Sharukh Khan in league with the top 100 game changers!

Top 100 Innovators, Entertainers, Politicians and Athletes who influence everything- The game changers!



http://www.brash.com/photos/detail/the_brash_100/shahrukh_khan_movies/

The BRASH 100

What’s makes a man truly memorable? That’s the principal question we pondered as we compiled the 100 men who—through their actions and choices—embodied what all men aspire to be: unforgettable. Similarly, these 100 guys couldn’t have made our list without first paying homage to the 50 trailblazers who came before them. With the BRASH 100 and the BRASH HALL OF FAME, you’ll get to know what makes a man more than a man. What makes him someone to follow, someone who matters. The choices may surprise you, but their impact on our world is undeniable. Come take a look for yourself.


Shahrukh Khan (Movies) Bollywood's answer to Brad Pitt, Shahrukh Khan has won an incredible—and unprecedented—thirteen Filmfare Awards, seven of which in the Best Actor category. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Chak De India and Om Shanti Om, movies that he starred in, remain to this day some of Bollywood's biggest hits.

Bachna Ae Haseeno- - Modern Indian Romances in Exotic International Locales!

Director: Siddharth Anand
Producer: Aditya Chopra
Lead Actors: Ranbir Kapoor, Bipasa Basu, Deepika Padukone, Minissha Lamba
Dialogues, Lyrics: Anvita Dutt Guptan
Story:Aditya Chopra
Screenplay: Devika Bhagat
Music Director: Vishal and Shekar
Genre: Modern Romance, Comedy, Parental Guidance Suggested

Official Website: http://www.yashrajfilms.com/microsites/bah/bah.html
Rating: ***
Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed
It’s about love, romance and betrayal….effects of love/betrayal – both positive and negative…. repentance of jilt… And closure of each relationship! All this in a romantic comedy with the Casanova Raj (Ranbir Kapoor) , the smitten Mahi ( Minissha), the sexy Radhika (Bipasha), and chic and spirited Gayatri ( Deepika), in the breathtaking international locales of Switzerland, Italy, Australia and India.


The movie set with modern and urban values of life and love, depicts the love life of young and handsome Casanova who starts of with a vacation romance in Europe with a very smitten Mahi who is in love with the idea of love, and jilting her later to break her belief in love and romance.

His next affair is with the sexy model Radhika, who is comfortable with a live-in relationship but would give up her personal ambitions and career for marriage. But our lady –killer as he calls himself, not ready for commitment, takes flight on their wedding. The self centeredness and insensitivity of man, drives Radhika to succeed with vengeance and make it big for herself, but unfortunately her inability to trust anybody also makes her lonely.

The third episode is when the love game is not in his hand and he falls head over heals in love with the spirited, smart and sassy business school student, part time cab driver Gayatri. This time around, the girl is not ready to give up her career and independence to a commitment of marriage!

But the rejection in love makes him reflect and ruminate about his past, and matures him enough to want to redeem his actions, to move on in love and life.

Hence starts more periodic episodes of fixing the effects of his betrayals. The first one is taken care of in DDLJ style with a bhangra finale. The second one gets him slave driven in Devil Wears Prada style with a final forgiveness to move on. But the end comes in a hurry and seems tame.


The positives of the movie are a good peek at extraordinarily beautiful locations, a great cast, Ranbir Kapoor is charming, Bipasha still looks sexy irrespective of age, Minissha is cute, and Deepika is the hot and happening actress who looks amazing while being a natural performer. The movie also has strong characterization, decent humor, good acting and peppy musical numbers. The negative aspects like poor dialogues, weak second half and rushy climax pull the movie down. It’s a good movie, worth watching, but it could have been better!

Jaane Tu …. Ya Jaane Na..........................When do you know........ its love?

