ChakDe

Yesterday, on the way to office, I heard one of the radio jockeys egging on her listeners to a "call-me-up-tell-me-and-win-prizes" game. I caught the last bit where she said her usual "call us or sms us at 666" or some sort like that and I thought it must be one of those dumb competitions that radio stations usually run. But when I heard it the next time after about a couple of songs inbetween, it seemed to catch me a bit unawares. She was asking her listeners to call up and tell her what they felt was the meaning of the word "Chakde". That was when I realised that I had sat throught the movie the previous day without even having understood what the title meant:)
It was one of those rare Hindi movies that I have been to in the recent past. A boring midweek holiday (yeah, I am a workoholic) with very little to do meant that we decided to book some tickets and watch whatever that was running in the theatres. And no, it was not at PVR, but good ol' Cauvery that we could book tickets in. That the sound output was horrible is another story.
As everybody probably knows by now, the film is essentially a take on the state of women's hockey in India. Funny in bits and pieces, there is a very clear, visible overtone of national pride running throughout the length of the film. Also more subtle, but still clearly visible, is the attempt to degrade cricketers as idiots with bloated egos.
For some reason, everytime somebody made fun of cricket in the movie, the crowd seemed to unite and cheer loudly. I mean, it was like sitting in a moviehall full of people who wanted to shout out to the world that they are the oh-so-poor people who have been forced to watch cricket all these years by some unknown force and only divine intervention in the form of this film has released them from the suffering. In the movie, when a guy attempts to hit one of the Indian hockey team babes (yeah, lotsa them in this Indian women's hockey team) from behind with a cricket bat, SRK jumps in between and says "Himmat hain to aage se maar. Hamare khel mein Chakke nahin hote"...and loud cheers and claps followed. Agreed that it is a funny line, but then the same guys in the movie hall would also probably loudly cheer every "chakka" from Yuvraj Singh's blade, for example. Why Yuvraj as an example and not Sachin, you might ask? Because there is a character in the movie called Abhimanyu Singh, an Indian cricketer, who is clearly a spoof on Yuvraj, what with his wanton ways and love for all good things in life. Mr. Singh sleeps around with the hottest babe in the Indian hockey team and drives an even hotter set of wheels, but is also an idiot. How else would you explain him arguing with his girl (the hockey player I mentioned earlier), that her game is of no use to anybody and is a waste of time right before they are going to...well ...you know what. I am pretty sure he sleeps alone that night..!
SRK is a former India hockey captain in this film and is on the lookout to redeem his reputation and clear himself of the tag of a 'gaddaar' since he has been instrumental in India losing out to Pakistan during his playing days. He takes on the difficult role of coaching the Indian Women's Hockey team, 7 years after he gives up the game, despite murmurs and oppositon from the powers-in-be, and makes a smashing success of his job by the end of the movie.
While there seems to be a bit of overexaggeration on the state of women's hockey and the overbearing nature of cricket in the country, the movie also lucidly brings out the most basic reason why Indian teams fail to perform - lack of team spirit and discipline. SRK, the coach does more of getting the discipline right amongst his motley group of players, than teach them dribbling and scooping skills, while also handling the egos of senior players in the team with aplomb. One Mr. Gregory Chappell should see this movie. He might just pick up bits about how to handle a 'team'.
With each to his own being the motto of most of the players in this team, the team struggles to gel together in the beginning but later, as expected, at the most crucial point in the movie, which is the final moments of the World Championship final against Australia, team spirit wins through and all is forgotten.
SRK looks his usual good self in the movie (not as good as swooning over him, like a couple of girls that I know claim!), but seems surprisingly low key in the movie. Or so I felt. Maybe that was what the director had in mind when he went about making the movie. One gets the feeling that the heroes or heroines, rather, in the movie, were clearly the hockey players, and that is how it should be.
It must have been difficult to ensure that the huge SRK shadow doesnt cast itself all over the film but the director sure has succeeded in that attempt, though there is the mandatory SRK getting all emotional histrionoics. I am now certain he is the Kamal equivalent in Bollywood.
Also surprisingly good in their hockey skills, were the entire set of players, all of them actors by profession, but apparently trained by a few former hockey stars during the course of the making of the movie. While the acting is not really top notch, their game skills look very professional and is one of the nice things about the movie that keeps the interest levels ticking.
Two and a half hours of good fun.
This could have well been a movie on the Indian cricket team, with hunks playing and the movie would have still made enough sense.
And oh, by the way, Chakde is a "Nick 'em" or "Kick their A@#" type phrase as claimed by the radio jockey.
Also, this is my first full film review. I dont think its too bad... do you??