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

Chak De India has no romance and no villain: SRK

More than 2,000 movie buffs attended the world premiere of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Chak de India, a film on women's hockey in India, at the famous Somerset House. Describing it as a new experience, Khan told the packed gathering at the open air theatre ....

that it was a different kind of movie, "a little irregular film".

"It has a noble thought. It is important to talk about team spirit, women and their role in the world," he told the cheering crowd.

The premiere was part of the film4 Summer Screen at Somerset House and one of the glittering highlights of 'India Now', a three-month season celebrating London's growing relationship with India and exploration of India's culture and contribution to London life.

Produced by Aditya Chopra and directed by Shimit Amin, Chak de India is the comeback story of an ageing hockey player (Khan). The two-and-a-half-hour-long film, which kept the audience spell bound, has Khan starring as a coach, fighting his personal demons as he takes a motley group of girls to the pinnacle of the world hockey.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who was present on the podium with Khan, said "we have many wonderful events taking place across London throughout the three months duration of 'India Now' and the world premiere of Chak de India is undoubtedly one of the biggest and most exciting.

"It is a great honour for London to host this launch event for a film, which, like so many Bollywood blockbusters, touches the hearts and minds of millions across the world."

Asked whether he has any advice to Indian coaches, be it hockey or any other game, on how to win, Khan said "I am only an actor. What advice I can give. It is the job of the coaches to prepare the teams and win matches."

About Chak de India, he said "this is a film about sports. There had been films on sports like Lagaan and others. I always wanted to do a film on sports, particularly on field and women hockey, much neglected in cinema."

"I play the coach. I have 16 girls around me playing hockey. It has no songs but only sporting capabilities. The film has no romance and no villain."

Earlier in the day, the actor joined Sunil Gavaskar in the commentator box at The Oval during India's third and final Test against England, where he said "I occasionally watch Rahul and Sachin and I have grown up watching Sunny Saab."

Khan was buoyant when asked about his sporting lineage. "My father used to play hockey. I too enjoyed playing hockey. I used to carry my hockey stick on my back when I went to school. I used to try and play all sports. I kept running behind the ball all the time but never used to catch it."

He said Chak de India is not country-specific. "It can be Chak de London, Chak de Pakistan or Chak de Bangladesh."

Khan said the audience in UK has always been very kind to him. "I am humbled by the reception I get here."

"Winning or losing is not all that important. What is important is participation in sports. This film teaches sportsmen and women to be positive and aggressive," he said.

Replying to a question, Khan said he spent a month in Australia playing with National Level women hockey players.

Source: KhaleejTimes

"Chak De India" is an outright winner. A triumph of the spirit, and of craftsmanship!

While director Shimit Amin of "Ab Tak Chhappan" fame has crafted a film with immense staying power and exceptional integrity and gusto, the thought-process behind the endearing endeavour harks back to a series of well-crafted Hollywood films about team spirit, the low-spirited team and the burnt-out disgraced and exiled coach who motivates the team and galvanises his own dormant spirit into a wide-alert status.

Dig in. It's all there. And yet writer Jaideep Sahni takes the expected tale to heights of great expectations with an endearing tone of expression.

Amin turns the triumph-of-spirit formula inside out.

While narrating a fairly predictable story of a down-and-out all-girls' hockey team's journey into global triumph, the director brings into play a kind of abiding charisma that's born out of a sincere passion for a neglected sport and that even more neglected spirit of collective aspirations.

A certain formulism runs through all films about seeming losers who triumph on the field against all cynicism. But beyond that elementary reading there ticks a substantial heart of gold in this tale of molten motivations.

The question of the Indian Muslim's identity in the face of an often-suspicious majority surfaces early in the clenched narration, as Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh) is accused of selling-out a crucial game of hockey to Pakistan.

Amin and his writer don't let you down. Every grim layer of 'message' is toned down and polished up to highlight and accentuate the cinematic quality without losing out on sheer relevance of the moment and its after-shocks.

The ragged bunch of girls from all over the country gather under one umbrella to give the cynics a run for their money. You watch them with a distant curiosity, which soon evolves into a keen interest in their progress report.

