Chak De! India (2007)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Shimit Amin

Writer:

Jaideep Sahni (writer)

Release Date:

10 August 2007 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Family | Sport

Tagline:

Sometimes Winning is Everything

Plot:

The story of a hockey player who returns to the game as a coach of a women's hockey team.

Plot Keywords:

Team | Hockey | Australia | Coach | Brawl

Awards:

15 wins & 17 nominations

Cast

Shahrukh Khan	...	Kabir Khan
Vidya Malvade	...	Vidya Sharma
Tanya Abrol	...	Balbir Kaur
Chitrashi Rawat	...	Komal Chautala
Arya Menon	...	Gul Iqbal
Seema Azmi	...	Rani Dispotta
Nisha Nair	...	Soimoi Kerketa
Sandia Furtado	...	Nethra Reddy
Masochon V. Zimik	...	Molly Zimik
Kimi Laldawla	...	Mary Ralte
Shilpa Shukla	...	Bindia Naik
Shubhi Mehta	...	Gunjun Lakhani
Anaitha Nair	...	Aliya Bose
Sagarika Ghatge	...	Preety Sabharwal
Kimberly Miranda	...	Rachna Prasad

Runtime:

India:153 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:PG

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Yash Raj Films International Ltd.

Trivia:

This sparked a national resurgence of interest in the sport. Within days of the film's appearance, sales of hockey sticks shot up by 30%.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Kabir Khan takes his crew to give a farewell lunch, they end up fighting with a group of anti-social elements, in the fiasco one of the girl pushes a guy off the bar and he falls on a car breaking its windshield. Later on in a long shot at the end of the scene, one can see the car intact.

Quotes:

Kabir Khan: She is only fainted! Not DEAD... Get her out of the field...
[with disbelief]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Laaga Chunari Mein Daag: Journey of a Woman (2007)

Soundtrack:

Badal Pe Paon Hain

Predictable Yet Great

Bollywood finally Manages to Pull out a Wonderful Sports Movie and After some upsets, Yash Raj Production comes with a brilliant film (Though they have nothing to do with it (Except the money).. Real stars are indeed the hockey players, SRK and the director Shimit Amin).

Movie starts seven years back when Shahrukh Khan is accused of Match fixing in a hockey world cup final. After seven years, he returns to coach a hopeless Women hockey team. The rest of the movie deals with his journey to glory of the National team..

The things that stands out for me are.. the Team. Talented actresses gathered from all over the country have done a wonderful job. Acting was top class. Shahrukh Khan have played a character that suits his age and does seriously well. Hockey sequences are great and do give a feel of an international tournament. A nice blend of funny and amazingly inspiring dialogs adds to the brilliance.

However, the movie has its share of shortcomings. Most of the times, movie successfully manages to overshadow the predictable nature of the story, but the ending sequence was absolutely the same what i thought of before the movie started. We all knew what would happen in the end, but a bit of fine tuning would have made this film a masterpiece.

Anyways, 'Chak de India' is not just a brave attempt. It goes beyond that tag. It's a wonderful and a courageous attempt. A movie that manages to match the brilliance of Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander.