gujjarwal kilaraipur ludhiana barely a fortnight after the release of the aamir khan starrer dangal which evoked rave reviews for its strong message of gender equality life for a few residents of villages in pakhowal tehsil has taken a major turn they were part of the movies production on or off the screen during its two month long shoot last year most of them may not even find a mention in acknowledgments and the star cast but their association with the movie however brief it may have been has made them mini celebrities the film revolves around the life of haryana former wrestling champion mahavir singh phogattoi revisited the places and local residents to find out how it changed their lifewelcome to dangal houseoctagenarian hardeep singh an nri from toronto frequently visits his native village to look after his sprawling double storey house every year in the winter but his visits are different now that he has shot to fameevery other day people from nearby areas knock at his door requesting a dekko in side the premises which singh has proudly renamed dangal house he takes pride in guiding visitors around the palatial house and describing how his almost century old ancestral house was given a makeover for a complete rural look to match the lifestyle of haryanas for mer wrestling champion ma havir singh phogat actor aamir khan played the role of the wrestler in the filmmy wife and i have been coming here every year to stay in the winter but this time it has been a different experience almost every day after the release we have had visitors who want to see the house where the movie was shot says hardeep singh who has installed a small board at the entrance in punjabi describing the premises as dangal housesatwant kaur the caretaker of the house had rented out the adjacent house to crew members during the two month long shoot she is equally enthusiastic and gives a vivid description of the prepara tions done before the shootguiding visitors to the staircase leading to the terrace where senior phogat is shown giving wrestling lessons to his daughters geeta and babita she points out at the small open air bathroom under the stair aamir khan is shown taking a bath here a handpump had to be installed after replacing the water tap to give the house a rural look the doors of the entrance too were replaced with older ones and the house that has 12 rooms in two storeys was painted differently to give it an old look she saysthe entire family including hardeep singh went to watch dangal to see how their house looked like in the movie singh has been receiving calls from his nri relatives and acquaintances who watched the film and grew nostalgic on seeing the village and his house even though it looked like a village from haryanathe celebrity shoeselleroutside one of the entrances of the house which opens into a small lane