‘Dangal’ Day

The Garden wears a deserted look soon after the exercises

Aamir Khan robbed us today of not only our attendance but 15 minutes of exercise time. Such is his fan following among our members that half the Club did not turn up at the Garden. Those who did were in such a tearing hurry to watch his latest starrer, Dangal (ref post of December 28, 2016) that the exercises had to be abandoned midway. By 7:45 a.m., the Garden was deserted.
Yusuf Rassiwala had made block bookings for the movie at the Cinepolis multiplex for the 9:55 a.m. show today. That was when tickets were going cheap at Rs 80 (as against Rs250 on an average for other shows).
The tickets were distributed yesterday with instructions to all to report at the theatre 10 minutes before show time. It meant going home to freshen up, having breakfast, even preparing for lunch, getting dressed and presenting themselves for the screening by 9:45 a.m. After last week's fiasco (ref post of December 29) nobody wanted to miss the movie for anything.
Bijoy Gupta was so amused by this sudden sense of urgency among our movie buffs that he began speculating aloud on how each would turn up for the show – what they would dress up in, who would accompany whom, how they would be seated inside the auditorium, etc. “Shekhawat will be bathed in perfume and his face plastered white in talcum powder,” he laughed. “Maybe that way, he would get lucky by impressing some fair maiden in the auditorium!”
Dangal happens to be a feel-good motivational film about an elderly wrestler (played by Aamir) coaching his two daughters into becoming world class wrestling champions. It is apparently based on a true story.
Bihari Milwani:
I trust and wish that after watching Dangal our members do not turn into wrestlers. Big Laaf should remain a laughter club and not become a big wrestling club.
Dilip Babani:
I saw an interview of Aamir Khan on Dangal. He had really spoken to the two girls who got medals in kusti. He was inspired by them to produce the movie. It has been made 'tax free' in some states so that everybody is inspired by its strong message: 'Girls are not less than boys really'.
Karun Sharma:
Such was the temptation to watch Dangal with Big Laaf friends that I walked to and from my house to complete my exercise routine. It was the genius of Gupta-ji to find funny situations here too while teasing his buddy, Shekhawat-ji.