Chuck de India!

Rating: 8/10 (18 October 2007)

Chak De was highly recommended by most of my friends.They praised the movie for being a feel good movie that supposedly might have motivated the Indian cricket team to a World cup victory.
The movie, is about underdogs.From one angle its about hockey and from the other its about women,both examples of groups seeking equal rights.
But strangely,Chak de isn't a sports movie.Its more of a feel good chick flick.
Needless to say i had high hopes for the movie.I wasn't exactly disappointed,yet the movie didn't reach my expectations as it was touted as being one of the best sports movies of all times.
What is good about it: The team has wonderful chemistry.Every player is distinct and the roles are well etched.Their interaction feels real and their joy and sadness is easy to relate to.
Shah rukh khan isn't as annoying as in his earlier roles.For once his name isn't Rahul and he doesn't preen and stutter like a retarded peacock.For once he has picked up a role that asks for more that just looking intensely love smitten for 3 hrs at a stretch.
It doesn't have too many songs.Just a couple and they are well placed.
Whats not so good: The movie is essentially a fairy tale.when you truly wonder what it takes to beat a 7 time world champion you would think of two things:either fantastic talent coupled with good strategy that needs just three months of coaching,or stupendous luck to somehow scrape a victory at the final stage.
The movie assumes that its the former and there in lies the fallacy.The truth is even the most talented need more that pep talks and pats on the back to beat champions.
Too much time is devoted to teaching the ideals of teamwork.At no point does someone look at a piece of paper and discuss formations and combinations.Forget knowing the opposition well,it just assumes a blind belief that raw talent alone will prevail over any opposition.(In some ways, its like the Indian cricket team) Its all good for textbooks and on paper but if all it took to win was great speeches then every coach would be an orator instead of a strategist.
For a sports movie,it focuses on the wrong issues.For a hockey team,there is no talk of strategy.Teams can play without shoes but they cant win without strategy especially team sport like hockey.This aspect of the movie makes it loose credibility.The ending is far fetched and displays that the movie has a very commercial core.So much for being realistic.
Rocky isn't a great sport movie because Stallone won in the end.He didn't.Instead,he lasted longer in the ring than anyone expected and that gave the movie credibility like none other.I wish Chak de could have gone in that direction.
Chak De is a good movie for it gives its viewer their money worth,but it certainly isn't a great movie.