Dangal Movie: Story, Cast, Famous Dialogues and Box Office Collection

Quick answer: Dangal is a 2016 Hindi sports biopic directed by Nitesh Tiwari, with Aamir Khan as the wrestler and coach Mahavir Singh Phogat, who trained his daughters Geeta and Babita to become international champions. The film released in India on 23 December 2016 and became one of the highest-grossing Indian films ever: Bollywood Hungama puts its worldwide gross at about ₹1,968 crore, while Box Office India reports about ₹2,024 crore, much of it from China.

What is Dangal about?

Dangal (the word means a wrestling bout or competition) tells the story of Mahavir Singh Phogat, a former wrestler from Balali village in Haryana. He gave up hope of winning a gold medal for India himself and wanted a son who could do it. When he realised his daughters Geeta and Babita could fight, he trained them in wrestling instead, against strong opposition from people in his village. Geeta went on to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal, and the film builds to that final bout.

When this article was first written in late 2016, the film was still awaited. It was Aamir Khan’s first release since PK (2014), which is part of why it was one of the most anticipated Hindi films of that year.

Dangal: key facts

• Director: Nitesh Tiwari
• Writers: Nitesh Tiwari, Piyush Gupta, Shreyas Jain and Nikhil Mehrotra
• Producers: Aamir Khan Productions and Walt Disney Pictures India; distributed by UTV Motion Pictures
• Music: Pritam, with lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya
• India release: 23 December 2016
• China release: 5 May 2017
• Reported budget: about ₹70 crore

Cast of Dangal

• Aamir Khan as Mahavir Singh Phogat
• Sakshi Tanwar as Daya Shobha Kaur, Mahavir’s wife
• Fatima Sana Shaikh as the adult Geeta Phogat, and Zaira Wasim as young Geeta
• Sanya Malhotra as the adult Babita Kumari, and Suhani Bhatnagar as young Babita
• Aparshakti Khurana as Omkar, Mahavir’s nephew and the film’s narrator
• Girish Kulkarni as Pramod Kadam, the coach at the national sports academy

The real story behind the film

The film is based on real people. Mahavir Singh Phogat is a former wrestler and a Dronacharya Award recipient who coached his own daughters. Geeta Phogat won the women’s freestyle 55 kg gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India’s first gold medal in women’s wrestling at the Commonwealth Games. In 2012 she became the first Indian woman wrestler to qualify for the Olympic Games. Babita Kumari won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The film dramatises parts of their story, so not every scene happened exactly as shown.

Dangal box office collection

What was predicted before release

Before the film opened, this article and an older eDefines post on the same film reported trade estimates of a budget of about ₹71 crore (one estimate said ₹71.88 crore), a first-day collection of ₹35 to ₹40 crore and an opening weekend above ₹50 crore. They also noted that Aamir Khan’s PK had already crossed the ₹300 crore mark in India, and expected Dangal to challenge Salman Khan’s Sultan as the biggest film of 2016. Those were predictions; the actual figures are below.

What the film actually earned

Box office figures for Dangal differ by source, mainly because of how overseas and China earnings are converted and counted. These are the figures as published by each source:

So the opening day came in below the ₹35 to ₹40 crore that was predicted, but the film kept running for weeks. In January 2017, Mint reported that Dangal had overtaken PK as the highest-grossing Bollywood film, which also put it well ahead of Sultan for 2016. For how Sultan performed, see our page on Sultan dialogues and box office collection.

Why China mattered so much

Dangal opened in China on 5 May 2017. Within days, China Daily reported that it had become the highest-grossing Indian film in China, and by late May Bloomberg reported it as the biggest non-Hollywood foreign film there. In late June 2017, Indian business media, citing Forbes, reported that the film’s worldwide total had crossed ₹2,000 crore. China alone accounted for more than half of the worldwide total in most published estimates.

Awards and reception

• 62nd Filmfare Awards (2017): Best Film, Best Director (Nitesh Tiwari), Best Actor (Aamir Khan) and Best Action.
• 64th National Film Awards: Zaira Wasim won Best Supporting Actress for playing young Geeta.
• Several states, including Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, made the film tax-free in December 2016.

To read more about the Hindi film industry the film came out of, see our explainer on Bollywood, the Indian movie industry.

Trailer and songs

The trailer was released on 20 October 2016, the date UTV Motion Pictures had announced, and drew about 6.8 million YouTube views in roughly its first day, as reported by exchange4media. An earlier version of this article gave the trailer date as 18 October; that was the day the release date was announced.

The first song, “Haanikaarak Bapu”, came out in November 2016. Sung by Sarwar Khan and Sartaz Khan Barna, it is a comic number about how strict Mahavir’s training felt to the young girls. The album also includes “Dhaakad” (sung by Raftaar), “Gilheriyan” (Jonita Gandhi) and the title track sung by Daler Mehndi.

Famous Dangal dialogues

A few of Mahavir Singh Phogat’s lines became widely quoted after the trailer and the film came out. Here are some of the best known, in short:

1. “Mhaari chhoriyaan chhoron se kam hai ke?” (Are my girls any less than boys?)
2. “Gold medalist pedon pe nahi ugte. Unhe banana padta hai, pyaar se, mehnat se, lagan se.” (Gold medallists do not grow on trees. They have to be made, with love, hard work and dedication.)

3. “Gold toh gold hota hai, chhora laave ya chhori.” (Gold is gold, whether a boy wins it or a girl.) Mahavir says this when he realises his daughters can win the medal he dreamed of.

4. “Bahut ho gayi pehelwani, ab dangal hoga.” (Enough wrestling practice, now it is a real fight.) This was the closing line of the trailer.
5. “Silver jeetegi toh aaj nahi toh kal log bhool jaavenge. Gold jeetegi toh misaal ban jaavegi.” (If you win silver, people will forget you sooner or later. If you win gold, you will become an example.)

Earlier versions of this page reproduced more of the trailer’s dialogue word for word. We now keep to a few short, widely quoted lines; the film itself is the best place to hear them in full. For more lines from the actor’s other films, see our collection of Aamir Khan dialogues in Hindi.

Frequently asked questions

When did Dangal release?

Dangal released in India on 23 December 2016 and in China on 5 May 2017.

Is Dangal a true story?

Yes. It is based on the life of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat and his daughters Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari, both Commonwealth Games gold medallists. Some events are dramatised for the film.

How much did Dangal earn worldwide?

Estimates differ. Bollywood Hungama puts the worldwide gross at ₹1,968.03 crore, and Box Office India at about ₹2,024 crore. The film’s China run accounted for a large share.

Who played Geeta and Babita in Dangal?

Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra played the adult Geeta and Babita. Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar played them as children.

What is the most famous dialogue from Dangal?

The most widely quoted line is Mahavir’s “Mhaari chhoriyaan chhoron se kam hai ke?” (Are my girls any less than boys?).

This guide combines two earlier eDefines articles on the same topic.

Details checked in October 2026 against the film’s credits, Bollywood Hungama’s box office page, Box Office India, and 2016-17 reporting by exchange4media, Mint, China Daily, Bloomberg and The Hollywood Reporter. Box office figures are attributed because sources differ.