"It is a very intelligent film with a great way of storytelling and brilliant acting," said Mayank Shekhar, Film Critic

"It started with 60 per cent on Friday but the film being so good, the figures went up to 90 per cent on Saturday and 100 per cent on Sunday almost in all parts of the country," said Amod Mehra, Trade Analyst, Film Critic.

The tale of an underdog coach and his team of 16 girls has struck a chord not just with audiences but critics as well.

"It is a very intelligent film with a great way of storytelling and brilliant acting," said Mayank Shekhar, Film Critic.

It is also a much-needed change of pace for Yashraj whose last few films have not fared terribly well- perhaps just another reason for them to say chak de!.

By: Eishita Chaturvedi | Source: NDTV

Shah Rukh Khan among the 50 most influential Indians

NEW YORK: As India celebrates 60 years of independence, US-based BusinessWeek magazine feels IT is no longer the lone global face of the country- evident from its compilation of 50 powerful Indians leading change in politics, the economy and the society.

The list put together by BusinessWeek editors names industry tycoons Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Mittal, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, Aviation Minister Praful Patel, UP Chief Minister Mayawati, Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan, film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Rajnikant, Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, sportspersons Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar as new leaders of India.

While acknowledging the role of IT wizards - Infosys' N R Narayana Murthy, Wipro's Azim Premji, and Tata Consultancy Services' (TCS) S Ramadorai - the magazine said: "There's more to India than just outsourcing."

Other business leaders who have made it to the list are Anand Mahindra and Anil Aggarwal, bankers K V Kamath and Deepak Parekh, Tata Steel Managing Director B Muthuraman and L&T Chairman A M Naik.

Politicians still carry the most clout with government controlling a major part of the economy, but in India's 60th year of independence, the names on the list are representative of changing times, BusinessWeek noted.

"There are politicians who actually work, corporates who think globally, athletes who aim high, and designers who ensure India is in season. And Bollywood is now teaming up with Hollywood for a whole new script," the publication said.

"Tech leaders used to dominate the show. But a booming economy has thrown up new sectors, new heroes, and new businesses. Telecom, financial services, retail, and many more industries are thriving," the magazine said.

Source: TimesOfIndia

Chak De! Overseas

A new Bollywood film that focuses on gender inequality in India through women's field hockey and adds a dash of patriotism has pleased critics and scored at the box office as well.
"Chak De India" (Go For It India), which opened last week starring Shahrukh Khan, the most bankable star in the Hindi language film industry, is loosely based on the true story of a 1980s Indian national men's hockey goalkeeper.

Khan plays the Muslim captain of the Indian team who misses a do-or-die penalty shootout against arch rival Pakistan in the final of a world championship, sparking a national outrage and triggering charges of match-fixing, leading to his ouster.

He returns seven years later as the coach of a ragtag women's national team and transforms a bunch of divided girls from far corners of the country into world beaters. "It's a big success, it's a definite earner," said Bollywood trade analyst Komal Nahta.

"Two things are responsible -- one it is a very well written screenplay, and secondly it has got so much patriotism, it has worked."

Bollywood films based on sport are not rare but most of them have revolved around cricket as the country boasts the largest following for the game in the world. Some stories have also been set around boxing.

Field hockey, once India's national sport and one in which the country ruled the world for a large part of the last century, has lost its appeal along with a decline in the national team's fortunes.

"Chak De" was a winner not only because it has managed to make hockey a topic of conversation but also because it peddles patriotism, fights gender bias, rips apart class distinctions and makes a valid criticism of regional chauvinism and minority bashing, critics said.

While Khan, the reigning star of Bollywood, has been praised for his uncharacteristically understated acting -- with some critics saying he may not be able to better this performance -- his team of unknown actors has also drawn widespread appreciation.

Some of the biggest applause in cinema halls showing "Chak De" comes when the women go around breaking Indian stereotypes -- walking out of homes, beating up men who harass them in public and declining marriage proposals -- all for hockey.

