Gross 
Save Ur Life!
Awful 
Avoid
Worth a Look!
Good! 
Dont Miss It!
Excellent!
Simply Wow!
Speechless!
Chak De India
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Yashraj Productions’ Chak De India, is a profound testament to the idea that sometimes winning is everything. This is a model of austere accuracy; as expressive, soulful and animated in its direct simplicity as a ripple that playfully shifts across a stream. The film works on every level - acting, direction and production - as it tells its solemn story about human resilience and the power of redemption.
Chak De India has Kabir Khan, (Shahrukh Khan) an ex-hockey player of the Indian team, with a disturbing past that saw a burly blemish tarnish an otherwise rosy sport career, taking up the Coach position of the Women’s’ Hockey Team all set for the World Cup Tournament. Determined to swipe off the stain from his soul, Kabir gets about his task that has quite a few hurdles laid along the way. The sparring players are out to make life hell for him, and Kabir’s fight against the odds is a lone battle that has determination and resolve writ all over.
To say that I had zero expectations from Chak De would be an understatement. I have never been in awe of SRK the star, either. However, Shahrukh topples the tables right on my face this time around. Strictly held on a leash by the director, SRK is a true delight to watch in this film, with none of his other wise exasperating stammers and manners cropping up dime a dozen. This is truly the coming of age of SRK, the actor. However, this is a film that has no intention of being a showcase for India’s biggest star. For SRK is ably supported by an awesome cast that boasts of such supreme talents as Vidya Malvade, Shilpa Shukla, Sagarika Ghatge, Chitrashi Rawat and Tanya Abrol, just to mention a few. Together they are a real blast, and make the thoroughly agreeable couple of hours and a little more flit by like a flimsy paper strip in a torrent. It goes without saying that the actors more than live up to the material.
Chak De is Shimit Amin’s Million Dollar Baby no doubt, but to credit him with just being inspired by a host of sport-themed movies would be grossly unjust. Shimit has no aspirations of being Clint Eastwood either. Rather his prominent signature is all too evident in this truly different film that sees filmmaking as a little more serious business than fretting about designer clothes and drop-dead set designs. A sensible filmmaker who is in fine form, who delivers virtually faultless pictures almost all the time, Shimit at his story telling best, overrides the ‘essential cliches’. Perhaps Chak De India would seem a more grave adaptation of the incredibly funny Männer wie wir, but an unseemly comparison with the desi-competitor in the same genre, Lagaan, would be nothing but unwarranted.
Chak De India is a bittersweet, decisive sport drama that toys between the graciousness of a personal expedition and the indomitable fortitude to win. Unpretentious, understated and unfussy, this is a feel-good film that should truly set the ball rolling for the advent of sensible commercial cinema in Bollywood.
Chak De India has Kabir Khan, (Shahrukh Khan) an ex-hockey player of the Indian team, with a disturbing past that saw a burly blemish tarnish an otherwise rosy sport career, taking up the Coach position of the Women’s’ Hockey Team all set for the World Cup Tournament. Determined to swipe off the stain from his soul, Kabir gets about his task that has quite a few hurdles laid along the way. The sparring players are out to make life hell for him, and Kabir’s fight against the odds is a lone battle that has determination and resolve writ all over.
To say that I had zero expectations from Chak De would be an understatement. I have never been in awe of SRK the star, either. However, Shahrukh topples the tables right on my face this time around. Strictly held on a leash by the director, SRK is a true delight to watch in this film, with none of his other wise exasperating stammers and manners cropping up dime a dozen. This is truly the coming of age of SRK, the actor. However, this is a film that has no intention of being a showcase for India’s biggest star. For SRK is ably supported by an awesome cast that boasts of such supreme talents as Vidya Malvade, Shilpa Shukla, Sagarika Ghatge, Chitrashi Rawat and Tanya Abrol, just to mention a few. Together they are a real blast, and make the thoroughly agreeable couple of hours and a little more flit by like a flimsy paper strip in a torrent. It goes without saying that the actors more than live up to the material.
Chak De is Shimit Amin’s Million Dollar Baby no doubt, but to credit him with just being inspired by a host of sport-themed movies would be grossly unjust. Shimit has no aspirations of being Clint Eastwood either. Rather his prominent signature is all too evident in this truly different film that sees filmmaking as a little more serious business than fretting about designer clothes and drop-dead set designs. A sensible filmmaker who is in fine form, who delivers virtually faultless pictures almost all the time, Shimit at his story telling best, overrides the ‘essential cliches’. Perhaps Chak De India would seem a more grave adaptation of the incredibly funny Männer wie wir, but an unseemly comparison with the desi-competitor in the same genre, Lagaan, would be nothing but unwarranted.
Chak De India is a bittersweet, decisive sport drama that toys between the graciousness of a personal expedition and the indomitable fortitude to win. Unpretentious, understated and unfussy, this is a feel-good film that should truly set the ball rolling for the advent of sensible commercial cinema in Bollywood.
