. Superstar Aamir Khan visited the village on Sunday to attend the wedding of Mahaveer Singh Phogat’s daughter, Geeta. And Geeta is a gold winning wrestling champion. For the uninitiated, she is one of India’s most celebrated woman wrestlers and since cricket has dominated the country, superstar Aamir Khan is trying to throw some light on wrestling and the story of an inspiring family, in his upcoming film Dangal.
More about Geeta Phogat will be learnt when Dangal releases next month. Aamir Khan plays the role of Geeta’s onscreen father and the former wrestler himself, Mahavir Singh Phogat. And Aamir, as promised to the Phogat family, made it a point to be present at Geeta’s wedding. He congratulated the family.
The Dil Chahta Hai actor said he wanted to gift Geeta her bridal dress, but that is traditionally done by the bride’s maternal uncle. Hence, he stuck to a fruit box. Aamir further said his gift to the Phogat family is his film Dangal.
Aamir has been coming to this village for two years while preparing for the sports biopic. He shot at Phogat’s old house too. Makers did some alterations to the house to suit the creative aspects of the film. One can see a beautiful painting of two wrestlers on the wall which was painted for the film.
Check out some of the inside and exclusive pictures from Aamir’s visit to Balali.
Inhabitants of the village who are not so used to being surrounded by journalists and shutterbugs said they are happy about the film. They said this will give motivation to young girls here.
Rajesh Jakhar, neice of Mahavir Phogat said, “There was a lot of protest when Phogat used to train his girls. But now the mentality has changed after Geeta and other girls won world championships. Mahavir has now gone to Bollywood. The entire nation can see him now. He trains 15-20 girls from the village.”
“A lot of Bollywood films are being made in Haryana. It is a special place,” Aamir added. While being surrounded by the media he also took this opportunity to deliver a dialogue from his upcoming film, “Mari choriya choro se kam hai ka”, thereby subtly promoting his film as well.
It remains to be seen if Dangal would make the same connect with people outside this village. However, it should be celebrated for its courage to go out and show us a very real story that belongs to us.
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