Dangal – Geeta distracted in the city

    Geeta from Dangal trained like a champion in her village — then the city's glamour nearly broke her focus. Here is what her story teaches every professional about the fragile, testable nature of commitment.

    Dangal – Geeta distracted in the city

    Dangal – Geeta distracted in the city

    Geeta Phogat trained like a wrestler possessed in her father's akhada in Balali. Then she went to the National Sports Academy in Patiala — and for a while, the champion in her nearly disappeared. Not because her talent left. Because her commitment did.

    In short

    Where this sits on your Winning Kite

    Commitment is the ninth trait in the Self-Motivation cluster on the EQ — left — side of your Winning Kite (KITE Leadership Framework). On their own, EQ traits like commitment don't create Success at the top of the kite. They need to work with RQ (how you relate to your team and your city, your coach, your peers) and PQ (the discipline and systems that convert intent into output). Geeta's story is really a story about what happens when the EQ side of the kite gets pulled loose while the other sides stay intact — talent (PQ potential) and popularity (RQ) remained, but the emotional anchor of commitment slipped.

    The story: from Balali's akhada to Patiala's glamour

    If you've watched Dangal, you know the first half. Mahavir Singh Phogat, a former wrestler who never won an international medal for India, decides — against the entire village's mockery — to train his daughters Geeta and Babita as wrestlers. Geeta, played by Fatima Sana Shaikh in her adult years, grows into this training under her father's unrelenting, almost military discipline. Early mornings. No sweets. No long hair. No distractions. She wins state and national titles. Her commitment in that environment is total — because the environment itself is built to protect that commitment. There is nothing else to do in Balali except train.

    Then Geeta earns a spot at the National Sports Academy in Patiala for advanced training. This is supposed to be the next step up. Instead, it becomes the point where her focus wavers.

    Away from her father's watchful eye for the first time, Geeta is suddenly surrounded by things she never had access to: fashionable clothes, fried and fast food, movies, new friends, a hostel life with no 5 a.m. curfew, and a coach whose methods are far more relaxed than her father's. She isn't rebelling against wrestling. She still wants to win. But the glamour and comfort of the city keep pulling her attention away, one small compromise at a time — a late night here, a shortcut in training there, old-school techniques from her father dismissed as outdated in front of her new coach. Her performance dips. She loses a crucial bout. And it's only when she is confronted — painfully, publicly — with how far she has drifted from the discipline that made her a champion, that she begins the long climb back to focus, eventually reconciling with her father's guidance and going on to become India's first female wrestler to win gold at the Commonwealth Games.

    Why this happens: you're not distracted by what you don't love

    Here is the line I use in every training room when I tell this story: you are not distracted by things you don't love. You are distracted by things you do love.

    Geeta didn't lose focus because she hated the city. She lost focus because she genuinely enjoyed parts of it — the food, the freedom, the friendships, the applause. That pleasure, small and constant, pulled at her attention the same way an India–Pakistan cricket match pulls a working professional's focus away from a pending deadline. Nobody gets distracted watching a sport they don't care about. It's precisely because the pull is pleasurable that it's dangerous to commitment.

    I've seen the same arc, almost beat for beat, with a professional I know personally. He made a genuine commitment to himself: no more drinking on weeknights. For a few weeks, he held the line. Then, slowly, at exactly 7 p.m. every evening, he'd start rushing out of the office — even with pending work, even when his team needed him — because the pull of that first drink had quietly become stronger than his commitment to his job. Nothing dramatic happened. No single bad decision. Just a slow erosion, one comfortable evening at a time, until the commitment he'd made to himself and to his team was gone.

    The Hindi film industry has told this story more than once, because it's such a universal human pattern. In Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Milkha Singh — despite extraordinary natural talent — gets pulled off course by parties and the early taste of success and attention once he starts winning. It takes a painful reset, a recommitment to his purpose, before he becomes the "Flying Sikh" the country remembers. Different sport, different decade, same trap: talent survives, focus doesn't, until the person consciously chooses to rebuild it.

    The Winning Kite: Commitment is one of the EQ-side traits that must hold steady for Success to follow.

    What breaks commitment in the workplace (not just in the movies)

    In my corporate training sessions, I map Geeta's arc directly onto four patterns I see constantly among otherwise capable professionals:

    1. Distractions and temptations

    Alcohol, parties, relationships, social media, the comfort of "just this once." These aren't character defects — they're the natural pull of pleasure competing with the harder, slower pleasure of achievement. The professional who leaves at 7 p.m. sharp every day isn't lazy. He's simply letting a smaller, faster reward outcompete a larger, slower one.

