Meet the Dangal boy who learnt cricket and wrestling for Bollywood

By Joginder Tuteja -

January 4, 2017 - 11:03 AM IST

Ritwik Sahore - The name definitely doesn't ring a bell. However, his face does lend a sense of familiarity. While Dangal has been all about Aamir Khan and his two daughters (who are played by two set of girls in their teenage and youth respectively), there is one boy who was surprisingly kept out of promotion. On watching the film though, you do realize that a youngster, who plays the cousin brother of the two girls, has a very important part to play as well. That boy is played by Ritwik and while he enacts the role of a young wrestler too, the earlier connection that he has with Bollywood is his role of a cricketer.

Meet the Dangal boy who learnt cricket and wrestling for Bollywood

"Well, watch carefully and you would recollect that he is the same boy who was earlier seen as a central protagonist in Ferrari Ki Sawaari," informs our source, "In there, Ritwik had enacted the part of Kayo, a budding teenage cricketer, who defies the system and emerges as a top cricketing model. His characterization back then was modelled on Sachin Tendulkar. On the other hand, in Dangal too, he is playing a real life character as the Phogat sisters indeed do have a cousin brother who also turned out to be a wrestling champion."

When Ferrari Ki Sawaari had released, Ritwik was a 12 year old teenager and today, he is a 16 year old boy.

"He is a born sportsperson and actually loves footfalls. Ironically though, in both the films that he has done, there is no mention of footfall at all," the source adds, "He had to go through gruelling training sessions for both the films though. In Ferrari Ki Sawaari, he had to learn cricket and now in Dangal he had to familiarize himself with wrestling."

Fortunately for him, since an element of fiction was added to the character played by Ritwik, the boy didn't have to work towards being an onscreen champion and was happy to be on the side-lines. That said, just like his debut Bollywood outing, he gave a delightful account of his acting skills all over again in Dangal as well.

One wonders though whether Vidhu Vinod Chopra is the common connect between Ferrari Ki Sawaari and Dangal that enabled Ritwik on board. Considering the fact that Ferrari Ki Sawaari was produced by him and he has a close connect with Aamir Khan (3 Idiots, PK), he may have something to do about it.

"There can be connections but good credit to casting director Mukesh Chhabra for putting his money on Ritwik," comments an insider, "At the end of the day, he had to get it right for all the actors in the film. Ritwik has played a Parsi boy in Ferrari Ki Sawaari and it would have required good conviction to put him into an altogether different stage, setting and ambience of Haryana."

Well, the boy has indeed scored and how. No wonder, alongside the girls in the film, he is getting good recognition as well, even if it is post the release of the film.