1982 Asian Games – New Delhi.
This is one very important year in the history of India. India got a chance of hosting a prestigious sporting event for the 2nd time. We'll cut short to the final of Men’s hockey tournament. India Vs Pakistan. India has come in to the final by winning the previous 5 matches and by conceding just 4 goals and scoring 44 goals. But we lost the final 1-7 to Pakistan. The match will be mostly remembered for one goal keeper – Mr. Ranjan Negi who was accused of match fixing and termed as traitor by the media for loosing such a prestigious final at a time when India-Pak relations were not at their best. It took him 16 years to regain lost pride when he coached the Indian Team back to winning the gold medal in the 1998 Asian Games and the Indian Women’s hockey team, gold medal in the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The story of Chak De India takes inspiration from Negi’s life.
This movie comes as a breath of fresh air to Bollywood. This movie is for every Indian. A tale
of Indian patriotism. It's a movie for people who enjoy quality cinema. I never knew the a, b,
c’ of Hockey and now, I love this sport and look forward to watching more of it. In a country
like India where inspite of hockey being the national sport, cricket is given importance this
movie is an eye opener. The much neglected women’s hockey is highlighted. The movie inspires
and makes you feel that nothing is impossible. The movie has a very good storyline and a rather
different one compared to the usual bollywood movie settings. In this, you won't find actors
moving around trees in colourful foreign locales as in many other yash raj movies. If there is
love, it is completely for the game hockey. The movie is about the sport. About the attitude, neglect and irreverence we have against the national game. It’s about team spirit. About how in one way or the other, one CAN bring out the best out of ANYBODY. It is about making a dream, an idea, into a reality. It’s about human nature. About how a rumour, if talked about over & over again, DOES become a reality. It is about how a perception about a reality can be changed.
It’s about regional & religious biases we have, which invariably reflect in everyday
interactions. It’s about the ownership & pride of being an Indian. It’s about gender biases. Where women are expected to leave behind their passions & careers to pursue marriages.
And above all, it’s about how a woman CAN do what she WANTS TO DO despite all odds.
The best dialogue of the movie is where SRK says that
to win, the strength doesn’t matter, what matters is the attitude!
That’s the basis of the whole story line. After all- IT IS IN THE ATTITUDE!
There have been quite a few movies with Sports as a theme made in India. There was cricket in
Lagaan. There was cycle racing in Jo Jeeta wohi sikandar. There was boxing in Apne. and there
was racing in Tararumpum. But never has there been a hard core movie made only on sports with no unnecessary romantic songs or hi-fi visual effects. That’s the biggest plus point of the
movie. The movie is very well researched and I did not find too many flaws in the movie. All
the characters are given a good share of screen time and not a single character is wasted.
Shahrukh Khan has given a mind blowing performance and this is truly one of his very few good
acting roles. The movie is nearly 150 minutes long but crisp editing by Amitabh Shukla and top
class cinematography by Sudeep Chaterjee makes the film extremely fast paced. Unlike other typical bollywood movies this one really builds the Continuity & wont allow you to take your eye of the screen ! The other good thing is the lively soundtrack of this movie. Special Mention to the background score and whatever few songs are there, they are inspiring & full of attitude. The
treatment and the script make sure it comes as close to getting 5 stars as possible. One scene
which, according to me, should get the scene of the year award is the fight scene at the
restaurant. This one is brilliantly executed scene. If there had been a rating done for the top
10 scenes in the history of Hindi Cinema, this one would surely come in the top 10.
The main reason which makes the film work
Screenplay : The movie never looses its focus. It’s a sports film, based on hockey and it
remains that only. In fact the 2nd half of the movie is pure and perfect hockey.
SHAHRUKH KHAN : I must say he is out of the world in this movie…..his portrayal of a wronged man, a hard and determined coach has no parallels. Shahrukh Khan is not Shahrukh Khan in this movie, he is Kabir Khan and you can read each and every emotion in his eyes, success, failure , hurt, disappointment everything. Absolutely a stunning performance. I would love to see him in many more movies doing such kind of roles. I have always been a die hard SRK fan and have always liked him in movies(baazigar,ddlj,kkhh,k3g,and DON) and trust me he is fantastic,marvelous and tremendous in this movie as he brings out patriotism in us without being preachy.
