> Chak De India Movie Review

Safin · SPOILER WARNING! - Will degrade actual movie experience

Chak De India

Mujhe sirf ek mulk ka naam sunaai deta hai - India

StarCast
Distributed by : Yash Raj Films
Release date : August 10, 2007
Directed by : Shimit Amin
Produced by : Aditya Chopra, Yash Chopra
Written by : Shimit Amin, Jaideep Sahni
Starring : Shahrukh Khan,Vidya Malvade,Sagarika Ghatge,Shilpa Shukla,Anaitha Nair,Shubhi Mehta,Sandia Furtado,Arya Menon,Masochon V. Zimik,
Music by : Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant

Synopsis:
Chak De is a brave new attempt by Yash Raj films to first make a movie on the sports genre and that too on Hockey. While Hockey might be the national sports, its certainly not the "nationally followed sports". Chak De is a story about a coach and how he inspires his team to play to win and play for one's country. The story revolves around Shahrukh Khan who takes over the reins of the Womens Hockey team. Only the team is full of players who play for the sake of playing, who have forgotten how to win. Its an inspiring story and a film thats different from the current crop of films that we are seeing in bollywood.

StoryLine:

SPOILER WARNING! - Will degrade actual movie experience
The film starts with a Hockey match between India and Pakistan. Indian Captain Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) misses a penalty at the end of the match which causes the team to lose the game. The Indian media make out that Khan was responsible, this leads him to quit the team for good. He leaves his home and community, finding it un-bearable for everyone to call him a traitor. Seven years later, Kabir returns with a proposal to coach the Indian Women's Hockey team. The Hockey Association members re-buff his proposal and declare that they will not help him in his cause. Kabir takes the challenge and goes to the National Hockey Camp where he is introduced to the 16 young girls who played for their respective states. Kabir starts coaching them with a dream that the team will win the Hockey World Cup for India and he will finally be free of any conviction put against him. Some members of the team resent him but he finally gets through to them. The team rally and convince the Association to go for the World Cup held in Australia who also happen to be the defending champions. In their first match, they lose to the defending champions but slowly the team grow momentum and start winning matches. Finally the team gets to the final and they beat Australia in a tie-breaker. The players and Kabir are ecstatic at their victory and are welcomed back as heroes. More importantly, Kabir returns to his home after seven years where the residents greet him with love and affection.

Professional Reviews:

Originally Posted by Taran Adarsh (IndiaFM)

The film has all the right elements mixed -- satirical comedy, seriousness and dollops of emotions. In fact, the first half is quite captivating and the expectations from the latter half are equally high. The post-interval portions don't disappoint, but the pace slackens and the goings-on take a long time to reach the finale. In fact, the narrative gathers steam only towards the climax, which is well handled.

Shimit Amin's choice of the subject as also the execution deserves to be lauded. But, as mentioned at the outset, it's not a film that would find universal patronage. People giving it a Thumbs Up would be limited to those who are into qualitative cinema.

Cinematography is first-rate. Music is strictly okay. Dialogues are interesting. A few lines are indeed amazing. Editing could've been tighter.

SRK is the soul of CHAK DE INDIA. What you see on screen would be half of what it is without this matchless actor. He makes you feel what you are supposed to feel. A performance that's sure to go down as one of his finest works so far. The girls are excellent and a few of them register a strong impact, especially Vidya Malvade.

On the whole, CHAK DE INDIA is a well-made product, but its fate at the ticket window wouldn't be as glorious as its intentions. With a slow start at places and not too exciting promotion [the promos], the film will face an uphill task in days to come.

Movie Review : Chak De India

Originally Posted by Raja Sen (rediff)

The prodigal Khan returns.
Chak De! India isn't quite a Lagaan or an Iqbal, selecting the sport more trodden rather than the one conventionally heralded, and so it isn't likely to expect applause in the aisles as the team manages to unite together. It is, however, more of a sports film than both those, the story of a team overshadowing the story of an individual. It's shot nicely, but my wishlist for Amin would be that he had found a better commentator to do the play-by-play and, for heaven's sake, taken some aerial shots.

Shimit Amin's film struggles a bit, clearly trying hard to strike a balance between classic melodrama and the sporting genre. There are times when it tries to straddle the fence hastily, even failing badly, and as a result the movie, while a perfectly good sporting film, seems to have lost the edge we might have expected from the Ab Tak Chhappan director. It's a fine, true-blooded sports movie though, and deserves applause.

Sure, you know what's going to happen, but it's a good ride -- and especially satisfying to see Swiss flower-fields replaced by Australian stadiums. Not to mention the return of the King.

Chak De India: The Rediff Review

Guess What?
SRK is back!!