    2. Setbacks and failures

    When things go well, commitment feels effortless. It's after the lost bout, the rejected pitch, the missed target, that commitment is actually tested. Businessmen abandon ventures after losses. Writers quit after rejections. Salespeople lose heart after a string of "no's." Geeta's real test wasn't the glamour of Patiala — it was staying committed after she started losing.

    3. Lack of alignment with the mission

    Commitment weakens fast when a person doesn't feel connected to why the work matters. Geeta's early commitment in Balali was fused with her father's mission — proving that Indian women could win international wrestling medals. In Patiala, disconnected from that "why" and surrounded by a new, softer coaching philosophy, the mission blurred, and so did her discipline.

    4. Fear of sacrifice

    Commitment always demands a price — cancelled plans, early mornings, discomfort. People want the medal without paying for the training. Geeta, briefly, wanted the freedom of the city and the glory of the podium at the same time. That combination doesn't exist for long.

    Contrast: the professionals who never let go

    To be fair to commitment as a trait, the book is full of the opposite pattern too — professionals who hold the line exactly when it's hardest. Take Ankush, who works with us at The Future Corporate. When his father fell seriously ill, he asked if a training batch in Pune could be rescheduled. It couldn't be. Despite the personal crisis, Ankush travelled to Pune, delivered the sessions with full focus and professionalism, and received excellent feedback — only allowing himself to break down and worry once his father's condition improved. That's commitment surviving a real, painful test, not just a comfortable one.

    Or take Dashrath Manjhi, the "Mountain Man" of Bihar, who spent 22 years cutting a 1-km path through a mountain with a hammer and chisel after his wife died because she couldn't reach a hospital 55 km away in time. No formal training, no support, constant ridicule — and 22 years of unbroken commitment to one goal. Captain Vikram Batra, refusing evacuation despite severe injuries until his mission at Point 4875 was secured during the Kargil War, shows the same trait in its most extreme form. These aren't comparisons to make anyone feel small — they're proof that commitment, once anchored to a clear enough "why," can outlast almost anything, including a mountain.

    How to rebuild commitment — for yourself or your team

    Geeta's story has a redemption arc, and it's instructive for any manager dealing with a talented-but-drifting team member:

    This mirrors what Daniel Goleman calls self-regulation within emotional intelligence — the capacity to notice an impulse and choose your response rather than being run by it. I'd add one Indian-workplace nuance to that: the goal is rarely to eliminate every temptation (Geeta didn't need to leave Patiala). The goal is to build enough self-awareness and structure that pleasure doesn't quietly overtake purpose.

    Bringing this into your organisation

    Every organisation has its own version of Patiala — the promotion that comes with more freedom and less oversight, the client-facing role with more travel and fewer check-ins, the senior title that removes the daily structure that used to keep someone sharp. The employees who thrive after that transition aren't the ones who never feel the pull of the city's glamour. They're the ones who've built the internal discipline to notice the pull and choose their commitment anyway, every single day.

    If you're building leadership or emotional intelligence training for your team, this is exactly the kind of story-anchored lesson I bring into workshops — see our Signature Corporate Training Programs and the full Corporate Training Topics library. If you're new to the framework this blog sits inside, start with The Winning Kite (KITE Leadership Framework), or reach out directly via Contact.

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    Avinash Chate

    TEDx Speaker · Founder, The Future Corporate · Author of Stars at India Inc.

    Avinash has trained the Indian Army, BRO, RBI, BARC, JSW Steel and 1000+ corporate leaders across India. His work focuses on leadership, emotional intelligence and behavioural training rooted in Indian values and modern business needs.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is the Geeta from Dangal example about, in leadership terms?

    It shows how commitment that is rock-solid in a controlled, familiar environment (the village akhada) can weaken the moment a person is exposed to new comforts and distractions (the city). Geeta's talent never left her — her focus did.

    Why do distractions affect committed people just as much as uncommitted ones?

    Because, as Avinash Chate explains, you are never distracted by things you don't love — you're distracted by things you do love. Geeta loved wrestling, but she also genuinely enjoyed the city's food, friendships and freedom. That pull is real, not a character flaw, which is exactly why it needs a system to manage it.

    Where does Commitment sit on the Winning Kite framework?

    Commitment is Trait #9, part of the Self-Motivation cluster on the EQ — left — side of the Winning Kite. It works with Relationship Intelligence (RQ) and Productivity (PQ) to lift a professional toward Success at the top of the kite.

    How can a manager help a talented but distracted employee like Geeta refocus?

    Name the pattern without shaming it, reconnect the person to their original goal and its 'why', rebuild a routine with small trackable milestones, and — like Mahavir Singh Phogat did — hold the line on standards even when it's uncomfortable, while staying present as a coach, not a punisher.

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