16 ladies who were converted to being household names 4 years back (will be 4 years in 1 week) - Vidya Sharma (Malavade), Balbir Kaur (Tanya Abrol), Gul Iqbal (Arya Menon), Nethra Reddy (Sandia Furtado), Soimoi Kerketa (Nisha Nair), Rachna Prasad (Kimberly Miranda), Raynia Fernandes (Raynia Mascerhanas), Nichola Sequiera (herself), Rani Dispotta (Seema Azmi), Bindia Naik (Shilpa Shukla), Gunjun Lakhani (Shubhi Mehta), Mary Ralte (Kimi Laldawla), Molly Zimik (Masochon V Zimik), Aliya Bose (Anaitha Nair), Komal Chautala (Chitrashi Rawat) and Preety Sabharwal (Sagarika Ghatge). It will take a while before people are able to forget these names which probably go us closest to a victory in a world cup hockey. Shimit Amin’s second movie was an even bigger block buster than his first one (Ab Tak Chhappan) and went on to cement his position as one of the better directors in Indian Cinema.
Shimit’s capability to generate enough enthusiasm to deflect the audiences attention from the really finer details is what makes him a solid movie maker. What he does beautifully is creating the excitement from the first shot of the movie where Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh) misses the penalty stroke in the final few seconds and so the world cup. Every few minutes he ensures that the movie actually touches an emotional chord with every viewer – and he does so beautifully with almost every Indian through Chak De India!!! Such as when Nethra Reddy is asked, “Tamil” and she says “Tamil aur Telegu mein utna hi farak hota hai jitna Punjabi aur Bihari mein” (The difference between Tamil and Telegu is identical to that between Punjabi and Bihari) Or when Mary Ralte and Molly Zimik say, “Aap apne hi Desh mein mehmaan banke rahoge”? (Would you like to stay as a guest in your own country) A Superb way to touch the regional sentiments and then get the nationalist sentiment also up and running with “Vidya Sharma. India”. Very slick movie making Mr. Amin.
Each character is clearly defined in terms of origin, aspirations, problems and what she expects to achieve from the campaign to win the world cup. Whether it is Komal’s desire never to be in a kitchen or Preety’s wish to prove her boyfriend wrong or Vidya’s need to win the world cup so that people at home let her live her life or Gul’s family’s legacy which she must live upto. Every single person with the exception of probably Nichola Sequeira, Rachana Sharma and Raynia Fernandes have been given their due.
Having said that, there are enough and more gaffes which would be visible to one if and only if s/he were to watch the movie through the eyes of a critic who wants to find mistakes. And even there Shimit would have a decent explanation to offer. The inspirations from Miracle on Ice are unmistakable though. The only place where I could question Shimit on his complete “originality”.
It is exceptionally difficult to review a movie that the entire world has seen and without doubt is completely in love with. Chak De is definitely the best sports movie made in India to date and could compare with some of the better ones world over for sure. If we were familiar with Ice Hockey or American Football I am certain we would find the same consistency errors that we do in Chak De. But the fact that Shimit has made this move as true to field hockey as possible is all credit to him. I would still give it an 8 on 10. Cant give more because I am aware of the flaws. But for those who haven’t seen it, you have definitely missed something. Add this to your MUST WATCH list.
Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NWwrarwqPE
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