Chak De India

Since of late it become a very rare that I go for a film, due to a lack of proper company. And seldom do I go to watch a Hindi film (though the last one was quite recent, Life in a Metro). Well as I've written in my previous blog I decided to go for a movie all by myself. It's not like was desperate to watch a movie. It was just that I was feeling lonely, bored, and didn't want to spend my Sunday evening holed up in my apartment by myself reading The Namesake (since I had come to the part where the character Ashoke passes away, which in turn reminded me of my own dad passing away), or reading some health magazine. So after my friend Ashutosh left, decided I just go over and try and catch Simpson the Movie. However since there was no show for Simpson and was in no mood to watch Rush Hour 3 decided to catch a 9:45 show of Chak De India.

One thing for sure I am neither a great fan of Hindi cinema and definitely not a fan of Shah Rukh Khan. What drew me towards the movie was the reviews of the movie that I had read earlier in the morning, and the intriguing thought of watching a sport based film on a sport that hasn't gotten it's due, in spite being the national sport, and female team that's never given prominence. So anyway went for the movie which had a 15 minute delay, which meant that the movie would end well beyond midnight and I would have to find a way of trying to get back home all by myself. All this time questioning whether it was right way of spending time and money. I have seen a number of sport based movies like Lagaan, Angels in the Outfield, Jerry McGuire (which did have sport theme to it), and Bring it On (even though this is about cheer leaders). So I had a good idea of what to expect. Moreover I did play the game when I was in the boarding school.

Well the movie began with Mr. Khan been shown made as an outcast for missing a crucial penalty against none other than Pakistan (wonder what did the Italian do to Roberto Baggio for missing that crucial peanlty at the world cup). Anyway things pick up a bit when each of the girls are introduced, each coming from various states including Jharkhand. You have the typical cat fights and the Diva attitudes, quarrels and squabbles. And between all this you have a committee who feels like Indian women should not be running around running in their knickers, but should be holding a rolling pin instead of a hockey stick. There are characters that you immediately fall in love with like the dimmunitive, fire cracker Komal from Harayana, the very manly hot headed Punjaban (can't remember her name), and the two girls from Jharkhand who couldn't speak English, let alone understand Hindi. Then there was the most senior player Kunjan (as we are reminded repeatedly throughout the movie) who you want to whack with her hockey stick because of her attitude that is typical of a senior player in any sport. Well there is also Vidya, the married team captain and it's goalie and Preeti, who is engaged to the Indian cricket team's vice captain, who doesn't think much of the sport (which pretty typical of our fatted, over payed Indian cricketers). There are other characters that aren't given much scope.

Well the first half is how the girls are learning to gel with each other and to play the game for the country and rather than individually. A sought of high point in this half is the girls getting into a brawl with guys at McDonald for eve teasing one of the fellow players. This even dominates the match of the sexes against their male counterpart in order to decide whether the girls get to go abroad for the world championship.

The second half is where the things actually pick up when they actually play at the championship. Initially totally un-co-ordinated and loosing miserably, but slowly and steadily getting their act together. Then you also have the friction between Preeti and Komal. But finally, as you know they will iron out their differences. Then there is also Kunjan trying to seduce the coach with regards to becoming the captain. But all is well that ends well. The part where Preeti equalises in the dying minutes thanks to Komal is pretty good. During the penalty shootout you can feel the anguish when the team misses the goal or the esctacy when Komal, Kunjan, and the Mizoram player convert their penalties. But the final goal that Vidya saves is probably the most tense moment in the movie. The funny thing is that you know what is going to happen, but even then when it happens all you want to do is cheer for the team and clap (which I did along with the others in the hall).

When I left the movie hall after the movie got over, well beyond midnight, didn't mind walking all by myself back home, in the cold night, as I just enjoyed a good Adrenaline pumping movie. Time and money well spent :)