Chakde! - Ein unschlagbares Team

Bollywood finally Manages to Pull out a Wonderful Sports Movie and After some upsets, Yash Raj Production comes with a brilliant film (Though they have nothing to do with it (Except the money).. Real stars are indeed the hockey players, SRK and the director Shimit Amin).

Movie starts seven years back when Shahrukh Khan is accused of Match fixing in a hockey world cup final. After seven years, he returns to coach a hopeless Women hockey team. The rest of the movie deals with his journey to glory of the National team..

The things that stands out for me are.. the Team. Talented actresses gathered from all over the country have done a wonderful job. Acting was top class. Shahrukh Khan have played a character that suits his age and does seriously well. Hockey sequences are great and do give a feel of an international tournament. A nice blend of funny and amazingly inspiring dialogs adds to the brilliance.

However, the movie has its share of shortcomings. Most of the times, movie successfully manages to overshadow the predictable nature of the story, but the ending sequence was absolutely the same what i thought of before the movie started. We all knew what would happen in the end, but a bit of fine tuning would have made this film a masterpiece.

Anyways, 'Chak de India' is not just a brave attempt. It goes beyond that tag. It's a wonderful and a courageous attempt. A movie that manages to match the brilliance of Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander.

What's in a name? Although initially this movie drew some amount of controversy outside India among viewers of non-Indian origin, the final movie just falsifies all those who advocated that the title "Chak De! India" was non-representative and was supposed to mean to only a niche of moviegoers. This movie would've been just what it is no matter what is was called or which country made it. Director Shimit Amin's entry in YRF simply transforms the entire perspective of movie-making and movie watching, both for the production house and the viewers.

Generally, you enter the theatre for a Yashraj movie expecting foreign locales, lots of song and dance, impossible and unbelievable characters, poor storyline, bad performances and a helluva investment but this movie delivers what no other Yashraj film ever did. Initially a sports movie, Chak De is rather a story of hope, courage, unity, integrity and the dreams. This film finally proves that you don't need Preity or Rani opposite SRK, and he all by himself, with a great screenwriter, great director and a good cast of the hockey team can make a great movie. There are lots of heroes in the movie - the women's team and these ladies simply steal the show. Mainly Bindiya, Balbir, Priya (the hot chic) and Komal.

See it gets very hard when there is an incredible amount of character development to do. There is a ghost that follows Kabir throughout the film and writer Jaideep Sahani makes a very good use of it. I do admit the fact that he's watched an incredible amount of Hollywood sports flick to develop this script, but he adds his very homely formulas and successfully manages to retain this film as an original Indian movie. Some parts of the film are directly lifted like the part of Kabir's ghost and few of the women, but all in all I refuse to say this is a Hollywood copy.

All in all, this is the best summer Hindi movie I've watched so far, not because it's got SRK but I love the script, the witty one-liners where sometimes with double meanings, every girl with her story (but I feel at most points the characters don't fully grow), well coordinated game sequences (though the practise scenes may bore you because there are a LOT), and above all the message the film delivers - when united, there's nothing you can't win over. The message is pretty well conveyed. You feel the adrenaline rush through the World Cup matches, a lot of goosebumps thanks to the great scoring by the Salim Sulaiman duo, well crafted script and good direction. Shimit's work is original contrary to the reservations I carried for him being a product of Ram Gopal Verma's school of direction.

SRK, as usual is great with his acting (and beard,) Vidya Malvade is the overly publicised captain but unfortunately other girls outdo her, the Jharkhand girls provide a dimension against contrasting Bindya and her queen bees. Segarika Ghatge's character Priya Saberwal is most memorable for her looks, style and for being hot and everything. The North East girls do answer some of vital questions of the North East Indians about their existence in their country as foreigners. The class conflict, egoistic chicks and their attitude problem and stuffs are absolutely well portrayed in the film.

All in all a well worth. Requires basic knowledge and enthusiasm in hockey. But avoid if you're looking for SRK as the lover-boy - he's the tough coach.

In plain and simple words, I loved CDI. Heck, even if you take SRK out of it, I would still love it! This movie is about a man trying to prove his dedication and love for his sport, his people, and his country. This is about a man scorned by the nation, shunned by his close ones, and his redemption in the way he knows best. Its this main underlying theme that makes CDI special. This theme is so universal, and so identifiable, that your heart connects instantly.