"Director Shimit Amin not only manages to make the impossible possible, he does it with a delicate sensitivity and sensibly steers clear of all cliches," critic Nikhat Kazmi wrote in the Times of India.

The opening of the film was timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of India's independence from British colonial rule and "Chak De" has the inevitable hint of jingoism so popular with Indian audiences.

One of the players in the film asks Khan's character what he was doing outside in the dead of the night as flags are being raised on the eve of a world championship final his team has entered in Melbourne.

Khan replies: "I am watching a white man raise the Indian national flag for the first time."

Source: Reuters

A Chit Chat With King Khan

The King Khan tells the inside story of Chak de!, what was it working with more than a dozen women, the toughest thing while shooting Chak de! and lots more.

Excerpts:

Naomi: What was the toughest thing while shooting for Chak de! India?

SRK: Shooting the sports part of the film. It is very difficult to shoot a sport sequence attractively or interestingly. If I was to tell, with due respect to all the cameramen here, shooting a sports film is a challenging job. Subsequently, it is also difficult to edit it.

Naomi: If that was the toughest part, is there an easy part when it comes to shooting for any film?

SRK: Acting is the easy part.

Naomi: You know you are acting when you are playing a hockey coach, did you mould like a real life coach, the mannerisms?

SRK: No, one would like to say that but I don’t work so hard. I am an easy going actor. I just go and do what naturally comes from my heart. I have a different take on acting. I have said it many times, I am not very conscientious about taking it from a character that I have seen. Obviously, I am an actor so I observe a lot of things around me and I just try to put it in a larger than life perspective when it comes to a film. But, I have never really moulded a character or seen someone, but yes there are gestures and thoughts that I keep observing of coaches when they were teaching us. There were times when I would do something different and they would say, "Hey! this is something we should include in ourselves."

Naomi: Like what?

SRK: There were moments when I asked them to use symbols or signals to make moves like one does in rugby or baseball.

Naomi: Ok. You spoke about larger than life perspective, but with this film, it's almost a return to films that you have done earlier, 'Kabhi Haan, Kabhi Naa' - more of intimate films.

SRK: To be honest, I have reached a stage, and I am not being pompous about it, if I am in a film, it's no longer a small film. I mean it's not, it's just not a small film.

Naomi: No, in terms of the theme.

SRK: The producers told me the other day, 'if you were not in this film, we would have never been able to make this film. On the other hand, somebody even told me, I wouldn't see this film if you were not in it. There is always going to be this double take on every cinema that I do. Yes, it is a little more realistic, it doesn’t have songs, it doesn’t have a heroine, but yes, it is larger than life because it has a regular commercial movie star trying to slum it or tone it down. But as an actor, it's something I believe in. I did 'Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa' at that time because nobody was giving me money to do a bigger film. But now, people give money to make a bigger film so we make bigger films.

Naomi: Do your sensibilities also change, as you grow older? Do you consciously look for a more mature persona?

SRK: I don’t know. I am really silly and stupid in 'Om Shanti Om'. I am a geek and I am running around and doing the most foolish things I have not done in the last 18 years. I play a superhero with tight costumes and I do strange things in the film. It depends on the role. I think as long as somebody is willing to take a chance on me, I am ready to do it. Suddenly, Farhan (Akhtar) comes up and says, 'Hey, I would like you to be a mean 'Don'. I like you mean.' I meet people who say I miss you being the bad guy of 'Baazigar'. So, it’s not my persona and my thought process. I don’t make the films, I act in them. If somebody believes in me, then it's my job to perform it and maintain that belief. I would do a 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna', if I am asked to and at the same time I would also do a film like 'Om Shanti Om'.

Naomi: Eventually, it is about an audience which wants you to, which likes a certain screen image.