The game never looks contrived. And the greenroom chat is filled with punctuations of immense mirth. Happily, the film never lapses into a verbose rendering of the awakening conscience.

By the time the director and his grim protagonist get a grip over the girls' athletic abilities and their blind spots we are completely hooked, watching not the socio-political issues but a film that pushes the envelope by taking the formula film on a jaunty journey across a craggy hockey field.

The dialogues are quite often the stuff bumper stickers are made of. "There's room for only one goonda in this team, and that's me," the snarling coach tells team bully Bindiya Naik, played with instinctive strength by Shilpa Shukla.

The drama emanates in a rush of warm feelings from the interactive tensions between pairs from the team, for instance the vain Chandigarh player Preeti Sabarwal (Sagarika Ghatge) and the diminutive 'mirchi' from Haryana Komal Chautala (Chitrashi Rawat) or for that matter the flavourful frisson between the ostracised Kabir and the hockey federation which collectively sneers at his aspirations for the all-girls' hockey team.

Of course, you know it's all going to come together in a magnificent whoosh of athletic splendour at the end.

Still, you are completely hooked, enraptured and in total empathy with the girls as they head for Melbourne to bring back the gold medal for a neglected game. By the time the girls get into bordered white saris you are smiling protectively at these children from the third world.

Idealistic and dreamy? You bet! Isn't that what cinema was always meant to be?

"Chak De India" takes us back to the joyous days of watching movies where the heroes began by being unfairly cut down to size and then progressed to being warriors of the dark night fighting their way out of the negativity that surrounds their dreams.

Several sequences stand out for their glorious grip over the grammar of cinema. The sequence at McDonald's, where the hockey team beats up a gang of eve teasers, is so deliciously fulfilling you want to applaud the writer and director for manoeuvring the gender war into an urbane recreational zone without trivialising the larger issues involved.

In terms of the tight but unobtrusive technique applied to Amin's narration "Chak De India" qualifies as one of the finest sports-based dramas in living memory, on par with the poignant sportsmanship of "Chariots Of Fire", if only there was theme music to match the other film.

The editing is never cruel to the sportive spirit. We get to watch the girls playing hockey for as long as required without being subjected to redundant visual hammering.

Finally though, the film is a triumph for Shah Rukh Khan. Stripped of the lover-boy image, unadorned by the romantic props that have given his super starry image that supple longevity and power, Shah Rukh stares straight into his character Kabir's conscience and isn't afraid to mirror some uncomfortable home truths about how we treat our minorities, be it the Muslim Indian, the publicly active woman - watch the arrogant cricket player smirk at his hockey-playing fiancée's dreams - or just the female gender trying to be on a par with the opposite sex.

The girls on the team remain with you after their on-field victory because there's a far larger victory navigating their karma to a final hurrah.

Beyond the tale of the triumph of the spirit, there lies the triumph of the spirit of cinema.

After a point it doesn't matter whether the girls are playing hockey.

It's not the sport. It's the spirit that shines through in every glistening frame of this tale that needed to be told before hockey became as obsolete as films about people who play to redeem their souls.

Rating: 4/5

By: Subash K Jha Source: Khabrein.info

Cheers for Chak De! India

Milk shake, rattle and roll. Sporty girls are bashing up a bunch of eve-teasers in a fast-food restaurant. The hockey coach doesn’t intervene, whips on his dark glasses and smiles lightly. His girls have scored a hit.

Cheers for Chak De! India, which may be predictable but compels you to root for a team of losers whom only an earth-angel can save from disastrous defeat. Written by Jaideep Saini and directed by Shimit Amin, this inspirational effort echoes Hollywood’s Hardball, The Replacements, and Escape to Victory whose influence has already been evidenced in Lagaan.

But what the hell? If a story is retold with varying riffs, a sliver of imagination and sufficient skill, just chill.

Over to Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan), the disgraced captain of the Indian hockey team, who’s out to redeem himself after seven years of vanvas. He lands the assignment, just by a whisker, of coaching the raggedy Indian women’s hockey team. So far, so hopeful.

The 16 girls from various states are a mess – either too raw or too cocksure. Begins the training which does get far too protracted, what with the girls snarling, whining and ready to tear one’s eyes out. Slowly but surely, Khan makes them understand their strengths and above all, their Indianness which alone can get them to the winning goal.

