Chak De India [Review]

24Aug07

The great wisdom of movie-buffs everywhere has this to say: you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Historically, most sports movies are the same. You have the following ingredients:

• Fallen Hero: a man who was once at the top of his game, inches away from attaining immortality. A man whose name would go down in the annals of sport. A man whose name would be on millions of T-shirts, in EA Sports video games and perhaps a major motion picture based on his life. But shit hits the ceiling fan and he is lost and forgotten. This can be a career-ending injury, disease, major scandal, jail sentence for running a pitbull-fighting league etc.
• Several years later, a Rising Star has the potential to go down in history as one of the greats of the sport. But lack of discipline and inability to realize their full potential stand in the way. Families, friends, the school principal, bureaucracy – everybody stands in the way of success.
• The Fallen Hero (usually against their will) gets an opportunity to work with the Rising Star, exorcise their demons and lead them on to glory, treading over skulls & crossbones with nothing but blood, sweat and tears.
• Tensions rise – racism, corruption, sexism etc. rage rampant and it appears nothing short of Divine Intervention can save the Rising Star against a formidable enemy. The lead-up to the Big Game sees things spiral out of control as the evil world’s animosity and inner demons start to wreak havoc on the Rising Star’s mind. But the Fallen Hero reminds them that faltering at the altar of immortality is not an option.
• Tonight: The Big Game!
• …….
  
• Hurray! K.O! Touchdown! Goal! Sixer! Checkered Flag! Bingo! Gin! Yahtzee! OMGWTFBBQ! Coke-Nike-Ford Deal! Glory becomes me! Bom-ba-ye Ali!

The formula for a sports-movie is an exact science by now. It has been done before and it will be done again. The important part is: can you add your own spin to a story that has been done before? Can you write a hundred different screenplays that take the same basic story and make it unique?

In the case of Chak De! India (Written by Jaideep Sahni and Directed by Shimit Amin), the short answer is: yes. This is a film where the screenplay shines and surpasses the direction. The direction is fine and serves the purpose (and avoids any obvious Jana-Gana-Mana moments) but the bulk of the movie rests on Sahni’s characters – the strongest of which is Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan giving a big middle-finger to the Gillette Corporation). Based on a true story that was a real-life manifestation of a reel-drama, patriotism is the driving force to beat the devil of sexism.

The story isn’t unique, the characters are fairly stock and the ending is a given. Is it enjoyable? Yes. Is it one of Shah Rukh Khan’s better performances? Yes. Do you feel tense? Not really because you know the movie is about triumph of the underdog. But do you root for the team? Hell yeah!

My only complaint against this almost-flawless movie is that hockey isn’t one of my favorite sports and doesn’t really give you much room for hero moments like a good boxing or American Football movie does. Pardon me, hockey fans, but a hockey penalty shootout doesn’t quite have the tension of a Soccer penalty shootout (England-Portugal Euro 2004 – oh the memories!).

Technically, character development isn’t as strong as in something like Lagaan but it is also an hour shorter so I am grateful for that. Leave the strong character development for boxing movies – there are sixteen players on this team and I don’t need to know every one of them!

Shah Rukh’s character has a highly-volatile subplot (I bet fallen Former Indian Cricket Captain Mohammed Azharuddin shed a tear in this movie) but the treatment could have been a little better – do neighborhoods really turn against their biggest hero? I do appreciate the fine attention to detail: it felt a little strange to see the Captain of the Indian Hockey Team live in a very modest house in a very modest neighborhood. To paraphrase Kabir Khan, there’s nothing wrong with having a desire to play Cricket (or politics) but Hockey…? Well, you get the idea. The dude lived in a dump and it made me sad.

I am not here to offer an elitist deconstruction of the film’s screenplay, direction and acting. The girls do their part – particularly the prominently featured Shilpa Shukla (Bindia ‘Firebrand Bully’ Naik), Chitrashi Rawat (Koumal ‘Pint-Sized-Fast-Mouthed’ Chautwal), Tanya Abrol (Balbir ‘Reggie Ray’ Kaur) and Sagarika Ghatge (Preeti ‘Pretty in Pink’ Sabarwal) - and also look their part. Shahrukh Khan can deliver a monologue like no other. In an ocean of generic love stories shot in Europe, featuring blockbuster Himesh Reshammiya soundtracks, plots borrowed from a Rom-Com manual and Manish Malhotra’s haute couture, this film stands out.

The last time I was in theaters was the ludicrous Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (also produced by Yash Raj Films). It is with great caution that I buy movie tickets these days and this is a movie I can wholeheartedly recommend. It is not as emotional as Remember the Titans, Miracle or Million Dollar Baby (or the Big Kahuna that is Jerry Maguire) but it does make you feel good.

Rating: Four Jock-Straps…err…Sports-Bras out of Five.

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Tags: Bollywood