Cast: Imran Khan,Genelia D’souza, Alishka Varde, Nirav Mehta, Suganda Garg,, Karan Makhija, Manjari, Ayaz Khan, Pratiek Babbar, Ratna Pathak Shah, Naseeruddin Shah, Anuradha Patel, Jayant Kriplani, Renuka Kunzru,

Director, Story, Lyrics: Abbas Tyrewala
Music: A.R. Rahman
Producers: Aamir Khan & Mansoor Khan

Genre: Teen Romance; family viewing possible.
Official Website: http://www.jaanetu.com/
Rating: ***1/2
Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed

The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. Minor details may have been divulged for proper review!


Every few years Bollywood releases a Teen Romance with new faces, fresh and innocent characters, and simplistic storyline but presented differently. Qaymat se Qayamat tak, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Kuch kuch hota hai, and such fall in this slot. Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na is another such fresh performance. Jaane Tu though is not on par with QSQT or Kuch Kuch.. but some times good timing( interval of few years between such romance’s) works!

This movie is about adopted pet names Rats (Jai Rathore –Imran Khan) Meow (Aditi- Genelia D’souza),Jiggy(Jignesh-Nirav Mehta) Rotlu/whiner( Ravidran- Karan Makhija) Bombs( Sandhya-Alishka Varde), Shaleen(Suganda Garg) and fun parties and college; friendships and relationships; Love and romance, and confusion in understanding what it is!

The movie’s novelty was in building depth in some characters and detailing on relationships and bonding. It makes earnest effort to show special connections in relationships of friends, relationships of siblings, and parents with kids. The spontaneity in acting; very casual and jovial dialogues (“phone pe beta, phone pe…” a response to how the past 5 years in college went by!); happy, simplistic and realist characters with clean story for a change, make it a comfortable watch.


The movie also had some inadequacies. The not so strong story, filled with a lot of clichés and filmy style situations, looses its grip in the middle of the movie. Luckily for some freshness sake the audience accepts the glitches and enjoys the fun ride.

Imran shows a lot of polish and maturity in his debut performance and his spontaneity and looks remind you of Aamir, but he lacks Aamir’s QSQT cute looks. Genelia is lively and very expressive and natural performer. The gang of friends- all new faces handle their characters well, though a balding teenager is odd! Ratna Pathak Shah and Pratiek Babbar (smita patil’s son ) have excellent performances. Naseeruddin shah talking in portrait has a hilarious act.


The music by A.R. Rahman has two songs which stand out-“Kabhi Kabhi Aditi” with a melodious new playback singer Rashid Ali, and “Papu can’t Dance Sala!”

U, ME aur Hum - Strength of Love!

Direction: Ajay Devgan
Cast: Kajol, Ajay Devgan, Divya Dutta, Sumeet Raghavan, Karan Khanna,Isha Sharvani, Sachin Khedekar
Genre: drama
Rating: ***
website:http://umeaurhum.erosentertainment.com/

The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. Minor details may have been divulged for proper review!

Where are all the great writers in Bollywood cinema! These days almost all Bollywood movies being made are inspired or copies of Hollywood movies. This movie U, ME aur HUM is also another inspiration from a Hollywood movie, The Notebook.

U, ME aur HUM is a story of Love, the courting, the waiting, the wedding and promises of love and commitment in a marriage! Besides, the backbone of the story is based on Alzheimer’s

Devgan’s directorial debut has lot of inconsistencies vs. credits. The movie contrasts different relationships in love, and out of love and validates strength in love, for stronger and longer relationship! The story is poorly developed and not tight, straying and digressing with out any pattern; even the main roles lack depth and are not developed enough for us to connect with the character; also the director’s preference to have a larger screen presence may have upset the balance in the movie!


The first part of the movie tries your patience with cheesy romance overdose, silly jokes, poetic clichés, and boring dialogues. Just about when you lose interest and attention in the movie, the second half tries to be more gripping with interesting sequences and absorbing moments and emotional drama.

The movie has some interesting topics of discussion, commitments and promises made in a marriage, selfishness of human being, priorities in life, values of love and Alzheimer’s.


