Film: Chak De India
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan
Director: Shimit Amin
In the land of a billion people with a solitary Olympic medal, sports films are understandably non-starters. All periodic attempts to even cash in on the cricket craze come a cropper at the box office. Little surprise, ‘Chak De India’, despite being a Yash Raj film, and boasting of Shah Rukh Khan in its ranks, has arrived without the hullabaloo that precedes the release of a big banner film.
A slow starter in more ways than one, the film eventually turns out to be a fairly involving saga of one man’s nightmare that rode roughshod over a nation’s dream. And his own very personal dream that he nurses for seven years after the loss.
Drawing liberally from the life of former goalkeeper M. R. Negi, who was accused of the worst following the debacle of our team at the hands of Pakistan in the 1982 Asiad, director Shimit Amin cloaks the reality with doses of fantasy. Of course, there is cinematic liberty, but the resemblance is still quite plain and clear: Amin’s hero, Shah Rukh as Kabir Khan, is a centre forward – in real life, it was the goalie – who had failed the final test. One loss, and the hero is termed a traitor.
However, it is a taint the not-so-young man is determined to erase.
The salvation comes in the form of an opportunity to coach the much-derided women’s hockey team.
We all know what would be the result as the fall guy yearns to be the top guy, but Amin keeps the interest flowing, more so in the second half.
As the man sets about coaching the girls who come from backgrounds as similar as the mountain and the sea, Amin takes us to the backroom politics of sports federations. The officials sneer at the women’s sports, the sponsors shy away. And the girls have no encouragement. Until there comes a coach who transforms it all. Some of the changes seem incredible, others leave a lump in the throat as the girls first learn to talk to each other rather than talking at each other.
Then they learn to live with each other, before finally realising they have to live for each other to win at the international level.`
As the no-hopers turn winner under the able guidance of a coach who has much to redeem, the attention turns to hockey.
The action is quite likeable even if predictable: we lose only to win later! And the girls, a nice mix of actresses and real players play their part perfectly with Mamta Kharab as a Haryanvi girl being outstanding.
ZIYA US SALAM