“Ye majdur ka haath hai, Katya. Loha pighlakar uska aakaar badal deta hai…,” (this is a labourer’s hand, Katya. It can melt iron and reshape it).
This famous dialogue was delivered by Sunny Deol in his 1996 action film Ghatak: Lethal. Shooter Himanshu Dhillon, a diehard fan of the Bollywood star, tweaked his favourite actor’s words, saying: “Lohe ko pighlakar medal ka aakaar dediya (melted the iron and gave it the shape of a medal).”
On Monday, the 21-year-old channelled all of Deol’s celluloid aggression, fighting his way from seventh position in a star-studded final to clinch silver.
At several points, the 90s-movie freak stayed true to the character. He fired four perfect 10.9s to put pressure on world No. 1, double Paris Olympic gold medallist and defending champion Lihao Sheng of China. Even after a low 9.8 in the dying moments, Himanshu went for the kill, refusing to back down.
“I’m from Haryana,” begins Himanshu, whose father holds a PhD in agriculture and comes from a farming family in Dauhla.
“My father always says that you have to bring only gold. The one who finishes first is considered the winner. The second, who loses gold, is considered the loser. My brother had also said, ‘Bring only gold.’ Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. But I will keep trying to win gold. That was my thought even when I was on the flight here,” sayd the youngster, who wanted to re-watch Ghatak to draw some inspiration on his way to Nagoya from Hong Kong but ended up completing the half-finished 1990 Deol-starer Ghayal.
What made the individual and team silvers on his Asian Games debut even more special was that they came on his 21st birthday. For someone who first picked up the rifle in 2018, the medals were a present to self.
But before shooting took over his life, Himanshu briefly tried his hand at wrestling — a natural choice considering he is the nephew of 2016 Rio Olympics wrestler Harddeep Singh Dhillon.
“I was very lazy as a kid but really strong. So my family wanted me to play sports. I tried wrestling, but it is really tough. So I stopped after two or three weeks. My shooting journey began when I lived in a gurukul in Kaithal for a year.
Though the laid-back attitude is evident outside the shooting arena, the once lazy kid has now grown up to be the aggressor at a shooting range.
“I want to be known as a fearless, aggressive shooter. Someone who will be remembered even after I stop shooting. After winning today, my own expectations have increased. I want to stay humble, help people around me while achieving in shooting,” says the Virat Kohli follower.
So, how does he plan to celebrate his birthday and his double Asian Games silver? A binge-watch of his favourite Deol movie Ghatak, maybe?
“No, Sunny’s ‘Indian’ is actually my favourite movie,” he says with a smile.