Chak De India

Is the story of determination, of dreams and of success. It is the jubilation of a young team, brought into cohesion by the efforts of one man, who seeks to redeem himself as a coach by making them achieve what he could not as a player.



What's the Story?
The movie opens into the final of the mens' World Hockey Championships, where India and Pakistan have locked horns, with Pakistan leading 1-0. Into the final moments of the game, India is awarded a penalty stroke, and to take that comes the captain, Kabir Khan. Khan strikes, fails to score and India lose. A shroud of silence drapes over the Indian camp even as Pakistan erupts in whoops of joy. For having lost the match, and congratulated a Pakistani team mate, Kabir Khan is slapped with charges of match-fixing, named a traitor and shorn of his place in the Indian national team.

Seven years, three months and fourteen days later, he walks into the Association meeting room, seeking an appointment to coach the Indian National Womens' Hockey team - a post which no one is keen to take up. Khan is given 16 of the best hockey players in the country, and his problem is that they know how to play against, but not with each other. On the one hand he has to cope with the inter-state cultural differences; on the other, the senior players' indiffererence. He starts with the basics, and begins to untie one knot after the other, and succeeds in uniting the team - against him. And when they can bear his strict, almost Hitleresque regime no more, the team decides not to practice under him, and Khan resigns as the coach of the team.

A day of reflection passes, and the team realises that there is no point in having Khan sacked, that for all his histrionics, he had indeed succeeded in making them more productive as a team than the day they had walked into the camp. The next morning at 5, Khan is back on the field training his girls. Polarised and charged up, looking at a distant dream, their game begins to rise. But they are cut down to their place when the Association drops the plan of sending them to the World Championships for lack of sponsors.

When no amount of convincing works, as a last resort, Khan challenges the Association's bronze medal winning mens' team to play against his team. He knows his girls are underprepared, but he uses the stinging remarks of the Association office bearers to good effect. The girls eventually lose, but their fighting spirit is given a standing ovation by the mens' team and the Association sends them to represent India at the World Cup.

The team arrives in Australia, with a lot to prove. Kabir, to win this World Cup, and let the world know that he indeed played and plays for India. Vidya Sharma, the Indian goalkeeper, to tell her husband and in-laws that a daughter-in-law need not be confined to the kitchen. Preeti Sabarwal, forward, to show her boyfriend (and Indian cricket team vice-captain), that hockey means as much to her as cricket to him. Bindiya Naik, center-forward (most experienced and miffed at not being made captain), seeking to bring down the coach and captain.

After a humiliating 7-0 loss to Australia in the first round, the initial euphoria of having come to the World Cup settles, and the team begins to become aware of its lacunae. The loss manages to ignite the fire in the team, and match after match, the team begins to advance towards the final like a hungry lion devouring its prey. You don't need me to tell you what happens next, do you?

What's good in it?
Lots. Maybe for the first time since Swades, Shahrukh has put in a sober performance sans any overacting. On certain occasions, like the one where he is called a traitor, or when he stands in the rain after a humiliating defeat, he conjures up a controlled performance, which is worth sitting for once more through the movie. However, Yash Raj does give him a chance, and when he says "sattar minute" nine times in a single monologue, you feel he has suddenly reverted to Captain Veer Pratap Singh of Veer Zaara saying "Main Quaidi number saat sau chiassi..."

The scenes inside of the dressing room have been brought out well. It shows how seniors can gang up together and influence the team against the coach or the association. It depicts how senior players can cut juniors down to their place - when a junior runs up to congratulate a senior and says she is glad to have met her, the senior responds, "Achcha? Toh naacho". Or when the seniors say, "Ye coach kya samajhta hai, subah uthke 20 km daudne se hockey achcha khelenge? ye koi tareeka hai national level players ko treat karne ka? Kya hum training nahi jaante?"

Comparisons cannot but be drawn to cricket. You begin to wonder if Sourav may have said the same things when Greg Chappell said he did not show up at training sessions. While on cricket, ample effort has been made to let the powers-that-be know that hockey, though the national sport, has been always under cricket's shadow. Harmless fun has also been poked at the Hockey Association, and it provides humourous interludes.

The acting team has been trained well to play and the playing team has been trained well to act - the camaraderie shows on screen. Editing is crisp and the movie moves ahead slickly, dragging only at a few places. Songs are hummable, and during the film raise goosepimples on your arms. Excellent background score by Salim-Sulaiman, especially a couplet which goes "Maula Mere Le Le Meri Jaan". This movie has the right mix of patriotism, sport and human nature, and it has been shot and cut well to ensure commercial success. In Indian cinema, this will be hockey's answer to Lagaan. After Ab Tak Chappan, this will be Shimit Amin's second bull's eye.

Reco: Must-watch.