SRK: I was reading an article in 'Time' magazine that which said, about 3.6 billion people recognize me in this world. It makes a lot of eyeballs and I keep thinking, 'Can I make a film that all those 3.6 billion people want to watch?, 'Can I read the minds and hearts of the people who like me?' And my answer was 'no'. Let me do a film, I like. If that persona fails, then the easiest way is when you know what people want of you. Whenever I have produced a film and it does not do well, then its not me people didn’t like, I think the film was crap, and well, I have the guts to say that.

Naomi: As an actor, does the box office still kind of unnerve you?

SRK: Absolutely. If a film does not do well, I'll be out, you won’t interview me. I'll not be a star. It will be difficult to sell my movies. When we make Rs 10, only one person has seen it, when we make 10 million dollars, about 10 million people have seen it. So, its an interesting problem we have every time we release a film.

Naomi: In Chak de, you have maximum number of co-stars you've ever had. Yet, your director says, there was no scope for romance?

SRK: That's the irony. I mean, it's ok. Bad for them!

Naomi: Their bad luck?

SRK: Well, firstly, all of them are very young, I am not saying I'm old or anything but I would feel odd romancing any of them, they are all little girls. Some of them were not even born when I started acting. There's lot of love in the film but yes we are not romantically inclined. We don’t have love making scenes.

Naomi: There aren't any, anyways in your films.

SRK: I feel too shy to do lovemaking scenes so I don’t do them. It has love, but no romantic angle. They have their romantic angles within themselves and their boyfriends.

Naomi: Hockey officials said, In India, people are not too interested in watching hockey but they are interested in watching Shahrukh. Does that put some sort of responsibility on this film, given the state of hockey?

SRK: I don’t think I can change the world, but you know in Sufism they say you are not here to change the world but if you can change the thinking of the people around you that’s good enough. My main aim in life as an actor or a producer or as an artist, is to entertain you. I try my best to make an entertaining film. Whether hockey takes a flip because of these changes and people come on road with hockey sticks and start playing, remains to be seen. I doubt that will happen, but if two or three people are able to know what hockey means, and what it means to be a sportsman or a sportswoman, I think my job is done.

Source: TimesNow

I have read the Quran and nowhere does it encourage the killing of people: SRK

It’s Independence Day eve, and we ask Shah Rukh Khan a blunt question: is there anything he has done for the country that makes him proud today?

He smiles, unfazed, and answers, “Go to any part of the world and you’ll see that India is associated with Bollywood. That's my biggest achievement. And the India I see on the world map is a sparkling and happy India, which is moving forward with never-seen-before energy. This is what the new, raring-to-go India is like, and I am proud to be the face of it.”

So a proud-to-be-Indian SRK is not waving the flag just because of the success of his new film, which has a strong patriotic theme running through it. He is already busy making his next for Karan Johar, the working title of which is My Name Is Khan. This film comes at a time when the Mumbai bomb blasts trials and questions about the Srikrishna Commission report’s implementation have brought issues involving inter-communal relations back to the forefront of public debate.

But Shah Rukh Khan is not someone who is insecure over such issues. Being on top of Bollywood's charts for close to a decade as the definitive superstar hardly leaves scope for questions of acceptance. “People have accepted me for what I am, nobody has ever questioned my religion,” he says.

And goes on to add, “I am an educated, liberal Muslim, and I am proud to be a Muslim. My wife is Hindu. My children learn both the religions,” said the superstar. His concern at the global stereotyping in the post 9/11 world, though, comes through when he points out that “people should realise that every Haneef is not a terrorist and that everyone with a Khan surname need not be frisked at the airport.”

But isn’t that on account of the spectre of terrorism and the edgy, even paranoid, reactions to it?

“Nobody supports terrorism,” he is emphatic. “And terrorism recognises no religion. I have read the Quran and nowhere does it encourage the killing of people. Such acts only take us backward. We should take a stand and we should talk against terrorism. Even if we don’t talk against it, we should be completely against it.”

Do incidents of communal disharmony disturb him, make him ask questions?

