CHAKDE INDIA

Chak De India (Hindi: चक दे इंडिया, Urdu: چک دے انڈیا, English: "Go For It, India!"^[1]) is a fictional 2007 Hindi sports film about the Indian women's field hockey team, directed by Shimit Amin, produced by Yash Raj Films, and Sports Action by Rob Miller of ReelSports. It stars Shahrukh Khan and the Chak De Girls.

Earning over Rs 639 million, Chak De India became the third highest grossing movie of 2007 in India,^[2] and was critically acclaimed.^[3] It has won numerous awards including eight for Best Film. It also received the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie.

On August 30, 2007, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences requested a copy of the Chak De India script for a place in the Margaret Herrick library.^[4]

Plot

Chak De India is a film which uses field hockey in India and the Indian women's national field hockey team as metaphors to explore larger themes relating to sexism, ethnic and regional prejudice, and religious prejudice under the larger umbrella of Indian nationalism. It also refers to the legacy of partition. As noted by the Times of India, the central task of the team's coach is to win the fictional competition, The World Championship, which is:

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.^[5]

The film opens with the final minutes of the Hockey World Cup between the Pakistan men's national field hockey team and the India men's national field hockey team, with Pakistan leading, 1-0. When Indian team captain and hockey superstar, Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) is fouled, he elects to take the penalty stroke himself. However, his strike flies just above the goal, and India suffers a crushing defeat. Soon after, the media begins to circulate a photograph of him accepting a handshake from the head of the Pakistani team, speculating that Khan (who is a Muslim) might have "thrown" the game as an act of sympathy towards Pakistan. The speculation and prejudice exhibited towards Khan forces him and his mother out of their ancestral home and into exile.

Seven years later, Indian sport officials are surprised to learn that Khan wants to coach the Indian woman's field hockey team, a job no one else wants (as, an official indicates, the only long term role for women is to "cook and clean"). Although the Indian team consists of 16 women, none fulfill the role of protagonist.^[6] Instead, the film focuses on several subplots regarding the tension and friction which develops surrounding gender, region, and ethnicity among the players and their families: Komal Chautala (Chitrashi Rawat) from a village in Haryana conflicts with Preeti Sabarwal (Sagarika Ghatge) from Chandigarh whom she refers to as "memsaab"; tough girl Balbir Kaur (Tanya Abrol) from the Punjab has an extremely short temper and frequently loses it, especially during games, which causes the team to play one woman short. She also bullies Rani Dispotta (Seema Azmi) and Soimoi Kerketa (Nisha Nair), both from jungle villages in Jharkhand; and Mary Lalte (Kimi Laldawla) from Mizoram and Molly Zimik (Masochon "Chon Chon" Zimik) from Manipur (in North-East India) are both treated as "foreign" by virtually everyone they meet. In addition, the players must also contend with sexism not only from strangers but from family members as well: Mary and Molly face repeated sexual harassment; Komal's parents worry that her interest in hockey will destroy all hope of a good marriage; team captain Vidya Sharma (Vidya Malvade) is forced to choose between hockey and the wishes of her husband's family; and Preeti's boyfriend, the (fictional) vice captain of the India national cricket team, Abimanyu Singh (Vivan Bhatena), mocks her involvement with the team, telling her that her only important role is being his wife.

Sensitive to issues of prejudice, Khan chastises players who introduce themselves by state and praises those who instead identify themselves with their country, India. His message is clear: if the girls want to play, they must sacrifice existing prejudices and alliances to state in lieu of commitment to their team and country. Thus during the first few days, he benches a number of players who refuse to conform to his rules, including the most experienced player, Bindia Naik (Shilpa Shukla). In response, she repeatedly attempts to encourage the players to revolt against Khan. Bindia finally succeeds and in anger, Khan resigns. As a sign of good will, however, he invites the staff and team to a going away lunch at McDonald's.

The lunch begins with the same anger and tension towards Khan as none of the girls will sit with him or his staff. This changes, however, when some neighboring boys make a pass at Mary and Molly. In response, Balbir attacks the boys, an act which encourages the other girls to do so as well. It is the first instance of the girls working together as a team. Khan recognizes this and repeatedly prevents the staff from intervening. His only action is to intervene when a man attempts to strike one of the women with a cricket bat from behind. Khan tells the young man, "hamare hockey me chhakke nahi hote" (or "there are no sixers in hockey"; "sixer" is a slang term which could translate as "wuss" or "coward"). It is a turning point for the team and in shame the girls beg Khan to stay as their coach. The girls have now bonded as a group, learning to overcome their previous differences. Under the able and determined coach, the team begins to practise again, but this time with new vigor.

