Babita Phogat, the renowned wrestler who gained immense recognition through the blockbuster film Dangal, recently opened up about her experiences with the film’s production team, shedding light on the financial arrangements and creative decisions that followed its success.
Directed by Nitesh Tiwari and featuring Aamir Khan, Dangal went on to become a global sensation, grossing an astonishing Rs 2070 crore. Yet, the compensation Babita and her family received for the rights to their story was strikingly low, amounting to just Rs 1 crore.
In a candid interview with News 24, Babita recounted the beginnings of the film project, explaining that a journalist from Chandigarh had first written about her family, prompting Nitesh Tiwari’s team to reach out with the intent of creating a documentary. “The director himself came and spoke to us all. At that point in time, he just told us that he would make a documentary on us. This was around 2010. But, later after writing it, he shared he would like to make a film,” she explained, reminiscing about the early days of the project.
Babita described the emotional moment when Tiwari narrated the film’s story to her family, emphasizing how moving it was to relive her childhood experiences through the narrative. “My entire family was quite emotional. When I watched the film for the first time, it seemed like I went back into my childhood. I was emotional,” she shared.
However, the conversation took a surprising turn when Babita revealed the negotiations that took place concerning her identity in the film. “You will be surprised to know, after the entire story was written, they were even having a discussion to remove my name from the film altogether. They wanted to change the character’s name in the film,” she stated.
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When the filmmakers initially approached Babita’s family to discuss the rights to their story, they settled on a fee that seemed minuscule compared to the film's massive success. “The fees for the rights was decided much before they wrote the story, which was not even 1% of its total earnings,” Babita noted, underscoring her disappointment with the financial arrangement.
An important moment in the negotiations came when Aamir Khan’s team expressed a desire to change the names of the characters in the film. Babita recalled, “It was after this, Aamir Khan’s team called us and said they want to change the characters' names. But then my dad was not okay with it. He said, if you want to make the film, then it is going to be our real names.”
Despite the film's overwhelming success, Babita expressed feelings of neglect regarding her family's aspirations post-release. After the film's triumph, her father approached Aamir Khan’s team with a request for assistance in opening a wrestling academy in Haryana. Babita revealed, “After the film’s success, my dad spoke to Aamir’s team and requested them to help us open an academy in Haryana for wrestlers, but that was ignored. It takes about Rs 5-6 crore to open a nice academy.”
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