The sequences showing Kabir Khan(Shah Rukh) losing his cool, his request to two competitive players to see the larger picture and the finale’s clarion call, are marvellously done, often making your eyes moist.Obstinately perhaps, the focus remains on Kabir as the coach. There’s no backstory, no glimpses into his heart and mind. Only his mother pops up at the outset and at the end, full stop. In addition, the introduction of the girls – through hideously antiquated wipes – doesn’t make you connect to them, except with the ones who’re either too nice or too much spice. And pray, why linger unduly over the kabhi-bedroom-kabhi-ignore routine of one of the girls with a creepy cricketer?

Chalo Australia, then. Now, you’re hooked as the team takes on the Goliaths, thanks to the coach’s psychological jugglery. The sequences showing Kabir Khan losing his cool, his request to two competitive players to see the larger picture and the finale’s clarion call, are marvellously done, often making your eyes moist. And then, you’re at the edge of the seat for the decisive showdown intricately crafted by sports action director Rob Miller.

Auspiciously, the director fits in strong comments on national unity, gender equality, secularism and team spirit.

Shah Rukh Khan is outstanding – it’s a performance that is comparable and at points even more internalised than the one in Swades. He carries the proverbial burden of the project on his shoulders. Intense and steel-like, he stays in character throughout, shunning any traces of glamour.

Of the girls, the little stick of dynamite Chitrashi Rawat, the independent-minded Sagarika Ghatge, the team’s zip-unzip vamp Shilpa Shukla and the anger-spewing Tania Abrol are marvellous discoveries.

Yup, so go for it!

Rating: ***1/2

Chak De India is the most authentic, meticulously researched sports movie India has made

Yay, yay. Hear it for hockey, for sports movies, and yes, SRK. Chak De, India is by far the most authentic, meticulously researched sports movie India has made. Sure, there are some populist cracks against cricket and cocky cricketers which will gladden the hearts of those who don’t worship at the game’s altar, and yes, there do exist such creatures in India, unbelievable thought it may sound. But ‘Chak De’ is a movie which goes about its purpose seriously : to show how a beloved sport, having fallen into the clutches of opportunists and bagmen, and petty, greedy, self-serving Dilli babus, can be rescued, with vision and determination.

It’s not all rousing action and winning streaks, though. The first half, especially, is predictable, and a little stodgy, in the way it brings state champions into Delhi’s national stadium, and has coach Kabir Khan holler at them: I don’t want to hear the names of states, I only want to hear the name of my mulk, India. Welcome excitement creeps in, post interval, as the rag-tag team, gets whipped into shape, and goes on to win the world cup.

What makes Shimit Amin’s film, his second after the gritty Ab Tak Chappan, stand out from the Yashraj clutter this year, is its ability to keep the tracks undiluted. None of the girls breaks into song and dance, and no one is allowed to show skin. Yes, really. Even when one of them comes onto the coach, in her desire to be made captain, we only hear the sound of the zip. Khan zips the jacket right back up, and with that, seals her desire to be part of Team India.

So does Shah Rukh cut it as a hockey player cum coach? This is SRK in realistic mode again, after Swades. When Coach Khan and his girls are out on the field, whacking everything in sight, and rampaging through the world’s best teams, you think, hey, that looks do-able. When you hear a mob targeting the disgraced Kabir, who muffs a penalty shot in the dying moments of an important match at the peak of his career, as a Muslim and a gaddaar, you can see the pain and anguish in SRK’s eyes. That’s real, too. But Kabir Khan doesn’t get as far from SRK, as NASA scientist Mohan Bhargav in Swades did.

Still, it is a brave role, executed with finesse, minus starry flourish. And some of the girls spark into life in the best moments in the film: especially the tiny Haryanvi spitfire, the Punjabi lass who lets fly in anger at the drop of a hockey stick, and the pretty thing from Chandigarh who wants to show her cricketing boyfriend just who the real star is. That’s hockey, and the game. Chak De.

By: Shubhra Gupta & Shalini Langer Source: EconomicTimes

Chak De India received a warm welcome

After flooring cine lovers in London, Chak De India - first Indian film based on country's women's hockey team- released to a tremendous response across the country on Friday.