“That is always the work of a few people. It's all about acquiring power in the bigger picture. We need to see through all this. One has to understand and feel that the only thing that can stop India from being the greatest superpower in the world, is the misuse of religion.”

Does the superstar wish to play political messiah too?

“No, I am an actor, a people's person. I have no political aspirations. But we all can try for the formation of a fair social and political structure, from the heart. If we believe we can, we can do it. The power lies within us, the common man,” says the man who is the common man’s hero.

Source: TimesOfIndia

Shah rukh khan to 'Lead India'

JWT is handling the creative duties of the campaign, while it is the brainchild of Agnello Dias, NCD, JWT. The campaign breaks on August 14. The campaign will be launched with a two-minute film and will also feature on the front page of The Times Of India.

The Group has roped in actor Shah Rukh Khan for its first film. The TVCs of the campaign have been divided into six films with six different personalities communicating the message of the Talent Hunt. Along with Khan, the other personalities include Nandan Nilekani, Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors, Infosys Technologies Limited; Sunil Mittal, CMD, Bharti Group; Navin Jindal MD, Jindal Steel Power Ltd, and MP; Sachin Pilot, India’s youngest MP; Sabrina Lal; lyricist Javed Akhtar, and actor Abhishek Bachchan.

Elaborating on the idea of the campaign, Rahul Kansal, Brand Director, The Times of India, said, “Today we find the quality of politics getting hijacked with words like corruption. We thought of finding a way out where one needs to bring out the idea of meeting young people and explaining to them the importance of politics. As a young and free country, we need young Indians to enter politics. So TOI is taking this step to create a platform for the youth of India who possess the quality of a good citizen, and leadership, thus giving them an opportunity to make a difference.”

The campaign is a six-month long activity in search of young dynamics. On the promotional activities and tie-ups, Dias informed, “The activity will be across the print and television. Under television, we have six films showcasing the personalities roped in to communicate the message. The campaign will go across the Times Group network like Times Now and Zoom channels, and the other print networks like TOI and ET. For digital, the websites will be accessible.”

Talking about the criteria on the hunt, Kansal said, “As the hunt is for the youth, so definitely the age bar will be between 18-45 years. While other considerations like police record and a good citizenship will be taken note of, if a person is educated, it will be an added plus point to his/her characteristic.”

In every issue of the newspaper, there will be a nomination form that the contestant can enrol himself/herself for the hunt or log-on to the Times Group website for the enrolment.

TOI will also have a special content line-up provided for August 15. It will have 24 pages talking on the campaign and will have interviews of the six personalities on their views and their experiences about the whole campaigning of the Talent Hunt.

Kansal commented, “As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Independence, TOI takes a first-of-its-kind initiative to present the youth of India an opportunity to make a difference. So this is one way that we will celebrate our Independence, and so have planned to break the campaign on the eve of I-Day.”

By: Tasneem Limbdiwala Source: TOI

SRK and his family The Khimpsons!

When Homer Simpson, the patriarch of the funniest family on the idiot box that kickstarted in 1989 as a series along with his family made his debut on the big screen in 2007, The Simpsons Movie took the world by storm.

Very much like our very own Badshah of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, who’s a global face and a name to reckon with. King Khan’s transition from the small screen in 1988 to the big screen in the 90s is the stuff dreams are made of.

Team CT decided to colour the Simpsons a shade of Bollywood yellow with Homer turning into SRK and his family The Khimpsons! SRK’s witty remarks leave you speechless akin to Homer’s wisecracks. Sample this:

Homer: D’oh! Lisa: A deer! Marge: A female deer! Of course SRK beats him in the looks department with his dimpled smile and melting brown eyes. And Marge’s blue hair symbolises the fact that she is indeed the glue of the family very much like Gauri, except she has a brown mane. Bart becomes Aryan and Suhana’s Lisa. Never mind Maggie.

The kids could always eat noodles! Just like Homer, this Khan too swears by his family and places it above everything else. And even though, Aryan and Suhana have a long way to go to be as famous as the Simpson’s brat pack, wife Gauri more than epitomises the quintessential star-wife and is a glamazon and fashionista in the champagne and caviar set.

