Dangal's Fatima Sana Shaikh is the same chirpy child actor you saw in Chachi 420

If we look back at Kamal Hassan’s Chachi 420, three aspects of the film distinctly stand out - the transformation of Hassan into a 60-year old woman, the final performance of the legendary comedian Johnny Walker and the chirpy child actor Bharti who held her own in spite of the presence of seasoned veterans like Hassan, Amrish Puri, Om Puri and Tabu.

Almost twenty years later, she has graced the silver screen again with her childlike enthusiasm that has remained intact with her over two decades as she has wrestled her way into an Aamir Khan film. Yes, she is Fatima Sana Shaikh who plays the role of the grown up Geeta Phogat in Nitesh Tiwari’s wrestling biopic Dangal.

When Shaikh appeared on the last episode of Koffee with Karan Season 5 , she described how she was jobless for the last three years before she auditioned for Dangal. “I was not getting any roles, not even ad films,” she said, much to the surprise of Aamir, with whom she shared the Koffee couch.

Little did we know then that she is the same animated Bharti that we saw back in 1997 in Chachi 420. Over the span of two decades, she appeared in fleeting roles in only five films, the most noticeable of which were One 2 Ka 4 and Bittoo Boss. Her last film, in a short appearance, was Luv Ranjan’s 2013 romantic drama Akaash Vani. She also played the role of Suman in the television drama series Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo.

Going by the early reviews of Dangal, it is a known fact that her spirited portrayal of Geeta Phogat is attracting a large number of eyeballs and earning her rave reviews from the critics.