ZIYA US SALAM
CHAK DE INDIA(At Delite and other Delhi theatres)
In this vast land of a billion people with a solitary Olympic medal, sports films understandably are non-starters. All periodic attempts to cash in even on the cricket craze come a-cropper at the box office.
Little wonder then that “Chak De India”, despite being a Yash Raj film and boasting Shah Rukh Khan in its ranks, has arrived without the hullabaloo that generally precedes a big banner Bollywood release.
A slow starter in more ways than one, the film however turns out to be a fairly engaging 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 big loss.
Drawing liberally from the life of former India goalkeeper Mir Ranjan 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 liberal 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 damned as 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 audience interest flowing, more so in the second half than the first. The narration is focused and smooth, the tempo leisurely.
As the man sets about coaching the girls who come from backgrounds as similar or dissimilar 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 the coach who transforms it all, almost Cinderella-like.
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 winners under the able guidance of the coach who has much to redeem, the attention turns to hockey.
The professionally chosen 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.
Shah Rukh? Well, he is there in almost every frame but the film does not belong to him: it is about a sport going to seed. There is no sequence when he is allowed to go over the top. The director keeps him quite restrained. Which is quite good for the film.
And his get-up with a nice beard is good too.
Watch “Chak De India”. It is a nice film with all its obvious limitations. Will it click at the box office?
Well, the other day, a seasoned filmmaker complained that the masses talk of good films but do not support them.
His words stemmed from experience. So there….
THE BLUE UMBRELLA(At PVR Spice, Noida, and other theatres)
All the colours of life come calling with a film too beautiful to be allowed to go unseen. It has not arrived uncelebrated: this Vishal Bharadwaj film has been released days after winning the National Award for the best children’s film. The award does only half justice. It is actually a film that can, and should be, watched by all. So delectable is the run of play in this film based on Ruskin Bond’s novella of the same name.
Not for a minute does one feel that a film is unfolding before one’s eyes. Not even when a touching song plays. Not when the camera projects the astonishing beauty of snowfall in the mountains. Not when all the character artistes adopt the local Himachali lingo with gusto. And in what was supposed to be a director’s film, Pankaj Kapur steals the show with a fetching portrait of Nandkishore, a balding man with the heart of a toothless child.
Talking of children, little Shreya Sharma shows lots of promise as Biniya, the girl whose wonderful umbrella sets the ball rolling. She has an umbrella the kind of which nobody has seen in her tiny hamlet in Himachal. It is blue, it is lovely; it is the cynosure of all eyes. More so for Nandkishore, the child in whom longs to possess the umbrella. The little exchange between the girl and the old man is lovely, the dialogue simple and innocent. No moral posturing, nothing close to a prodigy either.
One day, however, the umbrella goes missing. And the needle of suspicion points to the old man, who has meanwhile got himself an equally beautiful red umbrella from Delhi! One thing leads to another as the man yearns to prove his innocence. What is actually proved is that Pankaj Kapur is among the most gifted actors of our generation. He acquitted himself with credit in “Dharm” just recently. Here now he leaves the cinemagoers indebted for a performance that is truly memorable. Of course, the nuanced, well-layered performance is helped by Praveen Alve’s wonderful make-up. Vishal Bharadwaj is in top form, things are always well within his grip. Nothing melodramatic, all understated, avoiding stating the obvious. It is witty, soulful and absolutely honest stuff all the way. That’s Bharadwaj’s film. Take your kids along. And pamper the child trapped inside you for years to come.
KAAFILA(At PVR Naraina and other Delhi theatres)
Truth be told: if director-actor Amitoj Maan’s film did not have Sunny Deol among the cast, it would not have found a buyer. Truth be re-told: if the film had been released without huge posters of Sunny Deol, it would not have attracted even a handful.
Truth be told once and for all: despite Sunmy Deol it is not a film you should take your worst neighbour to. In premise it is fairly inventive: Relating the story of illegal migrants who all long to reach Britain without a passport or a visa and undertake a long torturous journey, travelling across the seas, plains, hills and mountains, the film falls terribly short in execution. And Deol probably did the film as a favour to Maan, who however, does no favours to the star’s followers.
No “kaafila” is longing to watch it.