Paradoxical as it may sound, the two families do show some inherent characteristics that are hard to miss. Whether it’s Homer and SRK who are driven by passion to pursue what they believe in or their love for their respective wives, Madge and Gauri are the women in control when it comes to taking charge of their respective households.

And Bart shares Aryan’s passion for sports, while Lisa is the dahlin’ of the family very much like Suhana. Matt Groening, are you listening?

Source: Naval-Shetye Source: TimesNewsNetwork

Shah Rukh Khan has never played a Muslim character

I should have taken on colleagues who said Chak De! India will flop. But alas, I happened to share Shah Rukh Khan's pre-release prediction that while it will be a good film, it won't be a commercial hit, and let the bet pass.

In hindsight, after watching -- and being swept away by -- the amazingly simple, yet amazingly inspirational film, I cannot stop raving about it. I thought Swades would be SRK's finest effort ever; but Chak De shows that the actor in him -- when not subsumed by his superstar status -- has a vast reservoir of emoting left to satisfy fans and critics alike for many more years.

Chak De's appeal among the audiences shows that even sans commercial considerations like song and dance, the mandatory fights, there is a vast market for a straight-forward, well-narrated tale. We have always known it from the multiplex hits like Bheja Fry etc; now we know such a market exists for stars and superstars as well. No one need remains a prisoner of their image.

Chak De is the tale of a disgraced hockey captain, Kabir Khan, and his attempt at redemption, reclaiming his honour by leading the unsung women's hockey team to world cup triumph. Yes, it is thus a story about gender equality -- a point that gets hammered many times through the narrative with dialogues like 'Tumlog belan chalanewali kidhar skirt pahinkar hockey stick leti ho?'

But to me, the film came across, and appealed, not for the blow it strikes for the country's most neglected sport nor for the fact that it shows that women are no less than men in any sphere they choose.

The film warmed to me because this was the first time the M-word has come to be at the centre of the superstar's oeuvre.

For throughout his illustrious career spanning two decades, Shah Rukh Khan has never played a Muslim character -- if you ignore that cameo in Kamal Haasan's Hey! Ram. Even in Chak De, there is NO allowance to the character's faith barring the name, Kabir Khan, the scraggly beard he sports, and the aadab with which he greets others. Not once is Kabir Khan shown doing the namaaz, not once is he shown clad in anything but 'Western attire', not once does he ever say he is a Muslim.

But, much as the script overtly downplays any mention of Kabir Khan's faith, it is Khan's dilemma as a Muslim in today's India that courses through the narrative.

And that's the way Shah Rukh would have wanted it, I am sure. Unlike the other two Khans who share the mantle with him.

I have no idea if Salman Khan has played a Muslim in his films, and if he has, what kind of Muslim the character was. Aamir Khan, given his nod towards realism, portrayed one that remains etched in my mind, Rehaan of Fanaa. Rehaan was a Kashmiri terrorist, clearly showing that Aamir will not duck any uncomfortable issue when it comes to his cinema. Rehaan fascinates me no end, since it was played by the same actor who also played ACP Rathore in the memorable Sarfarosh, the film that head-on tackled Pakistani terrorism in India.

Since then, I have been puzzling over the kind of Muslim Shah Rukh Khan will ever play, and the kind of film it will be. I got my answer with Chak De.

Shah Rukh has, in the past, spoken about his views on Islam, including to us, and they are reflective of the kind of person he is: Easy-going, and married to a Hindu. He is also extremely careful of the kind of roles he plays, and this extreme discretion is the reason -- I think -- that it has taken him this long to play a Muslim.

It cannot be easy to be a Muslim, in India and especially in these times. The moderate Muslim, who is in an overwhelming majority I am certain, has to constantly fight two demons: One from the past, of Partition and his/her perspective on Pakistan, a Muslim-majority nation inimical to India; and another ghost from the present, when Muslims are usually accused of engineering terrorist plots in India. Their silence often is reflective of the silence of the majority, of which we all are guilty of, but the silence of the Muslim is the one that is constantly highlighted.