CDI is about Indian sportswomen coming to the forefront, about the stark and grim realities staring at our national sport, and the reasons behind that. It is about unity in diversity, strength in weakness, and putting the team above oneself. Its about the sacrifices one has to make in order to achieve his goals. Its about the success of true sporting spirit! Its real, yet entertaining. Its patriotic without being jingoistic. Its international, yet soaked in Indianness. Its a collage of the different states of India, and the difficult but fruitful formation of this collage.

I have never played or watched or been interested in hockey! But this movie does not need that to touch your heart. All it needs is some patriotism, humility and goodness in your heart. If thats in abundance, I am sure you will love it.

As for the performances, I would just say the entire team rocks. the keyword here is TEAM, as thats what this film is all about! Enjoy !

I have always loved good melodramatic underdog sports movies such as Remember the Titans,Invincible etc and now we have the bollywood version with Chak De India.

Hats off to the production team and the director for coming out with a fresh and very high quality product with excellently filmed hockey scenes that are quite realistic. I loved the wonderful cast of unknown girls who make up the Indian national women's hockey team. All of them had a part to play and they played them beautifully while executing some rigorous hockey action. They were excellent and gave wonderfully natural performances that should shame some of the already established actresses. Special mention should be given to the actress playing Bindya Naik. My favourite was the actress who played the spirited but pint sized forward from Haryana, she was really cute and funny in a tomboyish sort of way.

Shahrukh Khan was excellent in this movie..... his best performance since Swades in my opinion as he played against type. Had some wonderful moments with the girls and drew lots of cheers and laughs from the audience. If the movie succeeds then a lot of the credit has to go the King khan's crowd pulling power.

If this film succeeds and I sincerely hope it does, I think Amin (director) and Yashraj films are going to start a whole new trend a la DDLJ with a whole slew of sports related movies coming from Bollywood. I am sure cricket will be next on the agenda.

A thoroughly enjoyable ride....go watch it.

P.S. - some interesting trailers shown as well Laga Chunari Main Daag, Aaja Nachle and Goal (the Indian bend it like beckham maybe?)

Having originally planned to both not see Chak De and also to hate it, I went to see the first show and I now love it very much!!

Two nights ago I saw Kal Ho Naa Ho for the 100th time. I found it beautiful, as always, but also realized it never makes me want to cry. Chak De!, on the other hand, is relatively "plain" to look at, and understated (at least for Bollywood), and I felt that wonderful emotional brimming-up-but-not-quite-over time and again throughout the story.

The whole thing about this team of girls from all over India who have to be made into a team really works - you get to know enough about several girls to have a secure sense of the essence of each -- the one with the bad temper, the one whose husband wants her to come home and cook, the senior player who resents the new coach's control, the ones who are out for themselves -- and the problem each presents in relation to SRK's task of making a team out of a collection of individuals

Of course this is any coach's job, but I like the moral resonance with the sad back-story of Shah Rukh Khan's character. Kabir Khan, like the real Indian player on whom the story is based, is an Indian Muslim. He was unjustly accused of throwing a match to Pakistan, and lost his career. A team where all have the identity "India" is an actual team; implicitly I think a country with the identity "India" doesn't engage in persecutory projection and hatred toward a member perceived as "other."

A note about the photography, I like the use of a dusty tone for the first half of the movie, and then a much brighter color skin for the second half, when we leave India and practice fields and go to Australia. The girls' exposure to the bigness and luxury of the west was handled so nicely - we're given their pleasure in all that's new to their eyes--giant swimming pools, exercise machinery, lavish hotel buffets -- but in passing: the Bollywood Visual Excess machine is not in operation, and the shed has several locks on the door. At some official function, we get to see them all in saris and a bit of makeup, but here too it's all under control, they're all dressed alike and half of them hate it.

Shah Rukh is great. There is no sentimentality in the movie and his character is restrained. The music -- no "songs" -- is varied and good -- if I could do without the rap music (for life!!), I loved the Sufi refrain that turns up over and over, that seems to express SRK's character's anguish in separation, longing for reunion (with God).

I've always felt that sadness was quite nearby for Shah Rukh -- here he neither conceals nor dramatizes it, he just lets us feel it. On a more mundane note, though I love Shah Rukh in all his Karan-Johar-selected beautiful clothes, I found it relaxing to see him in a small number of normal coach's costumes, shirts, khakis, and blazers that appropriately looked bought off the racks in Macy's.

The movie really never hits a wrong note. It's also just wonderful in its feminist position. Generally speaking I feel just boredom and agitation at movie violence; in this one, when the girls beat up boys who'd been harassing them, I felt joy.