New delhi: Superstar Aamir Khan says his upcoming “Dangal” is a sports film based on the life of wrestlers Geeta, Babita and their father and has not been made as a piece of advertisement of the Phogat family.
Aamir, 51, is essaying the role of the wrestling family patriarch Mahavir Singh and says his main motive to make the film is to make the audience aware of the struggles and achievements of the Phogat sisters.
“I knew about the Phogat family. I think the biggest way we could promote the Phogat sisters and Mahavir was by making a film on them. And that is what we have done,” he told reporters in a group interview.
“So after watching the film, hopefully people will appreciate them more perhaps. They will appreciate what the family has been through, the struggles, the achievements and the resilience that they have shown.”
Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, “Dangal” will release on December 23.
Often it has been seen in Bollywood that the actors, who play certain sportsperson in a biopic, overshadow the real life person.
Aamir says through “Dangal” he is neither promoting himself nor the sportsperson but rather decided to take on the subject because he was “creatively excited” about their story.
“My purpose to make this film was not to promote a sports personality or myself. When I am making a film it’s because I love the story. It is because I am creatively excited about the film.
“And I want to share it with audience. My primary responsibility is to make a good film not promote anyone. That’s what I concentrate on.”
Superstar Salman Khan also played a wrestler this year in “Sultan” and Aamir says he has watched the film and liked it.
“I don’t watch too many films but I watched ‘Sultan’ and I liked it. I watched ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ as well and I really liked Ranbir’s performance in it.
PTI