A still from Chak De! IndiaI am sure SRK himself has had to face this dilemma, this doubt over his commitment to India. And it comes out in a searing line in the movie: 'Aise log Partition ke time mein hi Pakistan jaana chahiye tha.' It is a line, a charge, that must trouble SRK no end, as it does no doubt to millions of other Indians, for it returns to haunt him during the movie.

In my mind, the central theme running through the movie was: Can a Muslim be a Muslim and be loyal to India? Or to modify that, What must a Muslim do in the face of doubts over his loyalty to India?

It's a pressing question, for as SRK stops short of saying in another place, there is no second chance given to Muslims. When his friend, after pitching for SRK as the coach of the national women's team, consoles SRK's past failure by saying everyone is allowed one mistake, Humsab ki ek ghalati maaf, Shah Rukh Khan disagrees wryly: Sabki nahi, sabki nahi.

He doesn't use the M word here, or in any other place, but the message is very clear. There is no second chance to the Indian Muslim if he fumbles. As he repeats it towards the end, the burden of failure is too much to carry, most don't have it in them to survive.

But Kabir Khan has it in him. Falling off the radar for seven years, he resurfaces to reclaim his honour, restoring the public's faith in his nationalism. All the while training the young girls he only harps on one theme: India, nation, the tricolour. Submerge your regional identities, he exhorts them, play as Indians, be Indian, you are not from Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Manipur, Jharkhand... And, though he doesn't say it, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Parsi, Sikh. And when you play as an Indian, not only is the acclamation sure to follow, but it also wipes out any lingering doubts over your love for your country.

In the public domain, Kabir Khan worships the tricolour, breathes for India. We don't know what he does behind the doors of his home, which he so eloquently shuts on us in the last scene. The message is clear: Whatever I am in my home, when I step out, I do so as a proud Indian.

For someone like me searching for the kind of Muslim SRK will play, and I daresay the kind of Muslim SRK is, Kabir Khan is the answer. For Muslims caught in the pincer between extremism and majority scepticism, Kabir Khan provides the answer. For the others, Chak De provides some great moments.

By: Saisuresh Sivaswamy Source: Rediff

Interview With King Khan

Film City is the dream factory. But it has been commandeered for the next stage — the conversion of dreams to action.

Shah Rukh Khan is to kick off The Times of India's 'Lead India' campaign, the dynamic follow-up to its 'India Poised' campaign so inspiringly launched by Amitabh Bachchan.

On January 1, 2007, the Big B had presented the vision of an unleashed India. On August 14, King K will tell the nation to harness that awesome power into action. His message consists of two simple letters which combine to form pure, hard muscle, 'DO'.

Amitabh Bachchan had stood against the magnificent sweep of the Bandra-Worli sealink. The venue for the SRK film is the unvarnished Studio 4 of Film City. It looks like a dilapidated warehouse. Its walls are a scabrous black,
a leftover from a previous incarnation as a set which needed this somber feel.

Studios can change their garb faster than an actress in a song sequence. The next film shot here might convert this into a mock marble mahal. But, for the Times production, Studio 4 has been left unadorned, except for a small cocoon of intimacy created with the help of a curtained window (false), a wicker armchair (real), and mood lighting (generated).

Under the orchestration of a mop-haired director, the set is being readied; the shots being framed. The dolly camera glides up and down the track like a railway inspection cart.

Nests of yellow bulbs are being suspended from the roof's iron webbing by a trapeze electrician undistracted by the buzz on ground zero. Amidst the huddle of technicians and production assistants, the teaboy bustles, his stalagmite of paper cups glowing eerily in this darkened cavern.