Ajay Devgan’s attempt to play the romantic hero falls short. He is better off at action hero or angry hero roles. He does ok, and comes out very well in the somber moments in the movie. Playing a romantic man whose vocabulary revolves around “You know what I am trying to say?” or “You know something,…” he doesn’t have the capacity to enthrall the audience with romantic charm, which is a disadvantage for a romantic movie! The charming Kajol is always the romantic. Spinning dreams, having lofty ideals, passionate about dancing, reading and writing, she tries her best to captivate, but her under- developed role doesn’t help create her magic! It’s unfortunate her talents seem underutilized in the movie.

The movie has the content and capacity to be better then what it turned out to be!

The music is ok, nothing extraordinary. The song “sehli jaisa saiyan” may have been Kajol’s whimsy about hers and Ajay’s real life relationship!!

Jodha Akbar- A long story of Love, War and Politics

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, Sonu Sood, Punam S. Sinha, Raza Murad, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Suhasini Mulay, Ila Arun.

Director: Ashutosh Gowarikar
Genre: Historic Drama, Romance,
Duration: 3 ½ hrs
Official Website: http://www.jodhaaakbar.com/
Rating: ***


The Saga is about evolution of Akbar, a Moghul warrior to a liberal and secular emperor of India and his romance with Jodha. A romance, which begins as a marriage alliance for political gain and evolves into a royal love story, of the charming king and the spirited queen! The romantic drama is the heart of the movie.

The historical facts may not be right in this movie, hence a lot of uproar and controversies have emerged along side Jodha- Akbar. But Gowarikar tries to avoid the biographers and historians and starts the movie with a disclaimer! But any publicity, is good publicity, hence the movie had curiosity factor and good response when it released simultaneously all over the world on Friday 15 February. In Austin, Texas, the movie was running house full too.

This movie review BTW may be tainted with neck pain and strained eyes since the reviewer along with her friends saw this movie unfortunately from the front row! (In the USA, its first come first served basis for seats in the cinemas even though everyone pays $11 to get in to the theater!)But we pompously claim that we saw the movie more closely, and in great detail then anybody in the whole theater!

Akbar played by the handsomely perfect Hrithik Roshan, elegantly dressed, and par lancing in pure Urdu, taming wild elephants and practicing sword fighting, topless comes out very macho! Akbar’s role also evolves from being a spectator to his many wars and political decisions to a mature independent decision maker, more merciful and liberal in thought. He is also shown to be progressive and broadminded, heeding advice from women in his family. Akbar stands out as the pioneer who wanted to create a secular India. (But Alas! We still have racial and regional problems in India.) Hrithik combines both nobility and valor to this role.

Jodha played by the beautiful Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is shown to be initially just a gorgeous, powerless princess, yet surprisingly skilled in art of sword fighting! She evolves on to be an obstinate, spirited and influential queen. She creates a position for herself in the Mughal dynasty with the cultural synthesis she brings in. Aishwarya manages to play feisty and fresh in spite of age shadowing her face.


The romance between the two shows Akbar’s chivalry and Jodha’s superiority. While the chemistry between the pair is showcased, the love story with its casual flirting, romantic moments and misunderstandings, and apologies gets quite stretched and tests patience.


The lavish sets and enthralling palaces, the amazing views of the war and battle scenes, the picturesque and extraordinary settings, grand song and dance sets, make it a pleasure to watch on large screen.

Besides the palatial sets, the $10 million budget of the movie is visible in the opulent and extremely beautiful jewelry and the elegant costumes especially of Akbar and intricately designed dresses of Jodha (except, bright yellow is not Aishwarya’s color!).

The song with the look-alike, synchronized singing and dancing, Sufi dervishes, “Khwaja- mere Khwaja” is unique and soulful, and even puts Akbar to trance and swing with the dervishes. The zealous “ Azeem –O- Shaan Shenshah” has outstanding aerial views and large scale choreography. “ Jashn-E-Bahaara” and “In Lamhon Ke Daaman Mein” have beautiful lyrics by Javed Akhtar.

