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Chak De! India - Some Thoughts
I know I am pretty late in catching up with this film, but I finally watched Chak De! India A lot have been written about it on passionforcinema and elsewhere, but still I would add my two bits here, particularly as I think it’s rare to get a film coming from the mainstream framework to have so much layering that is done commendably well. So here goes my take, point by point:
1. Though SRK has said in an interview that he acted just exactly as he does in any other movie, I think Swades and Chak De are the only two films where he chose to go into the character, rising above the Rahul/Raj image. Particularly in the scene towards the end of the movie when it slowly sinks into Kabir Khan that his girls have done it and the ghost chasing him all the years has been exorcised, SRK is great. That’s the Shah Rukh Khan we would love to see more – the actor who is a star, not the star who is an actor.
2. The real star of the movie is neither SRK nor the 16 girls. It is Jaideep Sahni, who wrote the brilliant script that to a great extent played to the gallery yet made a number of telling observations. So, for those who just want to watch a film for its entertainment value, it has got all the elements of the drama and emotion, and for those who want to go beyond there is much more.
3. A Muslim who is accused of being traitor is not a new thing in Indian cinema in recent years, but CDI does it with great sensitivity without the lecturing that quite a films have fallen victim to (an exception was the character played by Mukesh Rishi in Sarfarosh).
4. Each player in the hockey team actually reflects Sahni’s own concerns regarding how particularly in northern India – in places like Delhi where I live – communities from other parts of India have to face a lot of prejudices every day of their lives (Sahni explained this to me during a recent interview / conversation). So, if the girl from Andhra Pradesh is told that for a Delhiite, Tamil and Telugu are the same (to which she retorts that they are as same as a Punjabi is to a Bihari), the girls from the North-East are welcomed as guests, to which the Manipuri girl retorts ‘how can one be happy at being treated as ‘mehmaan’ in one’s own country?’ These and other examples of prejudices and general ignorance amongst us about our own country is one aspect that is brought home without any sermonizing, which makes it great.
5. CDI, like any other sports movie, is all about underdogs going on to win against all odds against far superior rivals (examples – Lagaan, Hip Hip Hurray, Jo Jita Wohi Sikandar, Chariots of Fire, Million Dollar Baby…..). But rising above the basic theme, the script also filters in the issue of women’s status in the Indian society – whether in the middle class or the upper class.
6. The cricket versus other sports debate was, of course, the obvious one, and we get to see stories on this every other day in the media, particularly when there is a story of a sportsperson fallen into bad times. Women’s hockey is even worse when it comes to facilities. This is telling told in the film, thanks to Sahni’s script.
7. The politics within sports teams and the non-sporting games played by sports association bosses who have nothing to do with sports was another aspect dealt with quite beautifully, again without sermonizing. KPS Gill, the Indian Hockey Federation chief, should be compulsorily made to watch this film with his cronies in IHF.
8. The finale was definitely fairytale ending keeping in mind commercial considerations. In a film like this, obviously it cannot end on a sad note after defining all the odds each character is placed against, including Kabir Khan who sees in this the only opportunity to exorcise the label of traitor.
9. There will be many more aspects that would come out with a finer reading of the film – and this is just one done in a hurry – but the one of the most important aspect about CDI is that Yash Raj Films came forward to produce it despite it not having chiffon-clad heroines, songs shot in the Swiss Alps and a clash of families. After producing films like Kabul Express and distributing Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara, CDI is a clear sign that traditional filmmaking houses like YRF are changing, or maybe being forced to change by an audience which is changing. If that is happening, it can only mean good things for Hindi cinema. Keeping my fingers crossed!
10. And yes – the day I watched the film, was the day when Jhulan Goswami of India was announced as the Women Cricketer of the Year by the ICC. No male cricketer from India got anywhere near the awards.
16 Responses to “Chak De! India - Some Thoughts”
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true. so true. cudn’t agree more bro.
Even i wanthed Chak-De just a week back. And i total agree with you. Sharuk had done decent work in MAYA MHEM SAAB and many people don’t even know that. But he was no where, then came his “Rahul” image, and people love him. So i guess he did what people wanted him to do, play sweet-romantic-guy. Though i am not convened with his acting in ASOKA, i atleast appreciate his effort for making some thing different. Then he did good job in SWADES but peole din’t accepted it, so what the hell he can do, he once again plays “Rahul” image. In fact i consider sharuk’s willing to do CHAK-DE was quite risky, but ultimately it paid off.
We blame actors for not doing good roles, some times the reason behind it may be, we our selfs.