Shimit Amin : the director has done a damn good job. He has not followed the routine
hero, heroine, villain trademark; the subject itself is as different as it can be. I can
confidently say that in India we have never seen such a focused sports movie (Probably the best
sports based film ever made in India). He has a complete grip on movie and that’s visible
throughout. Getting such a different performance from SRK itself is great.
The Entire Second Half of the movie is fascinating and trust me you wouldn’t want to leave the
screen even for a second. The matches have been shot as professionally as the real matches.
The movie talks about a very relevant issue ‘Women in Sports’. It tackles the feminist issue
very maturely. It shows the reality of the position women (atleast in sports) in India. and
leaves you with a message “Its not the strength that matters to win, its the attitude that
does.”
The movie brings into the focus the present situation of Hockey in India. The bias towards
Cricket is presented beautifully, but the way it is shown leads to few controversies. Its shows very clearly that what part media plays in making or breaking a person. How one innocent action is presented wrongly and hype gets created and spoils the reputation of a sincere sportsman. And the same media takes him back when wins the trophy for us. Shouldn’t media apologize for its immature behavior?
I have never seen a movie tackle so many important issues like regionalism, female position in
society, position of muslims, media role, sports in our country, unity, patriotism and all of
them are handled neatly.
After watching this movie, you would feel proud to be an indian. Let me tell you one incident, when I and my friends were watching this movie in bangalore, the people in the hall stood up and were clapping after the final match between India vs Australia. I think, Thats the best response a director, actors, and the technicians who worked for the movie could ever get.
In all, I would recommend the movie, especially to all SRK-haters. It’s a good watch, & coming
around Independence Day, it’s the perfect thing to do! With India celebrating 60 years of
Independence this year this is one movie i recommend every Indian must see. It will surely
give you that much needed kick of Patriotism & Sportsmanship which i think is necessary for
every person.. ..Thank You.
Monday 20 August 2007
Exclusive Chak De India Review....
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10 comments:
i completely agree with u..........thanks for this wonderful review which covers every aspect of the film...it can b consider as one of the best films srk have ever done...there s no idiotic comedies, no stunts, no colorful dance...looks so realistic...i dnt know whether it s hit in India or not...But , if its not...then we, the Indians have to rething about ourselves....bcos same happend in India again with srk itself..jst hve a review on swades and mein hoo na...one is a hit , but other one markked as a floap...its very easy to make a hit film if the hero is sharukh...just put sme unrealistic stories , then dance, coloful scenes, famiy centiments etc etc...even then, director and producer of chak de dont want to be get it like thaT...they want more reality, social reformation to be included in their movie...again it highlighted many of the social issues...like govt's lac of atention on womens sport,,,,especially national game,,,but unfortunately , the neglected one...
then the film tells about proffesionalism, sportsmanship, team work etc.....there v still need to improve... if india plays cricket final against england, then obviously we hve croud...but if india plays a friendship match against pakistaan, , v would hve more crowd...y.............................y it s like this???....there people dnt want any friendship...they are making a symbolic war against both nation....again back to movie,,, vat kabir did s giving a shakehand to the pakistaani player...people didnt think about the past, like vat he did for the nation.....or how well he played for the nation....
punjab, hariyana,andra, mumbai,tamilnadu etc.................all of them are strength of India, if they united and say this loudly each other....let's say together.............
"chak de India".
Thanks appu for your valuable comment.
Yes..this movie can be rated as one of the best movies of bollywood.. But it would be very kind of you if you could clarify the following doubts –
1) Whenever shahrukh came up with the Gaddari issue, he never actually gave a firm answer or atleast try to defend himself..Why didn’t shahrukh ever answer the media or the society the reason for his failure???..He could have said something atleast like “I tried my best but it didn’t workout”…some answer??..NO he didn’t.
Once he tried to hit the reporter when he asked if it was intentional Second, he rose his hand at bindya nayak when she raised that again. This way his response was always negative. Then what is the point in giving lines like “haar ka bhoj seh nahi sakte” when he never tried to atleast say something about what went wrong.