Both Hrithik and Ash give excellent performances. The other characters in the movie, Kulbushan Karbanda, Raza Murad and Punam Sinha had decent performances too. Ila Arun as Maham Anga has a powerful role and Sonu Sood as Rajkumar Sujamal seemed to make an impression. But Suhasini Mulay who played Rani Padmavati had strange expressions, where one couldn’t figure if she was laughing or crying!

Finally one contemplates where Gowarikar went wrong! The editing and screenplay of course should have been crisper. Gowarikar in the making of the movie probably lost control over his love story, subplots, history lessons, and the long buildup of the protagonists. It looked like, he fell in love with every scene so much, that a masterpiece escaped him!

The movie, irrespective of its ingredients of a masterpiece, is not one. It still lacks something in spite of the long 3 and ½ hrs! When you walk out of the theater you know it was a good movie, but not the spectacular movie you expected it to be!

Taare Zameen Par ------- Changing Mindsets, Enriching better Upbringing, and Appreciating every Individual !

Cast: Aamir Khan, Darsheel Safary, Tisca Chopra, Vipin Sharma, Sachet Engineer, Tanay Chheda.
Director and Producer: Aamir Khan
Writer: Amole Gupte
Genre: drama for audience of all ages.
Rating: ****
Official Website: http://taarezameenpar.com/

The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. Minor details may have been divulged for proper review!


Thank goodness, we Indians are finally learning lessons in understanding the need for expressing love and appreciation to our kids; Listening to our kids and understanding that each kid is special, and enriching his or her skills; and encouraging and nurturing the best in each child. Indian/Asian parents have known to be disciplinarian, conformist, expecting over achievers, and judgmental about the creative, laid back, uncompetitive child, or even unacceptable and shameful about a kid with special needs. I am glad that things are changing and hopefully many an Indian/Asian mindset will get open with movies like these.


It’s a beautiful movie which touches hearts. The child actor in this movie, Darsheel emotes so well, that you forget you are watching a movie acted out. He plays the dyslexic kid, Ishaan who is highly creative and imaginative but fails to do well in the rat race of over achievers, insensitive teachers and parents with high expectations. Hence he goes through a lot of trauma and punishments, which robs his passion for displaying his imagination in color.


The second half of the movie brings Aamir Khan, as Ram Shankar Nikumbh, an intelligent and creative art teacher with ‘out of the box thinking’. This teacher knows there is potential in each child and believes there is a winner in everybody. He helps nourish Ishaan Awasti ( Darsheel Safary), and makes him aware of his self, while helping him improve his shortcomings and encouraging his passions.


Amole Gupte , the Script writer should be applauded for writing such a sensitive story, Aamir Khan is one intelligent actor and now an accomplished Director who has made Taare Zameen Par, such a compassionate and exceptional movie. And Of course the brilliant performance of Darsheel Safary is amazing and touching.


The Songs and their beautiful lyrics are uplifting and poetic. Check out the songs and lyrics and the English version too on http://taarezameenpar.com/.


This movie may help many an individual in realizing self worth and every parent in bringing up the stars of their lives. I strongly recommend viewing of this movie for its beauty and it content.

OM SHANTI OM- A Spoof on Bollywood!

Official Website: http://www.omshantiomfilm.com/


Director, Choreographer & Story: Farah Khan
Producer: Gauri Khan
Music Director: Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Arjun Ramphal, Shreyas Talpade, Kirron Kher.
Duration: 2:45
Genre: Melodrama, Parody, Romance
Rating: ***1/2

It’s a parody, an extravaganza, a satire on filmi reality, a comic medley, a circus, a spectacle of many events, a total Bollywood masala all crammed into one movie!!

