Chak De India

A.V: ****

E.V: ****

Think of a Yashraj film starring SRK, and you would probably imagine a romantic tear jerker shot at an exotic foreign location or a family drama having dollops of Punjab and Urban India. SRK the eternal hero who gets to romance the most beautiful women. So what would you expect from a movie where he is cast a loser trying to regain his honour by coaching a team of non descript women hockey players to victory. In the words of another memorable sports themed movie, Million Dollar Baby, “It is a pursuit of a dream which nobody else can see but you.”

 

One can probably compare Chak De India to a lot of other sports flicks. Loosely based on the real life story of Mir Ranjan Negi (as has been widely reported these days), it is a story of a former Indian hockey player and captain, Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh) who faces dishonour after leading his team to a shameful loss. Seven years later, he comes back with a mission to become a coach of the National women’s hockey team and win back glory for his country, his team, his sport and for himself. The girls are a cocktail of various states and cultures of India. They are all state champions in their own right yet cannot play together as a team. The city girls smirk at the rural ones while the latter give it back through verbal duels and fistcuffs. Kabir asserts his authority and moulds them into world class players.

 

The proceedings are bound by a tight script and powerful performances. Just as in his last movie, Ab Tak Chhappan, Shimit Amin takes a hard hitting look, here at the sleazy poltics of the sports administration. He uses the Unity in Diversity concept to show the divide between different cultures effectively. Shot mostly in Australia, the match sequences are taut and get the audiences cheering in the aisles. The title song is sure to become a war cry to cheer India in times to come. This is Shah Rukh’s best performance since Swades and the intensity is quite evitable. One can see that a lot of thought has been put into casting for the team members as each seems fit for their roles.

 

As said earlier the most obvious comparison would be with Lagaan, where a bunch of villagers played for their rights and honour. The ego clashes and team spirit of players are very reminiscent of that Champaner team. In Bend It like Beckam also the coach of the women’s team had his demons to exorcise. And in Iqbal a deaf and mute village boy fulfills his dreams of being a pace bowler in the Indian cricket team. All these themes are represented in Chak De India in some or the other form.

 

However Chak De India would be remembered as a movie which brought back people’s attention to their national sport, a sport which is gasping for breath in both the male and female version. Every four years when there is a Olympics or a World Cup momentarily there is a short period of interest shown which vanishes just as quickly as it came. It is shameful to hear that the cast of the film had better facilities than the real women’s team. Sheer apathy plagues the system and if the sport has to regain its past glory, that has to be exterminated. However coming back to the point, Chak De Shimit and Chak De SRK!!

 

- Suprateek Sinha