Cast : Shahrukh Khan, Vidya Malvade, Anjan Srivastava, Javed Khan, Vibha Chibbar
Nakul Vaid, Sagarika Ghatge, Chitrashi Rawat, Shilpa Shukla, Tanya Abrol, Anaitha Nair, Shubhi Mehta, Nisha Nair, Sandia Furtado, Arya Menon, Masochon V. Zimik,
Kimi Laldawla, Kimberly Miranda, Nicola Sequeira, Raynia D'Souza, Mohit Chauhan, Joyoshree Arora, Vivaan Bhathena
Director: Shimit Amin
Producer: Aditya Chopra
Genre: Sports oriented movie
Rating: ***
Chak De India is the story of a hockey player who was victimized for his religion; the story of a coach who motivates an underrated women’s hockey team to victory; the story of a team which unites despite the diverse, racial, regional and personal prejudices and differences into one spirited team; and the game of hockey.
The movie has many an issue, cause and bias, at the same time showcases the sport of hockey. Chak de… is also loosely based on life story of former Indian hockey team goal keeper, Mir Ranjan Negi who was condemned for India’s 7-1 defeat to Pakistan in 1982 Asian games final, and later coached the women’s teams to win a gold medal in commonwealth games in 2002.
The director Shimit Amin handles multiple issues such as image bashing of minorities, the prejudices and narrow mindedness in regard to different Indian regions, urban vs. rural bias, discrimination of the male chauvinist society towards women, and more such with equal sensitivity. But he deftly brings out the unfair standing of a Muslim in Indian society, where a Muslim is labeled guilty, till he proves himself innocent unlike judiciously – One is innocent till proved guilty!
(Homo praesumitur bonus donec probetur malus) Sharukh Khan plays Kabir Khan, who has a tarnished image as ex- captain of Indian hockey team who lost to Pakistan in world finals. He is accused as ‘gaddar’ or traitor for losing the match to Pakistan! After many years of trauma, he returns as the coach of women’s hockey team and leads them to world cup victory, proving his patriotism to the country and zeal for the game. His dream is to win the elusive gold medal, and belief is that nothing is impossible if you are motivated and spirited.
The movie has inspirations from many a Hollywood sport oriented film, but some strong motivational and zealant dialogs and scenes like “Mujhe sirf ek mulk ka naam sunaai deta hai-India” are picked from the movie
‘Miracle’ The movie was about
‘miracle on ice’ , the legendary ice hockey game played between USA and USSR during cold war timeframe. Here coach Herb Brooks of US ice hockey Olympic team asks the same question “ who do you play for” to which he gets reply’s like Mike Eruzione, (from) Winthrop, Massachusetts", Only when Eruzione responds with the answer "I play for the United States of America!" Brooks concludes his rigorous drill.
Excellent acting and mature look of Sharukh Khan with stubble in a different kind of role, makes us believe Sharukh is finally maturing! The hockey team of newbies is pretty good. Songs have a lot of energy. Chak De despite all the features of a good movie is not necessarily entertaining! But this is one decent movie we could watch with kids of the very many recent releases.
Positives: Motivation and team building lessons; confronts the discrimination against gender, race, region and religion; Good example for kids in team sports.
Negatives: Interesting, but lacks the entertainment factor!