Loosely based on 1980’s Subhash Ghai’s super hit ‘Karz’ , ‘Om Shanti Om’ has the reincarnation of the hero and revenge on the villain theme, woven along with a common man’s Bollywood dream, but besides this, it’s the revivification of 70’s ambience, style, fashion, acting, eccentricities, mannerisms,…the whole nostalgia.

This is the story of ‘Om’ and ‘Shanti’ and ‘Om’! Om Prakash Makhija is the small time actor of the 70’s and ‘Shanti Priya’ a popular superstar of her time. He adores her and idolizes her; she is friendly and responsive but not necessarily reciprocative. A major fire incident changes their lives, one to death and another to rebirth of ‘Om’. Om Kapoor is a successful Filmfare awarded Bollywood actor, enjoying all the big and small desires and dreams he had in his previous life. Born with a fear of fire, he has flashes of memories of his old life, and on further exploration he remembers everything. This leads to avenging the deaths of ‘Om’ and ‘Shanti’.

But ‘OSO’ is also a story about Bollywood. It integrates the fun, funny and sad details of the film industry. It brings out the lives of the junior artists trying to make it big in the industry; It shows that surnames like Kumar, Kapoor, Khan matter for success with references to Govinda Ahuja, Om Makhija ; It features histrionics of an overacting filmy Maa’s ( Kirron Kherr); Highlights trade mark gestures of famous actors (Manoj Kumar episode) ; It models the 70’s dressing along with Bell bottoms and Elvis Presley hairstyles and artificial song settings ( Jitender white pants; badminton song sequences); Mocks the South Indian movie’s wacky gimmicks and jargon ( Rajnikant style ‘yenna rascala’, ‘mind it’!); Rakes up details on star son’s tantrums, fashionably late star schedules and superstars’ powers in influencing the direction of their films( introducing item songs like dard -e- disco) ; It explains how married actress are not easily accepted as heroines(the movie’s secret); It reveals the award ceremonies and their fanfare and favoritism; one actor nominated for multiple movies for similar roles ( Om as Rahul with Amisha Patel ; Om as Rahul with Diya Mirza ); It mocks the heroines’ common reaction to rumors “we are just good friends”; and innumerable such incidents are through out the movie.

Many a personal and biographic detail of Shahrukh Khan is also threaded into the movie which makes OSO so much personal for him! SRK started as a Television actor with a very encouraging mother, he used to have many a dream and desire before he made it big, which he fulfilled in his stardom like his home “Mannat”. He is often critiqued for overacting, which he makes fun of as ‘khandani’ in OSO.

Om Shanti Om will also be talked about for its amazing number 'Dewaangi, Dewaangi' for hosting 31 superstars in one number. It reminds you of Amitabh’s ‘john jani janardhan’ number in Naseeb(1981). The item number ‘Dard-E-Disco’ may not be ‘Dard -e- Dil’ but is good specially with SRK’s newly acquired six-pack abs. 'Dhoom Taana' is 70’s-80’s style pleasant number with unique specials effects of Deepika Padukone dancing with Sunil Dutt, Rajesh Khanna and Jitender besides Shahrukh. Both 'Ajab si' and 'Main Agar Kahoon' with very good lyrics sound melodious old time numbers. Jag Soona Soona Lage is sad and soulful.'Daastaan-E-Om Shanti Om’ doesn’t make the mark and falls short of Karz’s ‘Ek hasina thi’.

Shahrukh Khan acts and looks like Bollywoods superstar. Though his 70’s style image made him look old, the later image was his usual chirpy and charming self. Deepika Podukone makes an excellent debutante. She has a lot of grace and beauty. Shreyas Talpade is a confident actor whatever the role. Arjun Ramphal should continue in his villainous roles, he does a menacing job.


The overdone overacting and the movie racing through scenes shows lack of depth in characters, hence you don’t feel for the characters and situations. But the idea of the whole movie was to continuously wow the viewer, not necessarily make a sensible and logical story. Farah Khan seems to have a blast making the movie, her idea of having fun overflows into the movie. Her style of direction is unique and distinctive, but at times she looses the reins of the glitzy wild fun ride called OSO. Her acknowledgment of every member of the crew of the movie in the end titles shows great team spirit.


