A Clear Winner. Review on Chak De India

Yash Raj Films’  Chakde India belongs to a rare breed of movies that remains focussed on the main story.  The movie is woven on a the efforts and problems of a coach who transforms the country s womens hockey team that is seen at best as mediocre to a team that believes in itself and wins a World Championship. It is sure to make every woman proud and every man who is aspiring to be a coach, understand the intricacies of coaching and building a team.

The film starts right from the first minute and till the end, it stays on track. No unnecessary comedy, no side romances for commercial reasons, no songs, no melodrama – It is the closest to reality that a movie can get. For this reason, the movie captured my heart and mind.

No praise can be too high for the Director(Shimit Amin ), who has stayed focused like a laser beam.  It would have been tempting to add an item number song or a romance between the coach and one of the players , but the movie has none of these. It is pure substance, right from the beginning till the end.

Shah Rukh Khan, plays the role of a hockey player disgraced by the media , who turns to coaching the women s team to restore his fallen image.  The movie showcases what an excellent actor Shah Rukh can be if he is given a role with a lot of depth and no melodrama. As a player who misses the crucial penalty shot, as a coach who puts together a team fragmented by regional identity, as a visionary who transforms a mediocre team to a team that can defeat the best in the world and as a motivator who pulls the team when the odds are down, Shah Rukh captivates the audience with a performance that has no precedent.  Swades comes close, but this performance of Shah Rukh is easily one of his best, if not the best.

The movie is so heavily dependant on his role and his stellar performance is a critical clincher for the success of the movie. Shah Rukh exceeded my expectations way ahead and I doubt if he can ever recreate this performance like this one in another movie.

The sarcastic remarks of the establishment on its own team, the all common submission to mediocrity and the egoistic smirk by a gender biased man in power have all been portrayed in a subtle yet powerful manner.

The team wins the heart of the audience not only with their performance in the matches, but also in the step by step progress from a bunch of disjointed, selfish and individuals without a common purpose to a word class team.  Team dynamics like Interpersonal rivalries, regional affiliations, seniors who block the way of talented newcomers, the rural-urban gap, have all been presented in a simple, realistic manner.  So is the portrayal of the unwarranted hype for cricket and the second rung treatment meted out to women teams.

The matches have been kept short enough to hold interest and long enough to understand the nuances of the game. The subtle presentation of the differences in the practice and accomodation facilities between India and a nation like Australia reveals the depth of understanding of the subject by the director.

Chakde India is a movie every Indian should watch.  Apart from a clear portrayal of what it takes to succeed, the movie also subtly conveys a message on what keeps us away from realizing our potential as a team to the full.  It is a grim reminder of why India is brilliant as individuals, but naïve as a unit.

The five star rating is because there is no rating higher than that. This movie is a must watch.