Chak De India: Revival of a dying game?

Just a Silly thought: why aren’t there many sports movies being made in Bollywood, despite the fact that it is a genre that sells pretty well all-over? Unfortunately, the ones that had been around hardly attempted to focus on the games; instead, used them as thematic context. Chak De India, perhaps, would be the first authentic and honest Bollywood attempt on a particular sport (also, as its sole selling point.) The fact that it’s more laudable is because the sport in question is also a dying entity. So, it was mandatory to use a massive star power to reach across the homes. SRK fitted the bill best; no surprise that he rode the audience solely on his magical PR charisma to the cinemas. But, from then the movie has been on its own — making clever moves, dodging obstacles with great finesse, and finally reaching smoothly to the viewers’ hearts!

Kabir Khan (SRK) — failed, discarded and despised, is a former captain of the Indian hockey team, who vows to savage his lost honor by transforming the national women hockey team into a winning one. Kabir, however, faces an uphill – if not impossible – task ahead. The team he has got is at best can be described as a collection of sixteen different state players: fragmented and individualistic, who don’t even have the self-belief; forget about the skills. As if that’s not all, Kabir and his team also has to fight the acute indifference and negligence from the board officials, who refuse to provide adequate support, leveraging the populist belief that Indian women are better suited in kitchen than playing a sport. All Kabir has left with is his belief and the will to bring the Gold for India.

What could be easily described as the best performance SRK has ever produced on screen: drives the entire story so brilliantly that at one point — when Kabir motivates the girls to bring out their best on the field, one feels the nerves getting pumped up and the fists tightened as if watching an India-Pakistan thriller. The rest of the cast were equally outstanding with each one bringing their characters live and so believable. And, that’s also what makes the movie appealing — the believability, unlike other Bolly-products, which would not think twice before flying a cow in the sky

Go for it!! Who knows, it might have just etched the turning point for Indian hockey…

Chak De

Badal Pe Paon Hai

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Sattar Minue