The director reveals how he had named his film Dangal four years back
Mayur Lookhar
I
t's going to be Khan vs Khan this year as Salman Khan's Sultan and Aamir Khan's Dangal, both based on wrestling will hit the theaters. While everyone's been speculating about who will do a better job at playing a wrestler, there is an interesting piece of information that reveals another connect between the two films.
Speaking to a daily, DNA, Sultan director Ali Abbas Zafar said that when he first sent the 10-page script of his wrestling-based film he’d titled it as Dangal.
"It's bizarre when I wrote this script, I had no idea that there was any other film that was ever going to get made on wrestling. I wrote this film in 2012, it's almost four years since. And I can tell you now that the first draft of 'Sultan' was called 'Dangal.' The first 10 pages, which I mailed to Adi, was titled Dangal," Zafar told DNA.
After learning that the Dangal title was already taken and fellow director Nitesh Tiwari was helming such a film, Zafar met Tiwari to ensure that there is no clash of script. Fortunately for Zafar, Tiwari’s Dangal turned out to be a father-daughter story.
No soon that Zafar came up with his disclosures, Dangal began trending on social media with Aamir Khan fans making their choice clear.
Many on the social media were of the view that Dangal will prove to be the better film, while Sultan will be a commercial success.
Doesn't matter if #Sultan was called #Dangal earlier. It still would have been a shitty salman movie.
— Stark Contrast (@StarkContraast) June 1, 2016
@ZoomTV if you wish to watch a realistic movie with real wrestling, wait for #Dangal.
— Aniket Aamirian! (@born_aamirian5) June 1, 2016
Meanwhile, entertainment channel tweeted that Zafar himself reckons that Dangal would be the film of the year.
#Sultan director Ali Abbas Zafar says #Dangal will be the year's best film. What do you think Sultan or Dangal will be the year's best film?
— Zoom TV (@ZoomTV) June 1, 2016
Amidst talks of Sutlan taking the sheen off Dangal, as its set to release first, Zafar’s mutual respect for Dangal and its makers ought to be applauded. Sultan is slated to release on Eid this year.