You interviewed Jaideep Sahni ? Dooood .. can you publish that ? And can you invite him to write for PFC ?
I think CDI was the best sports movie - ever - in the history of indian cinema…
JMD - Manan Singh Katohora
OZ and other founders…
is there a number I can reach you at?
Regards’
manan.katohora@jmd-creations.com
Hockey is a game with a time span of 70 minutes played into two halves of 35 minutes each.
I didn’t know that.
What I know about hockey is-
Its our national game & Dhanraj Pillai.
First of all some kind words of appreciation for Yash Raj Films, for producing a film based on Hockey.
Hockey is our national game but neglected and unpopular sport in India.
Swades & Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa.
Mohan Bhargav of Swades
Sunil of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa
Out of 100z of films SRK worked in, only these two films made me relate to SRK’s CHARACTER.
Rest were all larger than life (KKHH, DDLJ etc.)
Kabir Khan of Chak De India! is again a repeat though many over here wouldn’t agree and that’s the reason why I wouldn’t justify it.
Chak De India! is a story of underdogs and so it’s always the weakest team that’s going to win. No surprises there. But it’s the journey that makes the story exiting, gripping and inspiring.
In that respect (underdog stories), No film comes close to Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar, not even Lagaan (for me).
But
Chak De India! has its moments.
Circumstances forcing SRK to…(look, SRK comes to my mind again and not Kabir Khan, anyways I’m not justifying it.)
Circumstances forcing SRK to abandon his house. (Too much pressure on sportspersons today, it’s not easy to play for your country. You are always a traitor unless you win.)
Playing as a team.
-Working as a team is not always smiling and being nice to everyone. That’s a misconception.
Its like, you disagree with each other but ADJUST to work as a team and WIN! because sometimes
\/\/inning is Everything!
SRK (again!) when asks the girls to introduce themselves - They do that but also mention the state that they play for.
Saregama, Indian Idol- The contestants over here sing. They sing really well. They garner love of the people but just when they are asked to garner votes, they start speaking in their regional language.
A Bengali will speak in Bengali.
A Bihari will speak in Bihari.
Why? Why do we get divided then? Why do we regionalize?
A very good point made in the film.
Play as an Indian. Represent yourself as an Indian.
Sometimes you need to come down to get the team on the top.
(Komal scooping it at the last minute to Preeti.)
I admire SRK’s wit. He’s witty and he brings his own wittiness in Chak De! but I still feel Hockey portions were not that appealing (May be because I do not follow hockey.)
Chak De India! as I read in one of the Interviews of KABIR KHAN (pun) does break some stereotypes.
A Muslim coach training a Team of Women for a sport called Hockey.
Muslim- Not being a fundamentalist, Identity of a Muslim has been questioned in the past.
Team of Women- Women cannot drive, that’s it! They can do everything else. They can play.
Hockey - Making a commercial film on a neglected sport.
Among the girls, lemme try!-
Preeti Sabharwal (resembles Katrina, nowhere close to her)
Komal Chautala (gets the best lines)
Balbir Kaur (gets to play female Sunny Deol)
Vidya Sharma (gets to play the winning captain)
Bindya Nayar (gets to seduce SRK)
SuiMui (HO!)
(That’s all I remember.)
Added attraction- Promos of,
Aaja Nachle- Madhuri Dixit is Back. Got slimmer (second thoughts about Katrina). It also stars Akshaye Khanna but the film sells on Madhuri’s name. I tag her female ‘Khan’.
Laaga Chunari May Daag- RANI MUKHERJI, jaya bachchan, KONKANA SEN, KUNAL KAPOOR, ANUPAM KHER, abhishek bachchan (He spoils the mood).
I do not rate films. I believe you can only judge your own work but can always have an opinion about somebody else’s work.
Watch it.
My comment is a little off-track but interesting none the less. A friend of mine who is a stickler for movies like Jism, Hawas, et al didn’t want to join me for the movie. I told him that in the end the girls take off their jerseys in celebration like Saurabh Ganguly at the Natwest finals. That convinced him. I was saved the curses in the end because he quite liked the movie. And Preeti Sabharwal.
