Nitesh Tiwari, Writer & Director of the film ‘Dangal’ conducted a master-class with the writers of his film, – Piyush Gupta and Nikhil Mehrotra on Day 4 of IFFI Goa 2017, sharing their experience of working on Dangal and the thought process behind writing the movie.  

Addressing the film enthusiast, students and media, Nitesh said, “The master-class is an effort to try and reconnect what we went through while making ‘Dangal’. What we went through and what our thought process was when we started writing Dangal. We honestly had no idea that we would be becoming part of something which is going to be loved so much and remembered for years.”

The master class proved to be an eye-opener for the aspiring students of cinema and film buffs as the casual conversation provided good insights of the storytelling experience. Co-written by Piyush and Nikhil, the script of Dangal was written fearlessly as the subject was extremely unconventional.  

Another point to be noted during the master-class was the fact that the emphasis was given upon the storytelling and the characters. The makers also paid attention to the fact that the audience should be highly entertained and engaged, as it’s a commercial feature film and not just end up being a documentary. Further, they noted that research has been a key part, which gave not only information but raw material for scenes. Further, he elaborated about the audience centric approach has been applied holistically not only while writing but editing as well.

The conversation steered to one of the most prominent scenes in the movie, wherein Mahavir Singh (Aamir Khan’s character) loses to his daughter. One of the biggest reasons why the superstar chose to put on weight was this scene. No other scene in the film was so pivotal. If his character Mahavir is not fat, unfit, old and breathless during the fight it would look so unconvincing that Geeta defeats her father.

The 48th Edition of IFFI will take place from the 20th to 28th of November, 2017 in the beach state of Goa.  IFFI is India’s biggest and Asia’s oldest film festival, making it one of the most prestigious in the world.

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PIB IFFI 2017/ No.22