'Why Being a Girl Doesn't Mean Living Suppressed', Meet India's First Female Sumo Wrestler Hetal Dave

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She was told no one would marry her. She was mocked for her weight and her complexion. And she was diagnosed with PCOD at a time when nobody around her understood what was happening to her body. Hetal Dave turned all of it into strength, and became India's first professional female sumo wrestler. Her life is now the subject of the Zee5 film Sumo Didi. In an exclusive chat with Boldsky, Hetal separates cinema from reality, talks about sponsorship struggles, and explains why she thinks Gen Z is getting it right.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @sumodidi_official

The movie takes a few liberties

Hetal says the film is rooted in her story, but not every scene is literal. "The movie has taken some liberties," she tells us. Kolkata, where much of the film is set, is one of them. Hetal is from Mumbai, and her family's roots go back to Abu and Ambaji on the Rajasthan-Gujarat border. The film's Kolkata shoot was a cinematic choice, she explains, and the city was beautiful and the crew supportive.

The mother on screen, who is anxious to see her daughter married, is another. "My mother wasn't that much after me," Hetal says. Like any mother, she wanted her daughter settled in a good home, but she was a huge support, as was the rest of the family.

The pressure from society, however, was real. When a girl is heavier or darker than the accepted standard, Hetal says, mothers are pushed into applying ubtan and trying creams, and the girl is told that no one will marry her. "People generalise body types and say you can only become something in life if you have a perfect body," she says. Breaking that barrier was the point.

A childhood of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee

Hetal says she was different from the start. Frocks, dolls and hair clips did not interest her. Fighting did. She watched Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee films and loved the idea of never bowing to anyone. Her father shaped that attitude. Whatever her brother received, she received too. "He always taught me that being a girl doesn't mean you live suppressed or need to be afraid of anyone," she says. Her grandfather, a law advocate, was never orthodox either, she adds, so pressure from the family was never an issue.

She began sport at five with judo and reached the international level. To build fitness for judo, she also trained in weightlifting, powerlifting and boxing.

How sumo happened

Hetal remembers watching sumo on TV as a child, as every kid did, finding it funny that two large men were wrestling. Seeing a live bout at a competition changed her view. "It was so attractive. If watching is this much fun, how much fun would playing be?" With no one to teach her, she researched in cyber cafes and studied videos. She had never seen a women's sumo match, so she contacted the World Sumo Federation and followed up repeatedly. She learned that women's sumo had only recently been introduced, around 2007-08. "That's when the madness started. I had to play."

Her motivation, she says, was to be number one. "People remember the first. Who stepped on the moon first? Neil Armstrong. Every child remembers." Her grandmother had always wished her granddaughter's name would be recorded in history. "Today, Hetal Dave's name is taken in history, and it will be."

The money problem the film made look easy

Asked whether money is a barrier for aspiring athletes, Hetal does not hedge: "Honestly, money does become a barrier." The film makes sponsorship look easier than it was. She travelled extensively, and at one point she already had her visa but no sponsor.

Her first backing came from a Gujarati newspaper, Divya Bhaskar, which had covered her since her judo days, even for small matches. That support allowed her to begin her sumo career, and she says she remains grateful. Her family was also her training team. She would watch a bout, write a "script" for the fight, and then assign roles at home. Her father, mother, grandmother and brother would watch her grip and technique from different angles.

Why she retired in 2012

Hetal played her last competition in 2012. Sponsorship remained a problem, and the registered federation, she says, began making things difficult, including delays in sending entries. "I happily retired," she says.

She later taught judo in schools and conducted self-defence seminars. But in a country where a sport isn't famous, she says, interest fades quickly. People ask why she didn't open an academy. Her answer is stark: in the years since 2012, not one girl or boy has told her they want to learn sumo. Today's children, she adds, keep switching between trends and skills, which makes sustaining an academy impractical. After marriage, she looked for jobs but struggled because she lacked formal work experience. "I'm happy that Sumo Didi is my story," she says. "Let's hope some changes come in life now."

Marriage was not smooth either

Her weight and her sport counted against her. Families asked how a wrestler would run a household, and several proposals ended in refusal. Then her husband came forward, and the couple had a quiet, simple wedding.

On Gen Z: "They are very clear in their thoughts"

Hetal believes the new generation has less patience for body shaming than the one before. "For them, these things are very small," she says. "If they feel something, they say it straight to your face. I really like that." As a millennial who has seen both worlds, she says she appreciates their clarity. She says she is moved that her story is connecting across age groups. Many women live with PCOD and with the criticism and discrimination that comes with it from society and friends. "I'm very happy that people are connecting with my story."