The team's preparation receives a temporary setback, however, when hockey officials suddenly decide not to send the women's team to Australia for The World Championship. Rather than concede to what he deems an unjust request, Khan demands a challenge match against men's national team. If his team wins, Khan argues, they get to go to The World Championship. The officials agree, albeit reluctantly. Although the girls play a hard game during this challenge match, they ultimately lose 2-3 to the men's team. Their vigor and spirit proved so inspirational, however, that the men's team, in appreciation, raise their hockey sticks as a salute to them (an act which was reciprocated). Thus, despite their loss, the officials agree to send the women's team to Australia.

As the games begin, India loses its first match 0-7 against the host team from Australia. During this match, Bindiya Naik's behavior, which Khan felt was destructive to the team, leads Khan to bench her. As the games progress, the team grows to work as a single unit, eventually leading the girls to victory against England's team, New Zealand's team and South Africa's team. Despite the move towards unity, the two forwards, Komal and Preeti, are still not on talking terms with each other and refuse to pass ball to each other. Despite this, the team manages to win matches due to individual performances and Vidya's fantastic goal-saving ability.

Against the aggressive Argentinian team, Aliya Bose (Anaitha Nair) and Soimoi are injured. Khan finally grants Balbir permission to display her natural aggression and in doing so, India wins and joins the semi-finals against South Korea's team. This team, which is known for its use of the man-to-man marking technique, worries Khan. In response, he asks Bindiya to rejoin the team, telling her that she is the only one experienced enough to overcome this strategy. Bindiya, agrees and penetrates the strong Korean defense repeatedly with the help of another experienced player, Gunjun Lakhani (Shubhi Mehta), eventually scoring a lone goal. Having won the semi-final, India once again faces Australia in the final. The night before the final match, Khan forces Komal and Preeti to meet and resolve their differences. He tells them that it is their duty to play for team and not for their own individual interests. Although they agree, Preeti warns Komal privately that she will make the most goal scores as she has something to prove to a certain man (who is none other than her boyfriend Abhimanyu).

The next day, before the match Khan advices his team to just play their best hockey for the next 70 minutes (the duration of match). As soon as match starts, India scores. In the second half, the Australians attack with more intensity, which results in two goals. As India is on the verge of losing the match, a superb move from defenders and the decision of Komal and Preeti to finally work together allows the team to even the score at the dying moments of the game. The match is tied 2-2. As no team is able to score in extra time, the result would be decided by a penalty shootout.India begins with a poor start as Nethra Reddy and Aliya Bose miss their goals. Australia, however, converts their chances and the score is 2-0. However, in the next two strokes, Komal and Mary score and Vidya makes two saves. The score is now 2-2. Bindiya Naik also scores for India. When Vidya saves the final stroke, India becomes the World Champion.

This unexpected and thrilling victory leads the restoration of Khan’s good name. It also destroys the prejudices which once separated the girls and proves to their families and country the merit of women's athletics.

Production

Inspiration

The screenwriter Jaideep Sahni was inspired to create a film about the Indian Women's Hockey Team after reading a short article about the winning of the Gold by the women's team at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.^[7] Director Shamit Amin noted the lack of coverage of the women's team by the media and that "there are a lot of odds these players are up against." ^[6]

Hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi (who was accused of throwing the match against Pakistan during the 1982 Asian Games) has often been compared with the character of Kabir Khan in the media.^{[8][9][9][10][11]} On this connection Negi himself commented that "this movie is not a documentary of Mir Ranjan Negi's life."^[12] Sahani stated that he was unaware of Negi's tribulations while writing the script, and the resemblance with Negi's life was coincidental.^[13][14] However, Negi joined the production team after his name was suggested by the national coach of the women's team Maharaj Krishan Kaushik, who was with the team when it won the Commonwealth Games’ gold in 2002. Sahni further noted that, "the story of Chak De was deeply inspired by the real life story of ex Chief National Coach Maharaj Krishan Kaushik and his Indian Women's hockey team's real feat of winning the Commonwealth and many other championships."^[15]

Development

Both Kaushik and Negi influenced the development of the film after being approached by Sahini. Sahini first met with Kaushik and later recalled that, "M K Kaushik and his girls taught us all we knew about hockey. Then he recommended Negi to us, because when we finished writing and finished casting, we needed someone to train the girls. Negi assembled a team of hockey players to train the girls."^[14] Kaushik also states in the same interview that, "I taught him everything about the game, starting from how the camp is conducted, how the girls come from different backgrounds and cultures, the psychological factors involved. Also how the coach faces pressure to select girls from different states and teams."^[14]