2) Where was the game and where was the strategy?? Clearly there was no coordination among team players even till the last game. There was no game plan. Is running for 100miles a day sufficient?? They were never taught about how to tackle the one on one attack or other kinds of attacks. Look at Australian coach, he was continuously monitoring the performance, speaking over the mic and getting the updated information about team’s performance. What was shahrukh doing??..”agar who maarenge toh tum bhi maaaro..chak de..chak de”..what is this yaar??..think about lagaan – a bunch of fools winning the game against English was shown in a very realistic manner. The credit goes to the way Amir khan learns the game and teaches the strategy to his fellow mates, explains the game and encourages talent. But here you already have talent (they are all state level players). So shahrukh’s only job is to get them into the right mode. Teach the international game tactics. Ask them to play more matches every day.Just running at 4a.m and motivation are not sufficient boss.
3) Were the emotions portrayed in the last scene really touching??..I mean u really didn’t feel u wanted more??..quoting Lagaan again-..There was tension,run outs, no balls, prayers, background music was really intense that it take you to a different height and when amir khan emotionally falls on the ground and kisses it..you are simply delighted and it makes you very proud. But in Chak de..the scene was not that intense..shahrukh looks back..sits with moist eyes..cmon man ur team won the worldcup for gods sake..shout..take ur pain out..go and jump with your students..be truly emotional. And one more problem is the background music..when shahrukh is insulted “maula mere lele meri jaan”..when his team wins the game “ maula mere lele..” ...u will get to listen to that track so many times in the movie but the emotions are different in some scenes..if it was rehman.. man it wudve become one of the most emotional moments in the history of indian cinema.
But one thing is true..when hockey player dhanraj pillai was screaming at the top of his voice “we need better facilities, better sponsors, better support from Indian people” u never bothered to even look at what he says..and now shahrukh made you say “I look forward to watching more of it” ..this is what a movie can do to Indian audience..thanks to chak de India..atleast our national game is back into our minds.
hello sankatmochan. first of all i would like to thank you for your interest in my blog. To answer your questions..
1) Have you seen the complete film..coz sharukh did mention that he tried his best when he was asked by the media. Later by the increasing publicity of the photo of SRk and pak captain he gets irritated and in anger he almost tried to hit the reporter..becoz If you really work hard and people blame you on what you hv done any sachha INDIAN will get angry..This is wat happend with shahrukh.. Mind if i hurt your feelings.
2) Here i want to mention one thing, we indians always admire about the foreigners dono why..just that australian coach had talked over the phone and he had taken printouts of the players on the field, does that mean they are doing the right thing..it doesnt matter what you do when the game is in progress..to mention, the aus coach actually doesnt know the perf of his players thats the reason he was doing such things. If you were a coach and your team is going to lose the game what would you do in such situations? in such cases, the strategy is to tell your players to play as the opposition team plays. thats what SRK has done in that scene. If you try to play ur own, natural game with the tough oppositions, u may lose. just to give u an example, imagine Rahul Dravid's game in 1990-2000s , whenever he comes in people were like aah the wall came, neither the ball hits the wickets, nor the ball travels over the boundary. This is what they used to think about him. But now, the whole senario has changed. Whenever he comes, people were excited to watch him play. why im mentioning about Dravid is, You cant play your natural game always, You gotto be skillful enuf to play destructive game. I think this may have answered your question.
3) I do agree that Lagan was a gr8 movie. But you cant compare lagaan with chak de, the reason being, in Lagaan all the players were innocent about the game, thats the reason aamir has to make them play a gud cricket, whereas in Chak de all the players are state level players. Anyone cannot expect them to learn the basics of Hockey game. what is needed is, to make them adopt sportsmanship, team spirit and competitive spirt. I think SRK has fulfilled this job. Coming to the emotions, I want to illustrate one example, If you've got gold medal after the tremondous effort, the moment you take that gold medal, you feel extremly happy as well as some portion of ur heart feels proud and that sheds tears in your eyes. also you are mentioning about Lagaan aamir kissing the ground scene after winning, is there any rule that the above action has to take place whenever a team wins after much effort. come on yaar, its not the scene that mtters, but its the portrayal of the actor in such situations.
Okay..I just tried to clarrify your doubts, Mind if i hurt your feelings or ego. Sorry, Thanks.
