New Delhi: Hetal Dave’s father was ready to sell the jewellery he had saved for her wedding, helping her pursue her dream. He even left his job, while her brother became her sparring partner at Mumbai’s Oval Maidan. Together, they helped her become India’s first and only female sumo wrestler.
Now, her journey is being brought to the screen with Sumo Didi.
Directed by Jayant Rohatgi, the biographical film will stream on Zee5 on 23 October, with Shriyam Bhagnani playing Dave. The film follows her journey from a girl who felt insecure about her weight and faced society’s judgement to becoming an athlete.
It was 2006. Dave was practising judo but often faced comments about her body.
“People used to call out in derogatory ways, stating, ‘ae moti idhar aa ek baat karni hai’ Come here fatty, need to talk to you” she said, recalling how people addressed her before conversations around body positivity became more common.
Being raised in a conservative community added to the challenges.
“Of course, when you are coming from a conservative community you are told as a female ‘wazan kam karo varna koi shadi nahi karega, bache nahi honge’ Lose weight otherwise nobody will marry you; you won’t have children,” she said.
Dave’s hunt for a new sport began in a cyber cafe, where she researched sports she could pursue without her weight becoming a disadvantage. She came across sumo wrestling. She began researching it, making notes about its rules and training methods.
“I got in touch with the Sumo Wrestling Federation in Japan. I mailed them that I find this game very, very attractive and I’m very fond of this game and I would like to know more about it and do females also participate in it. And that’s how I started my journey into sumo wrestling,” she said.
A family’s collective hard work
With no facilities, coach or female training partner available, Hetal Dave had to find her own way. She left judo and began training in sumo wrestling with her younger brother, who was physically stronger than her, at Oval Maidan in Mumbai. She would study the sport at the cyber cafe and then explain what she had learned to her brother and father at home.
“I would get my brother and my father sit down and I would recite everything that I had noted in the cyber cafe,” she said.
She said training with boys was not new to her, as she had faced the same situation while practising judo.
“So I trained with him. And also when I was doing judo also there were no females ever. So I would always train with boys so that was not an issue with me ever,” she added.
“My father said, ‘Okay I’ll leave this job and I’ll focus on what my daughter wants right now because that is more important for me’,” Dave told ThePrint, speaking about 2006.
The family followed this routine for two years as she prepared for an opportunity to compete internationally. When Dave got the chance to participate in the World Sumo Championships in Estonia in 2008, finding a sponsor to cover the expenses became her biggest challenge.
“My father told me, ‘If you don’t get a sponsor, don’t worry. I’ve kept some jewellery aside for your wedding. We’ll sell it, and you’ll be able to go. Don’t worry about it,’” Dave said.
Determined to find another way, Dave approached a Gujarati daily newspaper, Divya Bhaskar Gujarati, that had regularly covered her journey and achievements. She asked the newspaper to help her reach people who could sponsor her trip.
The next morning, the newspaper published a report about her journey and her need for financial support to travel to Estonia.
“And in the morning around 10:45 I get a call at my home that you have got a sponsor. That person was a god for me. I was mad, I wanted to go anyhow,” she added.
At the championship, she faced 15 other female wrestlers in her category. She finished among the top eight.
“I was blank. I was a teenager, and it was my first time traveling all alone. Finishing in the top eight of the championship was an achievement,” she said.
Dave earned a place in the Limca Book of Records in 2008 for being India’s first and only female sumo wrestler. Though India does not have a domestic circuit, Dave has been competing internationally.
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Not a typical Bollywood biopic
Dave personally trained Bhagnani, who did not have a sports background, in judo and sumo wrestling to ensure an authentic portrayal.
“She trained intensely for six to eight months,” Dave said, adding that she was also present on set to ensure the sequences were executed authentically.
For Dave, the film is not just about her journey but also about raising awareness of lesser-known sports. She said Rohatgi and producer Akash Chawla wanted to tell her story without turning it into a conventional Bollywood biopic.
“I will get true justice because of these makers because if it had been some other producer or director, they would have made it a commercial movie and song and dance,” she said.
Despite her achievements, Dave said little has changed in the past two decades. India still lacks proper infrastructure for sumo wrestling, while awareness about the sport remains low. When the trailer of Sumo Didi was released, viewers on social media questioned whether sumo wrestling even existed in India.
Dave said it will take time for lesser-known sports to gain acceptance in the country, with awareness being a major challenge.
She hopes the film will help other athletes pursuing lesser-known sports find the support they need. Dave added that revisiting her journey through the film also reminded her of the struggles she faced and could help audiences understand what athletes go through to pursue their dreams.
“I hope and pray that it works its magic, because I understand what a real struggle it is when you are pursuing something lesser known,” she said.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)