Chak de India

Chak de India combines two of my least favourite genres- Patriotism and Sports. Individually, they are cringe worthy enough. Together, I couldn't imagine anything worse.

Yet I was intrigued. The film was made by Yash Raj Productions, who get more daring and classier by the film. Also, Shah Rukh Khan, the films lead, didn't have a heroine. And finally I was very curious to see what the film would do with two such dire genres.

Chak de India is about the Women's Hockey team in India and it's coach- Kabir Khan a former champion hockey player wrongfully accused for deliberately losing a match to Pakistan. Driven out of his neighbourhood in shame, Kabir surfaces some years later to coach the Women's hockey team. He is given the job because nobody else wants it. The team is made up of girls from all parts of India and Kabir has his work cut out trying to get them to co-exist, let alone play hockey as a team.

The first part of the film shows Kabir creating a team out of the hostile girls. The second part of the film is about the girls playing in the Hockey World Cup in Melbourne.

The film avoids the cliches and pitfalls of its genres with the skill the players show in dodging their opponents.

Firstly the film is very low key. The title Chak de India is superimposed patriotically and bollywood like on the Indian Flag, but the accompanying score is tinged with sorrow and bitterness. While the film has songs, none of them are presented as item numbers. My mother thought how strange it was that the film didn't have any songs.

Secondly the films cast is outstanding, original and easily the most daring ever put together for a big Hindi Film. The characters and the girls playing them come from all parts of India and only two are even remotely pretty enough to appear in films. The player from Punjab looks like a wrestler, the one from Haryana is short and tomboyish, two others are too country and frumpy, one is too dark, and two heavens forbid, are too chinky to be even Indian. But the film makes sure, we know how fabulous they all are.

These girls, from all parts India, initially hostile to each other learn to like each other and work with each other. In doing so, the film transcends its genre and presents a portrait of India that normally would have been the province of low budget Art Films. It exposes the internal tensions of a country divided by language, religion, race and culture struggling to function as a whole. A very telling moment occurs in the beginning of the film when two players arrive in Delhi from either Manipur or Mizoram whose inhabitants look very oriental. They are greeted in a very patronising fashion as visitors from the very far end of the country. One of the players remarks bitterly on how is it possible to be a visitor in your own country.

The film is frank about racism in India and it's crude and twisted sexuality. The girls from Manipur (or Mizoram) are treated as prostitutes based on their oriental looks. In one of the film best scenes, all the girls finally gell as a team when they get together and thrash the living daylights out of a gang of thugs who are abusing their team mates from Manipur.

And finally there is Shah Rukh Khan, who takes on a rare non-romantic role, an honourable man wrongfully dishonoured. His very name, Kabir, represents the ideal of India. Kabir, the saint, who was beloved both by the Hindus and Muslims.

At the end of the film, when the girls come back triumphant, idolised by the nation, Kabir the coach, who is seen as the Architect of the amazing victory isn't interested in getting his share. He isn't even concerned with the restoration of his honour. All he cares for is that he can take his mother back to their ancestral house in the neighborhood they were forced to leave, after his disgrace. This final moment, played with such understated grace ends what is one of the finest films to come out India this year.