Chak De India - Saw thrice
First with family and kids and we gave 5 Star rating then Decided to take my whole team of around 100 employees - for entertainment and good values for team work and team dynamics. There were so many spontaneous claps and tears that it was a very satisfying experience. Then again with another small group. Surprisingly in after effect most of us do not remember Shahrukh khan presence at all in the movie, We remember the movie as story of Hockey,hockey player and Hockey management, most of us remember presence of each character form clerk, assistant coach, 16 player, management staff, the game but not so much as story of Shahrukh khan and this approach only i have seen in one more movie and 100 time better is Sholay. Hence yes this can only be done by a good script writer and tight control over the idea and storyline, which we miss in so many movies. The other movie which did it very well recently is Metro with each character vividly being impressed on mind (though i hated the representation of call centers so badly - my bread and butter). One more movie which did the same was “Khosla Ka Ghoshla” so my advice to directors
1. Identify a storyline which is different
2. Freeze on your idea that what you want to convey to your audience and dont digress.
3. No Charachter should be their on the frame without a story about him/her and completer characterizations.
4. If you dont have good ear for music either dont make the film or do not make with songs
4. Show movie to movie buffs like me who will tell upfront and better then Khalid that this will be a Hit or flop or what need to be changed.
And Khalid Mohammed your review sucks.
Chak de - Good film/product. Horrible Cinema!
The film clearly managed to make the audience sit at the edge, take notice, sob, cheer and clap. Entertainment fooltook! . Such films are very much required and thats why I guess we all dont mind it since its a positive step. However, I’d like to contest a few opinions here. Getting straight to point:-
1) Its supposedly a hockey film. But strangely it portrays hockey as a no brainer slam-bang game with a lot of running. No strategy, no personalization.
2) Its film about Kabir Khan. Except he doesnt talk about what he’s going through and prefers dropping a line or two and gliding out of the frame. So you dont really know what he has been through in 7 years. He doesnt talk about any strategy. Only “hockey” contribution - last frame of the final match. I was moved because it was “SRK”. So it was him and not Kabir Khan delivering the dialogues.
3) Its a film about the girls. Oh yeah? So they are shown to be fickle, scheming, inspiring, caught-in-the-family-plot, blah. Wait…am I watching Star Plus? Show some passion god damn it! The racy background score makes you punch the air(good job!) but wheres the human touch yaar? At no point did any of the girls display skills which would make you say “waah! sahi hai yaar!”. We are left to assume that they possess some since they are the best from their states(dialogue repeated atleast 35 times).
I certainly wouldnt call it new/inventional/classy etc. This is an awareness campaign film to me and nothing more. It looks to harp on the tried and tested formulas and sticks to them religiously. The cliches in the film were so well served that it made you burp.
All in all, you could apply this to corn field and the story wouldnt be any different.
“We need to till for our country folks! It needs our corn”
Boys v/s Girls Hockey match:-
1st Half:- Boys are evil. The fowl and snatch the ball. The girls are scared.
2nd half:- Girls are inspired. TheyV got the skill! What happens to boys-who cares?! So they are just running around dumb founded.
At the End:- The girls may have lost the match but they won everyones hearts. Even the evil boys are gentlemen now.
Mummy star plus lagana!
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sorry doston.. pahla wala link galti se post kar diya…
[...] Posted by aksfilmi on September 16th, 2007 Chak De! India - Some Thoughts [...]
Just caught the movie .. didn’t think too much of the script but not a bad watch. It’s nice to get away from typical bolly at times - there#s nothing spectacular about SRK’s acting in this movie, in fact he comes across too laid back and too rehearsed at times. There could have been bit more emotion drawn into the movie .. oh well still ok
Why I find these sports flick more exciting than a live match? When I am watching a live match I don’t associate with the players as closely as I do while watching a movie. I know the real life players from newspapers, TV etc, but while watching a movie I virtually live with the players. I know the struggle these players have gone through before playing the game. There is always a story associated with the game, which in all cases is climax of the movie and by that time, I want the hero/s to win the game. Because till the time match starts, those players are not unknown to me, they are like my friends/neighbors, who have gone through a lot of struggle/training to reach the stage they are right now. To top it all, there is always an emotion attached, like in Cinderella Man, Russel Crowe was fighting to earn bread for his family, in JJWS, Amir was racing for revenge and pride, Lagaan match was for lives of so many families and ChakDe was again for regaining lost pride. I think these emotions make the game bigger than live matches.
Congrats! CNN-IBN Movie of the Year!
Well, I am perhaps among the last to comment on this movie.
But I am sitting here wondering where did they copy the plot / script for Tare Zameer from.
Initially I was way too much into the Chak De and all impressed etc. But then when I watched “Remember the Titans” over the christmas holidays..it was rather easy to figure where the plot was stolen from. Well I might be harsh in using the word “Stolen” but I do remember that the writer of the movie telling the world that he was “inspired” by some obscure girls hocky team coach after having read about her.
Please.. make some original movies using original plots. It is about time that Indian Cinema had it.
Sincerely
Krish