Sahini also contacted Negi and asked him to coach the actors portraying the hockey team. While not initially enthusiastic about being involved in the film, Negi changed his mind after reading the screenplay. He acted as the coach and trainer for the cast stating, "I trained the girls for six months. Waking up at 4, traveling from Kandivili to Churchgate. We would retire around 11 in the night. It was tiring. But we were on a mission [...] They couldn’t run; couldn’t hold the hockey sticks. I ensured none of them [would have to] cut their nails or eye-brows (as the players do). The girls have worked very hard. I salute them."^[16] Some of the actors however, such as Chitrashi, Sandia, and Raynia were cast because they are actual hockey players. ^[17] ReelSports, under the direction of Sport Action Director Rob Miller,^[18][19] also worked with Negi to train the girls and Shahrukh Khan for the film. Of working with Khan, Negi recalled that everything was planned, "including the penalty stroke that SRK missed. That shot alone took us nearly 20 hours as I was keen that it should be very realistic. I took the help of a lot of my former teammates. But more importantly, it was so easy working with SRK. He is unbelievably modest and was willing to do as many re-takes as we wanted."^[20]

Comparison with real life

Kaushik noted that scenes in the film reflected incidents that had actually happened within the women's team:

Many of the incidents shown in the movie are true. How the coach actually throws a girl out when she is not listening, and then goes out himself and there are three to four other girls also standing there because they disobeyed his instructions. This happened with Pritam Siwach [...] The scene where they start fighting, happened to us when we were returning from a game in Bangalore, and some boys started passing comments [...] The actual game-situations we had to actually challenge another team after being disallowed from participating in an international tournament's qualifiers, and give it in writing, that we will qualify [...] And lastly the coach's portrayal, he goes to the match on a scooter. The team wins, but he still returns on a scooter. So the Coach's stature and status, you know, is always here." ^[14]

Locations

Chak De India was filmed in India and Australia. The Australian portions were filmed in Sydney and Melbourne and used 90 hockey players cast by ReelSports Solutions and 9000 extras. ^[21]

Cast: Chak De Girls

1. Aliya Bose (Anaitha Nair), #7, Right Out, senior player, West Bengal. Boy - crazy Aliya likes fashion and fun.
2. Balbir Kaur (Tanya Abrol), #3, Left Defender, Punjab. Tough as nails, Balbir must learn to overcome her quick temper.
3. Bindia Naik (Shilpa Shukla), #5, Center Half, senior player, Maharashtra. As the most experienced member of the team, Bindia feels herself above everyone. Angry that she is not given more power equal to her experience, she frequently attempts to overthrow the coach.
4. Gul Iqbal (Arya Menon), #10, Left In, Uttar Pradesh. She is the granddaughter of star hockey player Mohammad Iqbal and feels compelled to uphold the family legacy.
5. Gunjun Lakhani (Shubhi Mehta), #4, Right Half, senior player, Andhra Pradesh
6. Komal Chautala (Chitrashi Rawat), #8, Right In, Haryana. Tomboy Komal, referred to as Chhokra in her village, has only one regret: that she wasn't born a boy. Komal's character is based on Mamta Kharab, the current captain of the Indian Women's Hockey Team.^[22]
7. Mary Ralte (Kimi Laldawla) , #15, Substitute and Penalty Stroke specialist, Mizoram.
8. Molly Zimik (Masochon "Chon Chon" Zimik), #6, Left Half, Manipur. Mary and Molly are from North-East India and are initially treated as "foreign" by their teammates. They are always together.
9. Nethra Reddy (Sandia Furtado), #11, Left Out, Andhra Pradesh. A Ground-Man's daughter, Nethra plays to make her father proud.
10. Nichola Sequeira (Nichola Sequeira), #12, Maharashtra.
11. Preeti Sabarwal (Sagarika Ghatge), #9 Center Forward, Chandigarh. Rich-girl Preeti went to the best schools, was the team captain in Chandigarh, and is referred to derisively by Komal as "Memsaab." She is dating the (fictional) vice captain of the India national cricket team, Abimanyu Singh (Vivan Bhatena), who doesn't take her commitment to field hockey very seriously.
12. Rachna Prasad (Kimberly Miranda), #14, Bihar.
13. Rani Dispotta (Seema Azmi), #2, Right Defender, Jharkhand. Rani moved from a jungle village to Ranchi and learned how to survive among her urban-born classmates.
14. Raynia Fernandes (Raynia Mascerhanas), #16
15. Soimoi Kerketa (Nisha Nair), #17, Substitute, Jharkhand. Also from a jungle village, Soimoi struggles with language and fitting in.
16. Vidya Sharma (Vidya Malvade), #18, Goalie and Captain, Madhya Pradesh. Former goalkeeper for The Railways. Recently married, Vidya's husband attempts to force her to choose between hockey and family.