The film, which stars Shahrukh Khan, revolves around the story of a women hockey team that goes onto win a World Cup.

The film received a warm welcome from cricket crazy Indian audience for its subject and storyline.

"The movie was really very nice. It was worth," said one of the cine goers, who admitted of being a great fan of cricket star Sachin Tendulkar than Shahrukh Khan.

"The film gives a push to women hockey players as it could revive public interest in the dying game, which is also our national games," she added.

This film is a shift from a regular Bollywood movie as it diverts from the usual and delves into the unexplored arena of sports.

"The film is very good. It's a complete Shah Rukh Khan film with lots of sporting action," said another viewer.

Not many films have been made on the subject and after 'Lagaan'-which was made on cricket, its 'Chak De India' that comes packed with a heavy dose of hockey for the audiences.

'Chak De India' is a story of a coach's fight of making his team overcome obstacles and motivate his team members to a historic victory.

"What happens to people who play it and what goes on a regular daily basis when you play it? How much training is done, how much drama happens behind the scene. What kinds of characters play this sport? Who plays it actually, when nobody really wants to play and what kind of women are involved in playing this. I had to gain that kind of knowledge," said Shimit Amin, director of the movie whose earlier directed 'Ab Tak Chappan" received rave reviews.

The story depicts a hockey team consisting of a rag-tag bunch of girls who get disillusioned with the system and resort to other games just to get a pensioned job and a secure future.

Their interest and passion is revived by a forgotten a hockey coach, played by Khan, who enters into their lives and fuels them with a new vigour and enthusiasm to take up the sport with a new agenda- to bring laurel for their country.

The film also stars model Vidya Malvade along with a plethora of newcomers including one real life hockey player.

The film is devoid of the typical song-and-dance routine characteristic to Bollywood films.

"It has a very serious take. People who think after seeing a film will like it. People who just want more entertainment, they might be a bit disappointed and say, 'Oh, this is not having a song at all'. But, I think every good thinking person will enjoy the fact that we have attempted something like this," Khan said.

The character of Kabir Khan, the hockey coach, is believed to be inspired by a real-life former goalie Mir Ranjan Negi, who was charged with allegations of match fixing after India lost to Pakistan in 1982 Asian Games.

Seven years later Negi's honour was restored when he was absolved of the charges. He coached the national women's hockey team to win gold at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

Source: DailyIndia

SRK proves yet again why he is Shah Rukh Khan

Can I catch hold of the first person who said that CHAK DE INDIA is an experimental film? Or it is not the kind that entertains? Or worse, it is 'just' a sports/issue based film laced with patriotism? And by the way, 'just' is the key word here! Because the fact is that it is much bigger and much better than all that is being said about the film, more within the industry than outside.

CHAK DE INDIA has a fairly simple plot about a beleaguered hockey captain trying to redeem himself and regain his pride by ensuring that as a coach he gets the World Cup for the women's hockey team. So far so good and fine intentions. But how will he make this possible? This is what takes a viewer through a journey which is thrilling, thought provoking and above all entertaining.

Shimit and writer Jaideep Sahni doesn't beat around the topic of patriotism much. Neither do they get into 'bharat-mata-ki jai' mode every now and then. Heck, they don't even harp on the 'united-we-stand' theory much. What they do is to get the two facts very right - 'Being adaptive to change' and 'Playing one's best game'. This is what they consider as the two pillars for success which would take this highly demoralized, un-sponsored, de-motivated, ill-focused and divided team through the Finals!

And don't they do an amazing job in doing so?

When I attribute this win as that of Shimit and Jaideep, it doesn't mean any discredit to Shah Rukh Khan. It's in fact a big one for him because after SWADES, it could just be the second instance in his ultra-successful career that audience would go back talking about Kabir more than the King himself. Now that's what you call a win!

There has been much talk about Shah Rukh Khan shedding his Rahul/Raj image for CHAK DE. Yes, he does that. And does that right. Still that doesn't take away from the fact that Khan is at his characteristic best. He gets the right expressions for a guy who is playing a man with his bunch of 16 girls around. He loves them, ridicules them, threatens them, hurts them, motivates them, inspires them and plays with their psychology. And when the woman amongst the girls makes an advance towards him, he knows how to keep temptation at bay!

