The Dangal We Are Yet to Fight: Dangal Women Breaking Barriers in India
- PenItOut
- Jan 13
- 3 min read
Dangal Women Breaking Barriers in India: What a revolution, right?
In many ways, Dangal brings us back to Simone de Beauvoir’s idea, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”, reminding us how society shapes who girls are “allowed” to be.
Ya ya, I know, why are we talking about a movie that released back in 2016? Just bear with it, we’ll get there.
Because somehow, even years later, Dangal women breaking barriers in India fits into every conversation about equality. A benchmark. A “see, India has changed” example.
And that’s exactly why it deserves another look.
On the surface, Dangal came across as a refreshing plot, women stepping into a space that was clearly not meant for them: strength.
Women choosing a path that society never imagined for them.
Okay, maybe ‘choosing’ isn’t exactly the right word here. ‘Decided’ by their father for their own good, would be a better way to describe it.
Coming straight to the point, if it was not for their father’s obsession with completing his dreams through his children (classic Indian parent), they’d have soon enough invited their friends to their haldi ceremony.
Dangal Women Breaking Barriers in India - Is It Really Revolutionary?
Disclaimer: It gets a bit uncomfortable from here onwards.
Is it really revolutionary for women that when a father doesn’t get a son, after failing all means to do so, he decides that now his daughters can live the life of his son?We cheer loudly when the line comes: “Mhaari chori choro se kam hain ke!”
We clap. We feel proud. We feel progressive.
What we don’t do is pause to think why does the chori need to be compared to a chora at all?Why is that the yardstick?
Chori is not meant to be chora.(Unless it’s their own choice, obviously.)
Still, just when it feels like the film has made its point…comes that narrator’s line:
“Jab inhone ache-ache ladko ko hara diya, to ye bichari ladkiyaan kya cheez thi?”
It sounds like a praise... at first glance. Almost celebratory.But it isn’t.
Because the movie, just minutes ago, told us how hard it was for these girls to even stand on that mat. How being girls meant fighting everyone - coaches, villagers, expectations. We’re reminded again and again that gender was the biggest hurdle.
And yet, at the moment of victory, the logic flips.
Suddenly, beating girls is obvious.Beating boys is the real achievement.
Other girls are reduced to “bichari”, weak, expected to lose, not even worth counting as competition.
It’s a strange contradiction, a film that challenges gender norms, while quietly reinforcing them.
Why can’t daughters just be daughters, and still do everything?
Why does empowerment come with disclaimers like:
“Aajkal to ladkiyaan bhi sab kar leti hain”
“Ladki ne itni padhai kari hai, to job to karne do”
“Itni strong hai, ladko jaisa mindset hai”
Why is equality always framed as surprise?
As if the default expectation was failure.
Empowerment, but conditional.
Freedom, but supervised.
Choice, but approved.
The Illusion of Progress
I’d like to believe that as a society, we are evolving.
But my day-to-day experiences tell a different story.
We celebrate strong women, as long as they don’t challenge family structures.
We applaud ambition, as long as it doesn’t interfere with settling down.
We love success stories, but still ask, Shaadi ka kya plan hai?
The question isn’t whether Dangal was a good film. It was.
The question is - why do we still need stories where women are empowered only after being justified through men?
Why is “allowed” still mistaken for “equal”?
And when will we stop being impressed that ladkiyaan bhi kar leti hain, and start accepting that they always could?
Maybe progress isn’t about proving women can do everything, but about stopping the need to be surprised when they do.
The fight isn’t about proving women can do more. It’s about questioning why they had to prove it at all.And maybe, just maybe, letting them be daughters, fully, without conditions, is the real victory.
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