Chak De! India

I am not what you would call a sports fan. I do not get any vicarious thrill watching someone else do what I can't. I appreciate great sportsmen/women like Tiger Woods or Lorena Ochoa or Danica Patrick, but I generally avoid watching unless it is a national event like the World Cup or the Olympics.

Having said that, I am a huge fan of sports movies. They are a source of excitement and inspiration if they are done well. This one is one of the best that I have seen.

It has so many good points, that it is hard to list them all. The obsession with national pride and the fact that a star player is scapegoated for a loss is first and foremost in this film. We are all allowed to make one mistake, aren't we? Not if your mistake costs the country to lose a title and lose face to a huge enemy. Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) made such a mistake and it caused him to leave his home and go into exile for seven years.

He returned to take a job that no one wanted. He would coach a women's hockey team to the World Championships. No one wanted it because it was a women's team, and we all know that is usually just a Title IX requirement and not to be taken seriously. In fact, they didn't even want to fund the trip to the World Championships after he trained the team. Money was to be used for a men's team. Women belong barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen, as one Arkansas politician put it some years ago.

To watch 150+ minutes of women's hockey, you have to have one hell of a story and some very interesting characters. The challenge of Khan transforming sixteen championship players from all over India into a team that puts India first, was mesmerizing. You know how the story will end. It ends as all sports movies do, but it is the journey that is fascinating. To see the neanderthal attitudes of the country transformed through excellence in sport is both exciting and sad. (Don't be so smug, America, your record on women isn't too much better.) If you are looking for an exciting movie that will thrill you beyond belief, then this is the one. Do not miss it.

Aha..Finally Bollywood has a full fledged sports movie.This one is certainly worth a watch for every movie lover.This is a very well made movie with nothing unnecessary being added.

Being an SRK fan I love to see him in all sorts of roles but these are the ones which bring the real actor out of him, Swades being another example.

Role of a coach is perfectly portrayed by SRK.He is the most energetic actor around and he has put it all into it.The story of this movie moves very subtly and augments the excitement every next second.

For a country like India with its national game as hockey this movie was long due.Finally, when it has arrived,it hasn't disappointed.It has also indirectly displayed the crippled Indian sports system which needs much improvement.Lets hope concerned people learn something from it.This movie can really do wonders for the next generation of aspiring hockey players.

CDI is entertaining,insightful,inspiring and yet very simple which is its greatness.This movie succeeds in bringing out tears and giggles and also lets the adrenaline flow in full pace.

The cinematography and editing are equally good.They succeeded in capturing each moment with its complete emotion.

The director has treated the subject extremely well and has brought 100% from all the new actors.The character selection was spot on too. SRK and all others rocked!!!! All in all 10/10. Nothing less for this one!

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 !

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.

As Shahrukh khan is trying do work in different type of movies than he has done till now(mostly romantic) he makes an attempt at the sports genre and delivers yet another brilliant performance.

The story is of the Indian women hockey team which because of its poor performance and lack of sponsors is unable to find a good coach.Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan ) a former national hockey team player steps in to take the responsibility of the new coach .The rest of the movie shows how he takes Indian women hockey team to a new hight and how he regains his lost dignity The plot of the movie is linear and predictable without any twist or surprises, in fact it is quality of direction and acting by Shahrukh khan ( well supported by the rest of the cast),which sucks you in the movie and does not let you get bored. Music of the movie is good including the title song which is quite inspirational.It has to be said that good level of effort has been put into every part of the movie whether it is casting or hockey(matches)choreography (which is acceptable).

Although the winning streak of the team at the world cup may seem to an extent unrealistic but overall Chak De India can be said as an entertaining and inspirational movie and is a must watch for every Shah Rukh Khan fan and critic for his brilliant performance.