Each of the girls in the crowd have their own background. No, they don't eat away screen space by being episodic in nature and it is to the credit of Jaideep and Shimit that all of it sounds justified and well concluded. The girl who towers above everyone else is the petite Haryana player whose lingo, dialogue delivery and body language gets the theater into ruptures every time she appears on screen. Closely follows the jumbo from Punjab who eventually learns that keeping a cool head wins games.

The Chandigarh girl brings on the X factor while the North East duo look cute and confident. Vidya Malvade as the captain of the team is fair. One would have expected a captain to be more in synch with the decision making while deciding upon game plan and strategy but that doesn't quite come across at all.

As a narrator, Shimit Amin strikes an excellent balance while interspersing his AB TAK CHAPPAN shot-taking in a Yash Raj Films setup. What could well have been a humongous task comes across quite convincingly as the coming together of entertainment with a good dose of real emotions strikes a goal. No pun intended.

Throughout this 2 hour 30 minutes film, you keep glued to the proceedings with not a single minute making you feel disinterested. In fact the parts before and after the interval have their own tales to tell. The first half is absolutely breezy while stuffed with light hearted/truly hilarious moments. The introduction of team members, their first meeting with the coach followed by the training sessions and solution to all the misunderstandings (well almost) are so engaging and fast paced that you don't realize the moment film reaches the interval point.

On the other hand second half concentrates on getting the adrenalin rush with all the action. Shimit and Jaideep stay away from showing a complete turnaround in fortunes the moment team comes together. Instead they stay practical by taking a gradual approach towards holding the trophy, even if that means hurting a few egos, breaking a few bones and shedding a few tears.

Khan proves yet again why he is Shahrukh Khan. Even his (few) detractors would have to admit that he is there because he is! Period. Cinematography of the film strikes a good balance between gloss and realistic, as required by the situation in the film. Background music is the high point of the film and deserves 10 out of 10. Salim Sulaiman compensate for the average tune [barring the title song which is intoxicating] with a rocking track that enlivens the 150 minutes spent in the auditorium. Editing is good and there is not a single scene which doesn't deserve to be there.

Yash Raj Films deserve a bow! And also Shimit Amin. And also Shahrukh Khan. And each of the 16 girls who make sure that more than her, the character comes first and gets noticed by one and all. The film will truly go down as one of the most prestigious, meaningful and wholesome affair from Yash Raj Films who prove yet again that why they continue to be numero uno in the business.

BY: Joginder Tuteja Source: IndiaGlitz

The movie and Shah Rukh Khan were awesome

Chak De! India has really done it. Most of the movie buffs who were there for the first day first show gave the movie a thumbs up and Shah Rukh Khan was the favourite all over.
One of the movie goers, Harvinder Singh said, "The movie is too good. Anyways there was no doubt whether the movie would be good or not. Shah Rukh Khan has done very well." Singh's companion Vikram Ghosh shared the same view, "The movie and Shah Rukh Khan were awesome."
Ranjeet Kaul said, "I hope the sports minister does something to save our National Sport hockey. The movie reminds us that hockey is our national game."
When asked another movie goer, Jyotsna Banerjee about her opinion about the movie, she gave thumps up to the movie and her friend, Sunaina Vemmu said, "Mindblowing."
"The movie will enter the Oscars on behalf of India," assured Vannada Swaminathan. "I liked Shah Rukh in the movie. He should keep doing such kind of movies to stay on the top," says Jackob D'silva. Sanjana Rahut commended the, "Yash Raj has done very well by making a movie on our National Sport hockey. This fact will surely highlight the importance of the movie."

Source: AfternoonDespatch & Courier

If there is a (Hollywood) role which is interesting enough, I would do it: SRK

LONDON: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has never been offered a role in Hollywood and is not particularly surprised - he doubts he is talented enough.

The heart-throb, one of the world's most famous film actors due to India's huge cinema-going population, is in London promoting Chak De India, in which he portrays a hockey coach in charge of a motley team of girls.