[edit] Release

[edit] Box office

Chak De India was released worldwide on August 10, 2007, and earned Rs 203 million in its first week at the Indian box-office. The film eventually became the third top grossing movie of 2007 in India, with revenues of Rs 639 million domestically,^[2] and was declared a "Blockbuster" after three weeks.^[2] In the U.S, it opened at number 20, in the UK charts at number 11, and in Australia at number 12.^[23] In the U.K., Chak De India debuted at number ten on the charts, earning £0.13m.^[24] It earned a total Rs 35 million in the United Kingdom, Rs 47.5 million in North America, and Rs 35 million for the rest of the overseas proceeds.^[25]

[edit] Critical reception

Chak De India was critically acclaimed in India and abroad. India Today describes Chak De India as, "the most feisty girl power movie to have come out of Bollywood ever. The girls, from the truculent Haryanvi Komal to the angry Bindiya, from the Punjabi Balbir to the very proper Punjabi, Chandigarh ki kudi Preeti, may be drawn from stereotypes but they shatter them with aggressive performances, staring Khan in the eye, almost defeating the Indian men’s hockey team, assaulting a gang of boys and showing the six-time Australian team a thing or two about how to win." ^[26] Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu asks "when did we last make a solid ensemble film about sports — one that’s not about a few players saving the day but about the triumph of teamwork? ‘Chak De’ is that rare film where the hero watches from the stands and lets a bunch of ‘what’s-her-name-again’ girls do all the winning [...] At another level, ‘Chak De’ is about women’s liberation. It is one of the best feminist films of our times. Next, the girls themselves are the closest we’ve seen to a representation of India in any sports movie we’ve seen. They are not 16 pretty young things. The casting is first-rate. The rawness in the performances actually makes you forget these are actors. Though we begin by warming up to the ethnic/race differences among the players, soon enough, Amin skirts their inter-racial conflicts behind the uniform, the great leveller."^[27] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India gave the film 4 out of 4 stars and argues that it has "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?" Jyoti Parasara of AOL India stated, "Shimit Amin has come up with a film where he has tried to take care of every minute detail, be it field position of audio visuals in the stadium where the championship in being played."

Apart from critics, Chak De India tied with Taare Zameen Par for best film of 2007 according to various Bollywood movie directors such as Madhur Bhandarkar, David Dhawan, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Anurag Basu, and Sriram Raghavan

Furthermore, Jaspreet Pandohar of The BBC gave it 4 out of 5 stars stating that, "while the tale of the sporting underdog is hardly new, Jaideep Sahni's screenplay offers a rare look at a popular Indian sport often overshadowed by cricket. But it's not the type of bat and ball, or the number of practice sessions that are at issue here. Instead, the gender and personal prejudices of the players underpin the story." Andy Webster of The New York Times argues that the film gave a fresh look to the conventional underdog sports film and compared the premise to the win at the FIFA Women's World Cup. Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter argues that the film is "definitely Bollywood, ashamed of neither sentimentality nor predictability. Yet its sharp-eyed view of Indian society makes for a world of difference from old-style, sugar-coated Bollywood films." Derek Elley of Variety describes the film as "a patriotic heartwarmer that scores some old-fashioned entertainment goals" and that it "is almost an anthem for India's new-found economic clout and its recent 60th-anniversary celebrations of independence from U.K. rule -- and it gets a stirring title song from composing team Salim-Sulaiman and lyricist Jaideep Sahni (who also scripted). Thus, it's hardly a surprise when the team of 16 girls from all over India finally get it together to beat the bejeezus out of their international opponents."

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave Chak De India a rating of 80%, based upon 5 reviews (4 fresh and 1 rotten).

Awards

Chak De India has won numerous awards including eight for Best Film from: The Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild, The Australian Indian Film Festival, The Billie Awards, The International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA), The Star Screen Awards, The UNFPA-Laadli Media Awards, The V. Shantaram Awards, and The Zee Cine Awards. It also received the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie.

Social impact

Chak De India was referenced as influential when the Indian Hockey Federation was suspended in April, 2008. India Today used the film to label the event in two articles titled, "Operation Chak De impact: Jothikumaran resigns" "Operation Chak de impact: Furore in Lok Sabha."The Indiatimes, in an article titled, "Five wise men set for a 'Chak De' act" also argued, "It looks like Indian hockey has done a real 'Chak de' this time around." addition, Former hockey player, Aslam Sher Khan, who was appointed by the Indian Olympic Association to head a committee which will replace the IHF, pointed to the film as a model to work towards. He stated in an interview, "We have to make a Team India as you have seen in bollywood blockbuster Chak De India. There are players from several parts of the country. We have to unite them to make a powerful force." In another interview, he emphasized that he wants "to create a Chak De effect" on hockey in India.