This movie can be enjoyed in theatre with a bunch of friends who can relate and laugh with you, about 70’s or 80’s! I did this hence it may have been more enjoyable then otherwise.

Evolution of Bollywood and Rise of a Superstar!

Book Review
Title: King of Bollywood – Sharukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema.
Author: Anupama Chopra
Rating: ***
Book Genre: Non-Fiction/Pop Culture
Price: $24.99/U.S.



King of Bollywood…… may be a good book for Shahrukh Khan Fans wanting to know more about him, but the book is not all about him! The author has a lot more to pen about, focusing not just the life and rise of Shahrukh Khan as a phenomenon, but also on evolution of Bollywood, film making, films, and image of Bollywood, Bollywood dreams, audience psychosis and even boom of Indian economy!


The book traces the life and dreams, realities, fears, and even rumors of Shahrukh Khan. Born and brought up in a middle class Muslim family of Meer and Fatima in Delhi, his family roots are tracked to pre partitioned Pakistan. The book unveils details about his father and his death due to cancer, his mother’s daily struggles, but belief in Shahrukh’s good future, his college days, early acting in theatre, his mother’s death, and his stint in television and launch in movies. The actor’s ‘filmi’ style love affair with Gauri and married life in the film industry, his unconventional roles in many movies, his successes and failures, his production ventures, his competition, his diplomatic stance under mafia terror, his endorsements and brand image, all are talked about in relation to the film industry.


The author Anupama Chopra, a film critic and journalist, married to director Vidhu Vinod Chopra, sister of director Tanuja Chandra and author Vikram Chandra, and daughter of scriptwriter Kamna Chandra, has written two other books, including the British Film Institute-published Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge ("The Bravehearted Will Take the Bride"), which incidentally is what inspired her to work on the story of Shah Rukh Khan.


Here in this book, Chopra subtly says that Shahrukh may not have been the best actor of his period, but is a superstar more for his charisma than craft! She writes about how young directors like Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar shaped the new romantic hero and marketed the fantasy that shaped Shahrukh’s success. She also brings out the character traits of SRK’s persona of being a mercurial, spirited extrovert who seeks what he wants with energetic passion, but at the same time he is a very private person who internalizes his failures and disappointments. This also justifies what his wife Gauri says there are two Shahrukhs: Shahrukh One and Shahrukh Two. “One is saying one thing; the other is saying the complete opposite, and both in the space of a minute.”


The book is technically not a biography of Sharukh Khan as it has few direct interviews with Shahrukh Khan and hence lacks personal anecdotes and intimate details of SRK. Chopra focuses more on Bollywood and its growth and relates it to the reigning superstar of Bollywood! Her documentation of events and introduction and evolution of Bollywood is also very prosaic and colorless. She seemed to have crammed the content of many a film interview of her journalistic career into this book. The book doesn’t personify the flamboyant SRK; it even begins very uninterestingly, with an anecdote of fan in Georgia. The book leaves you disillusioned with the title ‘King of Bollywood Sharukh Khan’. It’s all about the subtitle ‘the seductive world of Indian cinema’.

Unfair Endorsement!

When will Indians understand beauty? It used to be ‘Fair and Lovely’, now its also ‘Fair and Handsome’!!! India and Indians are making waves, setting trends, and moving ahead, but some perceptions and prejudices will leave us backward in thought, hence lacking that balance and sensibility of life!! The worst part celebrity endorsements by iconic Bollywood star like Sharukh Khan can have a larger influence on the psyche of our population. This is not the face or the visage we want to see in our new generation……

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7010000/newsid_7011600/7011608.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1


http://www.fairandhandsome.net/tv_com.jsp

Chak De India

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!