"If there is a (Hollywood) role which is interesting enough, I would do it," he told Reuters in an interview.

"But so far I have never been offered a big role or a good role from Hollywood ... actually, for that matter, never a role from Hollywood - big or small."

Bollywood's biggest stars are often asked to reflect on why they have failed to break into the Anglo-Saxon movie mainstream, with only a handful of personalities enjoying limited success.

"I don't think I am a specifically talented enough 40-year-old actor. I am sure there are a lot of 40-year-old actors there who are more talented, better looking, speak the language better.

"And I don't have a USP (unique selling point) of Kung Fu, I can't do something specific. Unless they start doing Hindi film songs in Hollywood, I don't think anybody is going to cast me.

"I don't think working down there (Hollywood) is the ultimate aim or should be the ultimate aim of an Indian actor."

Bollywood is still dominated by big-cast, bright-coloured musicals that usually fail to connect with Western audiences.

16 NEWCOMERS

In Chak De India Khan plays alongside 16 female newcomers who make up the ragtag hockey team that challenges for the pinnacle of the sport. He said he found the experience of working with untrained performers refreshing.

"I have been acting for so long that I have developed a system of getting things right," he said. "I have fixed expressions, I have a fixed way, a method to the madness that we call acting.

"But you have a set of people who react differently and it still sounds right. I believe in the maxim there is nothing right or wrong when you act."

Khan, whose biggest hits include Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Dil To Pagal Hai, said he hoped the film would do something to empower women.

"I hope it does talk about the uplifting of women and the fact that they should be given choices in decision making."

Khan added that he had no intention of following in the footsteps of other movie stars, including Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda, who have gone into Indian politics.

"No. I am not so selfless that I would be able to give up my life for the good of the nation ... If I may use the word, I would screw it up further than it is already screwed."

Source: Reuters

Chakde Shah Rukh!

Critics rating:****

Can a film peddle patriotism, fight against the gender bias, rip apart class distinctions and make a valid criticism of regional chauvinism, minority bashing, all at the same time? Technically speaking, we would label such a film as sloganeering and would rubbish the filmmaker as a pamphleteer. But wo! what's this. Director Shimit Amin not only manages to make the anhonee honi (impossible possible), he does it with a delicate sensitivity and sensibly steers clear of all cliches.

Okay, the rag tag 'Bhartiya naari' team does go the Lagaan way and notch the inconceivable victory, but it does it with many a tumble and a fall, making the film a winner all the way. And it does it with its rag tag (read unknown) team members who come from nowhere, only to grow into living, breathing giant slayers. Of course, the real goonda of the team (that's what he calls himself) is coach Shah Rukh Khan, whose six day stubble lends him a maturity rarely seen before. Maybe, there were shades of it in Swades , but Chakde's Kabir Khan remains one of Shah Rukh's finest performances: measured, straight from the heart and minus all mannerisms. End result? He appeals straight to the heart...

Like the rest of his team, Shah Rukh is the underdog too. Only this underdog has to fight off a double curse of a loser and a traitor. As captain of the men's hockey team, he bears the allegation of having been the only Indian who played for Pakistan in the Men's World Cup. No amount of sweat and toil can wipe out the ugly graffiti 'Gaddar' (traitor) that has been inscribed on his home and his heart. Now, several years later, he gets a chance for proving all those minority bashers wrong. His task is to coach the women's hockey team; his dream is to make it win the World Cup, an impossible feat. Because, in the first place, there is no team, just a bunch of girls who have come together with a baggage of class, region and interpersonal rivalries. The small town girls hate the uber snobs; the city-slickers think Chhattisgarh is a jungle, the seniors can't handle the juniors stealing the limelight and petty camps create a virtual gang-war which even builds into a mutiny against the disciplinarian coach. The only thing that brings them together is gender bias — something they all have faced at some point of their life — desh-bhakti and coach bhakti...

Great performances by a bunch of unknowns, a gritty pace and a marvellous restraint make Chakde India an unbridled ode to patriotism without any hysterical chest-beating. And yes, for all you SRK fans and bashers, this time the verdict gotta be unanimous: Chakde Shah Rukh! Can you better this?

By: Nikhat Kazmi Source: TimesNewsNetwork