The anticipation is as palpable as an item girl. And just as it is becoming unbearable, the hero arrives — King Khan dressed as a commoner in fashionably faded blue jeans and simple, V-neck tee which shows his lean, six-pack frame without showing it off.

Stud is not his name, or his game. A hush falls, all action freezes, and is immediately defrosted by the white heat of flurried action.

The director spells out the sequence, SRK listens as intently as though he were back as a 10-year-old at St Columba's, rehearsing for his first role in 'Oz'. He lips the script with coiled concentration; measure tapes are uncoiled from his head to the camera.

The crucial letters, D and O, are buffed to a gleam; a gleaming forehead is puffed over. The director barks out the LCA cliche. The camera rolls as the lights go on and the action begins.

Shah Rukh Khan plays with the alphabetical duo, suspends the 'O' from the ledge of the 'D', ting-tings them together like a bus conductor's bell, and starts speaking. He doesn't act, he lives, breathes, exudes the script. It's a two-minute, controlled depth charge, an intense, condensed Chak de India, spurring the nation to action. By the end of it, you want to rise from your seat and surge forward, in much the same way as he stands up and walks into the camera's rapt face.

He does several takes, first in English, then in Hindi. He reviews the results, goes through the revisions. Then Shah Rukh Khan has to rush to shoot for Om Shanti Om. There is no time for the leisurely interview we had planned in the spotted 'vanity van' which has been sitting like an expectant monster Dalmatian outside Studio 4.

He offers to speak to us on his drive to Studio 11. Arguably the BMW is more comfortable, so we willingly sink into the champagne leather seats. It glides like a panther through the lush monsoon grass as SRK responds to questions at a speed to match.

On the way back, ensconced in the plush depths of the ultimate driving machine, we resist the temptation to fiddle with the gizmos, or play the poseur with the D&G shades which wickedly beckon from the arm-rest. Mohan, who has been instructed to drop us back to reality aka Studio 4, points out the permanent sets.

"Yeh courthouse hai, wahan Church hai, aur baju mein college. Jiska kaam pade, wahan shoot karo." We luxuriate in the extra bonus. The next best thing to be given the tour of Film City by Shah Rukh Khan is to be given the tour by Shah Rukh Khan's driver.

Source: TimesNewsNetwork

Khan, of course, is King

The prodigal Khan returns.

Chak De! India is the basic, every-single-sports-movie story of a disgraced player, here called Kabir Khan, pulling together a team of misfits to do the impossible -- here winning the World Championship.

This is also a return to glory for Shah Rukh Khan,the superstar doing excellently as he tackles a cast with (almost) entirely deplorable acting chops and makes you believe. Director Shimit Amin shoves a hockey stick into the actor's hand, and -- fitter than he's looked in years -- Khan flies across cinematic AstroTurf, and shines.


Stop looking up Miracle, A League Of Their Own or The Mighty Ducks DVDs -- it's a straight sports film, and you walk into the theatre knowing how it's going to turn out.

We start, of course, with the fall. Kabir, India's most successful Centre Forward of all time, flubs a crucial penalty and is castigated by his nation -- an Islamic last name and a meteoric temper make for a media-unfriendly mix -- as Pakistan win the cup.

Thus surrounded by awful actors, Khan bids farewell to his beloved sport, even as insufferable little kids clamber onto shoulders to get a better look at the traitor. Insert typically strained background music here, and you're wincing for both Khan and the film.

Seven years later, mercifully cutting out the tiresome Rambo-esque routine of having to persuade the self-pitying hero to return, Khan is raring to go. He hasn't been on a field since, and is eager to resolve -- as evidenced by strategic fidgeting with waiting-room bottle caps -- hockey issues.

His plan is simple: to start from the very bottom. The Indian Women's Hockey Team is an outfit so utterly neglected that its administrators aren't even actively seeking a coach. Anjan Srivastava dips a Marie biscuit in tea, raises an eyebrow, and not having anything at stake, lets Khan go for it.

