Chak de!

Year: 2007

This movie has made it to my list of best movies ever!

Chak De, India! is special movie. For a lot of reasons. It deals with not just one, but many issues together. It brings out them all out very subtly. It kind of revived the so-called-national-sport of our country, hockey! And whats best!? I actually got to see the first teaser of Aaja Nachle before the show commenced! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! 😀

Ok coming back to Chak de, what I liked best about the movie was the fact that it was based on Hockey and a classic case of fighting against all odds!!

What do you do if you play a sport (supposedly the national sport) in a country where Cricket is not a sport but a religion? What do you do, when you are a team of 16 women who have the aim of going for the world cup – Not just the association, but even they know they will not win!!! So, the morale amongst the players is well… abysmal! What do you do, when the players are divided amongst themselves based on their states? What do you do, when your two best forwards are rivals and end up playing not for the team but for themselves!?

What do you do when you have a bunch of MCPs as part of the association, who firmly believe that girls should be in the kitchen with the chakla, nikkar pehen kar kahan kahan ghumti firengi?

Some people say the movie is about Shahrukh Khan. NO! The movie is not about Shahrukh Khan! It is about a common cause, for which the entire team is fighting. In the last speech he says,

These 70 mins of your life you will never get back! So, go and play, like you have never played before. Go and play for all those men, for all those friends who did not believe in you! And did not want u to pursue your dream! Go play for yourselves! These are your 70 minutes and even if God wants now, he cant take them away from you!

The movie is all about fighting for your rights! Working like mad to make your place, your stand!! Keeping the team first and your own self later! Working together as a team of India and not individual states! And most importantly, HOPE! That success will be yours!

Shahrukh’s character Kabir Khan says in the movie

Play for India first. Then play for your team and if you have any strenght left after that, play for yourself!

This says a lot! The movie is also a tale of a sportsman who is stamped as a traitor, because he loses the Men’s hockey world cup final. The humiliation and insult he has to bear and way he comes out of it, by coaching the women’s team and making something happen, which was unthinkable!

The movie is all about the spirit of sportsmanship, about being a fighter and most importantly, about being an Indian!

Jai Hind!!