Chak De India!

Chak de India has convinced me that there is goodness in every person (or every production house). A film from the Yash Raj stable which (gasp!) unabashedly promotes women's empowerment, has no frothy romance and no hamming from SRK aka Shah Rukh Khan. Seems almost too good to be true, doesn't it, but Chak de India has it all and more. While the plot of the underdog team fighting all odds to win the big match is as hackneyed as they come in Hollywood, this is a first of its kind in India. There was of course Lagaan but that had a different sub-theme to it with the requisite star cast, songs, romance etc. Chak de just concentrates on hockey, a game which has been given the short shrift in India although we used to be good at it. It touches upon many contemporary issues: branding someone a traitor on circumstantial evidence just because he's a Muslim; treating women in sports with complete contempt; sexual harrassment; regionalism and parochialism. All of this makes Chak de sound like a preachy art movie but amazingly enough it is not. It is an exuberant movie which celebrates women. There are no preachy sermons about wifely dharma when Vidya Sharma (the team captain) is forced to choose her game over her husband's unjust demands nor does it brand Bindiya Naik (the most experienced player) as the vamp when she offers to sleep with the coach in exchange of retaining her captain's cap. Kabir Khan (the coach) turns her down gently but firmly without any excess melodrama and when he asks her help in winning a crucial match she gives her best. A special mention for Preeti Sabharwal, the girl who rejects her cricketer boyfriend's marriage offer because of his chauvinistic attitude and complete contempt toward the game. Though she is yet to evolve as a good actress, she did handle her role quite competently. However, the trio who steal your heart are Komal Chautala (Haryana), Balbir Kaur (Punjab) with their rough accents and Suimui (Jharkhand), the tribal girl who can't speak a word of English or Hindi but excels at the game.

However, the movie pivots around SRK. He holds your attention with his understated acting and his passion for the game. I think this might actually be one of his best efforts. Instead of romancing some chiffon clad heroine he excels as the tough, no-nonsense coach whose only goal is to lick the rag tag women's hockey team into shape so that he can blot out the ugly tag of "traitor". The music is hummable but nothing spectacular. It however gels well with the overall theme of the movie.