Indian wrestler turned politician Babita Phogat, whose family was the subject of Bollywood A-lister Aamir Khan’s mega-blockbuster ‘Dangal’, revealed the shockingly meagre amount their family received to give rights for the film.
For the unversed, Aamir Khan-led ‘Dangal’, co-produced by himself, his ex-wife Kiran Rao and movie producer Siddharth Roy Kapur, followed the story of Phogat Sisters, Indian wrestlers Geeta and Babita, and their father and coach Mahavir Singh.
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The sports biopic directed by Nitesh Tiwari opened to worldwide critical acclaim upon its release in 2016 and emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film worldwide, with a Box Office collection of INR 2000 crore.
However, what would come as equally shocking for everyone was that the subject of India’s biggest global hit, i.e. the Phogat family, received not even 1% of the total of these earnings against the rights of their story to the filmmakers.
In a new interview with an Indian media outlet, Babita revealed that the Phogat family was given only INR 1 crore to give the rights to the director of the film before Khan came on board as producer.
She also revealed that the makers wanted to change the names of their characters in the biopic after Khan joined the project, but her father and coach Mahavir Singh Phogat refused to give permission for that.
“My father had said only one thing – ‘We want people’s respect and love. Leave everything else,’” she said when the interviewer questioned about the small fee from the earnings.
Babita divulged that her father later asked Khan for assistance in opening a wrestling academy in Haryana following the massive success of ‘Dangal’, however, the makers ignored his request and hence, the plan could not be materialised.
Also Read: Aamir Khan’s ‘Dangal 2’ in the making?
