Review of Chak de India

Despite the frills and thrills of my tight schedule (lol),i managed to watch "Chak de India" as i got the copy through a friend late in the evening when i went for midnight snacks. After much thought,i started th movie around 2.30am only to find myself cheering for the Indian hockey team.Here is a version of my own review (my first one).

Flashback:

Lets go back in time to have a larger picture.Kabir Khan played by SRK is the captain of Indian hockey team. In a do or die situation SRK loses the Indian team to Pakistan in a penalty shoot out. SRK was shaking hands with the Pakistan captain when a pressman clicked fotos of him doing so. After the match,he was accused of fixing the match and that he was a good friend to Pakistan captain.Being a Muslim in India is one of the worst thing to be.He was scrapped off his current image and people called him betrayer. His normal life was affected and he had to leave his home with his mother to live somewhere else.

His return:

After seven years,the Indian women's hockey team needs a coach and he arrives at the crucial moment to prove his worth.Despite the associations several ways to deprive and deny the team,he gets the post.His friend warns him of the team,calling it to be a messed up team.He believes in himself and says that its what he want.He wants to achieve the impossible and prove it wrong.

The training:

The team registration starts and one by one,each player arrives from different parts of the Country - Andhra Pradesh,Jharkhand,Haryana,Punjab,Manipur,Mizoram,Tamil Nadu. There is a scene at the registration of the team as well as the introduction of the actors in the film. There was this ignorant manager in his mid 70's at the counter. The Jharkhand team comes and one of them doesn't know Hindi or English at all. He calls them to be coming from 'Jungle' in a good sense which pisses off them! Then the Tamil player where she addresses herself as from tamil.The manager thinks her to be Telugu and there was a light argument that Tamil is different from Telugu (who said ignorance is a bliss??). Upon asking what's the difference by the manager, the girl says ..the way Haryana and Bihar are different!! Then comes the Manipur and Mizoram girls ;marking their entrance with a tight slap to an eavesdropper who was passing comments on them. The manager was thrilled to know that they came from a far off place and asked them to be their guest. The best part is what the Manipuri girl says to the manager; "why do you treat us to be guest in our own country?" That was the best answer i acknowledge and jumped in bed to hear it.Its true in ground reality.

SRK enters and starts his coaching (norms,rules and ethics etc). The good part shown here is that he will be strict to his words and coaching.There was a player from Chandigarh who came late for registration but he denied her and asked her to come for next year. Upon request he asks her to make rounds and come back. One of the main thing is that during an informal introduction of the players, he points out that no matter you may be top player of a state,now they will be playing for India as a team and should go by the rules. Training starts..and conflicts start arising in the team.He sends them out whoever has a problem following his way of playing the game. Days pass by and these four players who were sent out comes in one by one saying sorry to the coach. He toughens the training and makes them slog for days.many end up with bruises,scratches,swellings etc. The senior most player revolts and ask for everyone to sign upon his resignation proposal.

Next day SRK come to know of it and feels sorry for India.Everyone feels sorry for SRK as well as themselves.many had so many problems at home.Some asking to come back for marriage,some to come back for some reason and so on. One of the main part shown was that the Chandigarh gal had a BF who was in Indian cricket team ;and being a player he didn't value her as some national player (i pity on his sportsmanship!!)

SRK gives a farewell treat to the team and others. As luck would have it,due to a fight in the restaurant (due to passing of rude comments to the NE gals;well NE gals are always hot,aren't they?) the team comes into force and help each other out. They realize their mistake and SRK sees the team culture int them. Soon the training resumed.

Time to prove:

Despite the hard efforts,the hockey association declares that they won't be able to send the women's team for world cup and send only the male counterparts.Upon many request they turn deaf ears to SRK and his friend. SRK then challenges a match between the women's team and the man's team after 2 days. Women's team loses the match by a single goal and the man's team as well as the rest of the association members applauses the women;s team for their play. They were finally given a green signal and they went to Australia for the world cup.

The first match against Australia was lost badly and he had to restructure the game statistics and gained confidence of the players. They finally won match after match to reach the finals.

The match against Korea was worth watching as they had a one to one matching technique and only the senior most player could tackle the game.He wins the confidence of the player and hence the match was won.

Final match:

Before the final match,there was an official ceremony to congratulate both the Indian as well as Australian team for reaching the finals. There at the back stage he tries to tell the two forward players from Haryana and Chandigarh to pass ball to each other and not play alone for the sake of scoring most. There were some personal conflicts,due to which each of them didn't agree to it.

Before the final match,SRK asks them to play their best and said that this few minutes of game will affect their whole life.And that none can take away from them these few minutes,no matter if they win or lose.Game started and India was losing to Australia due to the personal conflict between the two forward strikers and Australia was taking advantage of it. At the last minute the players realize their mistake and helps each other to score to draw.

Penalty shootout was done and was a thrilling experience.India won the match by one penalty shoot out. The team returns back India bringing glory to family and India while SRK went back to his original home with his mother. People were watching him with remorse for what they have done to him. Finally they accept them as a true Indian and a true player.

That was basically one of the real life story of some Indian captain back in 90's.

Bottomline:
The whole movie showed the existence of sexism in India along with their struggle against the society.despite the hard work ,they are given less importance and recognition.Chak De India is based on the true story of former hockey goalkeeper and coach Mir Ranjan Negi, who was charged with allegations of match-fixing after India's humiliating 1-7 defeat to Pakistan in the 1982 Asian Games hockey final. Seven years later, Negi’s honour was restored.

Chak de India!!