Hi Sridhar. Let me clarify one thing..chak de is a good movie but not a great one. Being a hardcore shahrukh fan, u cannot really agree with my statement. So here are some points in which I will try to clarify some of my points using yours -
“Saccha INDIAN will get angry” – Indian team was literally raped by the media when they came back after the first round of the worldcup, but Dravid kept his cool in all the press meets, took the responsibility for India’s poor show and promised to the media that they will practice harder and correct themselves. But in Shahrukh’s case he didn’t commit any mistake (according to you) and media’s role is always to raise questions.. so why get irritated at all?. Don’t you think that was an irresponsible act being the captain of a team?.
“We Indians always admire foreigners” – well, this statement cannot be generalized moreover this statement is irrelevant. I was just quoting the example of the coach of the other team who was trying to do some work for the betterment of his team’s play and I never said it is the only right way.
“Tell our players to play as the opposite team plays” – you mean he was asking the girls to play like the opposite team and leave their natural game..oh this is something new..i thought coaches ask people to play their natural games..
“The wall..skillful enough to play destructive game” – Dravid is known as the THE WALL not because he never hits a four and wastes all the balls.. It is for his discipline and his composed mind which is clearly evident in the game...he never tries hitting crazy shots and never risks balls outside the off-stump even when he’s batting on 150 for that matter. That is precisely what people call skill. Even this destructive game is his natural game dude..it is just that he is more aggressive.
“Is there any rule..” – There is no rule that shahrukh must fall or kiss the ground..i was giving an example again..This movie is about Hockey..not “Kabir Khan’s redemption”..So in the climax, SRK’s emotion and the background music is more about the emotions of a patriotic muslim but not about the emotion of a team’s world cup victory.. As soon as the team won the game, he thought about the way he was insulted or treated but not about his team made it at last..What happened to his belief - India first, then the team, and then himself..this is what I was speaking about.
And one last doubt..a silly one though..why was shahrukh pushing his scooter while he goes and even while he comes back home..chalaana aatha nahi hai kya :P .
I think its of no use to answer ur first question after reading your comment on "Know our rights" post. I wouldnt waste my time to feed a ****..
I agree that i am being a SRK fan, I liked the movie very much.
To remind you, I never said Chak de is gr8 movie. Its one of the best movies based on sports genre like Lagaan, and Iqbal..
“Tell our players to play as the opposite team plays”.. Yeah this is true, when playing with a team where they were not playing with hockey sticks rather they were playing to hurt the opposition team's players, You should play like that only. If u were in the shoes of SRK and ur team has to win to stay alive in the worldcup, what wud u do?.. u wont do anything, but ask any indian they wud clarrify u...the kind of play has to be changed according to the opposition..
Coming to Dravid, again I never said Dravid is a boring batsman ever. I was saying that based on circumstances the he has changed his game play from defensive to aggressive. y dont u think the same in the above case?..
pfffffffff..enuf of arguing. bbye. Thanks for ur comments.
woh woh..thats a drastic change..right from the name sridhar to sach is life..right from "mind if i hurt ur feelings" to "****s.. ask any INDIAN" etc..ur pffff says u really had enuf of this argument..hope ivent hurt ur mind/ feelings/ ego..im sorry buddy..but it was fun talkin to you..n if you thot its over..think again..im always here ;)
yeah..i changed the name jus because i dont want my name in this useless arguments ( after all its my blog, i can do whatever i want, it has got nothing to do with ur comments ok?)....I want to end this conversations thats y i said pfff enuf of this..u can assume whatever u want..u'vent hurt myfeelings or ego or blah blah..I saw urcmment on "know ur rights" posts.that made me kind of disturbed and prompted me to post the previous comment.. ok..It was gr8 talking with a person who had a gr8 opinion about INDIA...thanks dude.Bye ..
arey relax yaar..ofcourse this is ur blog..tension kyun le raha hai?..I thought we were having a discussion but lagta hai tumne kuch jyada hi serious le liya.I gave an explanation for my comments on "know your rights"...check it.well about ur "gr8 Indian" comment..i understand ur situation..i will take that.
huh...I never took it seriously. "woh woh..thats a drastic change..right from the name sridhar to sach is life..".. this statement gives an impression that i've changed the name as if im afraid of ur comments.. i jus thought like that..as i've already said, u can presume whatever u want on this.
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