So girls, then. A motley assortment of Reddys, Boses and Sharmas from the length and breadth of the country, each falling into conveniently label-friendly stereotypes but -- and here's what makes all the difference -- the tags are affectionate, the cliches run warm and friendly. And we grow to see a mostly-gangly gang of 16 indisciplined non-actresses, trying to keep up with a coach who actually takes himself seriously. And pushes them hard.

It's completely par for the genre-specific course -- dissent, pressure, defiance, infighting, lack of self-belief, external skepticism, and of course, ego. Again, what matters is the fluidity with which writer Jaideep Sahni has coloured inside the lines. The film's true star, Jaideep's ensured that screen-time is divided mostly evenly among the lot, yet separating a few characters for obvious star roles -- Experienced, arrogant Gunjan (Shubhi Mehta); attractive, ego-driven Preeti (Segarika Ghatge); massive, Punjabi Balbir (Tanya Abrol); and pint-sized, defiant Komal (Chitrashi Rawat).

The rest are all warm and likeable enough -- Vidya Malvade plays almost-sobbing homemaker Vidya; Anaitha Nair's Aliya is tremendously attractive -- but these are the four players leading the pack by far, taking the story towards the goalposts.

IndiaThe first half takes its time to buildup, predictably. There's no surprise as the tale unfolds, and the horrible, overwhelming background score tries too hard -- this is, after all a Yash Raj film, and considering that they've gone for a no-heroine authentic sports movie, we ought allow them that major concession -- and is further undercut by trite, jingoistic dialogue. Granted, these come at occasional moments, but the melodrama truly jars. A stellar Khan holds the film together as Amin and the girls gradually get to grips -- with both lines and sticks.

The second half shuts you up, with a McMasterstroke. Here, they play. And, considering you watch several sections of hardcore women's hockey -- my personal viewership of womansport is limited to tennis and the occasional game of beach volleyball -- in silence, glued to the screen pretty much throughout, Shimit's done very well indeed. The film is compelling, constant, and leaves little room for filler. While certain tracks are painfully obvious, the fact that the director neatly cuts through several at the same time ensures a drastic reduction in complaints.

And by now, the girls actually seem to be acting okay -- well, either that or the more impressive achievement, that we've warmed up to the characters enough to like them despite their raw edges. Preeti and Komal, warring attackers, keep us nicely hooked as the director tries to keep their angle unpredictable; Gunjan does well to get frustratingly under our skin; and Balbir gets us to chuckle, sometimes despite ourselves. Vidya is a bit of a moaner, an essentially unimpressive goalkeeper, adding to the lament of Indians having a knack for choosing unimpressive captains.

Khan, of course, is King. This is a bravura performance, a gritty drive by an actor who clearly has sport in his blood. The fit of Shah Rukh as a hockey coach -- inspiring, canny, frustrated, helpless and profoundly hopeful -- is so naturally perfect that it's a wonder he hasn't done a sports film before. It's been a while since we've seen him visibly relish a role like this, and while he has to mouth some clunky dialogue, Khan is simply super.

Chak De! India isn't quite a Lagaan or an Iqbal, selecting the sport more trodden rather than the one conventionally heralded, and so it isn't likely to expect applause in the aisles as the team manages to unite together. It is, however, more of a sports film than both those, the story of a team overshadowing the story of an individual. It's shot nicely, but my wishlist for Amin would be that he had found a better commentator to do the play-by-play and, for heaven's sake, taken some aerial shots.

Shimit Amin's film struggles a bit, clearly trying hard to strike a balance between classic melodrama and the sporting genre. There are times when it tries to straddle the fence hastily, even failing badly, and as a result the movie, while a perfectly good sporting film, seems to have lost the edge we might have expected from the Ab Tak Chhappan director. It's a fine, true-blooded sports movie though, and deserves applause.

Sure, you know what's going to happen, but it's a good ride -- and especially satisfying to see Swiss flower-fields replaced by Australian stadiums. Not to mention the return of the King.

By: Raja Sen Source: Rediff News