Journey of being Underdogs to Champions with Master Kabir!

Directed by:- Shimit Amin
Produced by:- Aditya Chopra
Written, Screenplay, and story by- Jaideep Sahni
Cinematography by:- Sudeep Chatterjee
Edited by:- Amitabh Shukla
Distributed by:- Yash Raj Films
Release date:- 15th August 2007
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a0-dSMWm5g
Best Scene from the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrH90zd9uco

The Inception to the Glory.

Chak De India is a sports film that is realistic, energetic, entertaining, and uplifting in spirit. The film deals with India's much ignored national sport Hockey, a girls hockey team which is ignored to the sidelines, a bit of patriotism, team spirit, and finally the spirit of triumphs over obstacles. The film is also partly based on the real-life of former hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi. The film has a simple script and the screenplay has wit, drama, emotions, etc which are extremely convincing. The execution too by Shimit Amin is first class as the film unfolds in an engaging and adept manner. The writer Jaideep Sahni has incorporated several different aspects to the sport of hockey, the sidelining of the women’s hockey team due to its gender, the various differences between the girls who emerge from different states of India, the girls own personal agenda for being part of the team, the politics of sports and the coach and his own personal grievances amongst other aspects are explored in the film. Chak De India, a Yash Raj film is a good experience as both the writer and the director give it a balanced dose of realism mixed with entertainment.

Chak De India is a sports film with engaging drama. It has been produced under the Yash Raj banner, the script and screenplay have been done by Jaideep Sahni and the execution has been done by Shimit Amin. The film stars Shahrukh as coach Kabir Khan, Vidya Malvade as Vidya Sharma the captain, Sagrika Ghatge, Chitrashi Rawat, Shilpa Shukla, Tanya Abrol, Anaitha Nair, Shubhi Mehta, Nisha Nair, Sandia Furtado, Arya Menon, Masochon, Kimi, etc.

Kabir Khan (Shahrukh) is a former hockey player who was disgraced and discarded from the team during a World Cup match against Pakistan after he misses a poignant deciding goal. Since then he has always been looked down upon and now after seven years he decides to redeem himself by taking on the mammoth task of making a winning team of the National Indian Women’s Hockey team. But taking on the task is only the beginning of his woes. The team has girls from different states of India and often this leads to differences amongst all of them, Kabir tries to break down these differences between the players and make them play as a team.

However each girl on the team has her own agenda for being in the team, Kabir also gets the girls to have only one goal in mind, playing as a team and winning for India. Kabir overcomes his own grievances when the girls play to win the World Cup Match. He brings dedication and discipline to this unruly team of young women who lack direction.

Jaideep Sahni’s script and screenplay have balanced dollops of all the ingredients required to make the film engrossing-wit, drama, emotions, and adrenaline-driven hockey matches. Shimit Amin’s execution is also a balanced mixture of entertainment with a bit of realism thrown in. The plot of the film, the subject, and the treatment are all appealing and work together to lift the film higher. Patriotism for one’s country is incorporated but in a very subtle manner, team spirit is shown to be the backbone of the team, the ability to tackle obstacles with effort is the triumph of spirit. All these qualities are extremely inspiring and inspire the viewers. But along with these inspiring qualities, the film is also incorporated with light and witty moments when the girls appear on-screen in the first half.

There’s ample drama brought in with each of the girls having their own personal agenda and aim for being on the National Women’s Hockey team. Emotions run high during outbursts by the coach as well as his girls. Shimit captures the hockey matches well, the energy, the enthusiasm, and the adrenaline rush is all there when one views the matches. The climax does not disappoint despite being predictable. It has a feel-good factor but nonetheless makes audiences feel triumphant after the victory.

The pace of the film though slackens at times and moves forth a bit slowly, but the editing is still fine. The cinematography of the film is again a mixture of realism and glossy style. The dialogues are witty and inspiring. The background music is appropriate and the few songs in the film fit in well. Performances are first-rate.

Shahrukh as the coach is first-rate; he has attempted a different role after a long time and does complete justice to his character. He portrays emotions like anger, discipline, wit, effort, triumph, and disappointment with an unusual naturalness and ease. Even his look is realistic and natural. Shahrukh gets into the skin of his character, i.e. the coach. The girls too are simply superb and play their characters well. Each has a distinct style, look, accent, and mannerism which enhance their performances. Even though they do not have extended roles, they deliver fine first-rate performances. The performances too enhance the film further.

Chak De India has a simple script, an engaging screenplay, the execution is skilled and the performances are natural. The film has a balanced dose of everything that makes it engaging and entertaining. But the film’s theme and subject may appeal more to a niche kind of audience and due to its realistic feel, it may appear more as an intellectual choice. Nonetheless, it is a good film that is definitely worth a watch.

By Brishti Mukherjee!