Chak De India
Well, till now almost every one in the blog world has either written or read a review on Chak De. So be it. Since I have seen and liked the movie, so I will do it too.
I am no Shahrukh fan, but despite myself I went ahead to see this movie because like to Vandy, to me also it had raised hopes of Prakash Jha's Hip Hip Hurray. My only concerns were the ones which a typical Yashraj- Shahrukh combo present.
While the former was notably a realistic movie, latter was threatening to be larger than life, but as a pleasant surprise, Sharukh is excellent in this movie - even better than Swadesh - the movie is almost without a blemish, and no, this is one is not a piece of art. Its a complete masala movie till the last scene.
As a writer, not a doubt remains that Jaideep Sahini has the nerve of his characters. He knows the nuances of the lives of common Indian, first Khosla Ka Ghosla, and now Chak De has shown that. The eclectic troupe of actors (& non actors) were given the as much significance as they deserved.
The build up was realistic too. In the do or die match against men's hockey team, there were no adrenaline or heroics. The result was realistic too, and very well conceived( I won't reveal that). To show the revenge, there was no compulsory match against Pakistani women's team just because no such team exists! Sanely, India didn't create any extravagant fireworks in the follow-up matches after losing to Australia in World Cup.
The point I am trying to make is though you knew the final outcome, writer kept you from guessing the outcome of the sub plots. In fact, he consistently surprises you with the unexpected.
The best part I liked about the movie was the fact the way they repatedly dealt with State regionalism, the seniority and internal bickering. It was like a harsh-slap-in-face kind of dialogues delivered with clenched teeth and pursed lips. It was clear that writer-director duo were firm in their message, if at all there was a message.
All these examples are from live events. We very well know about the egos of our seniors like Dhanraj Pillai. How we are aware about the shameful spats between Dhanraj Pillay and Gagan Ajit Singh, where latter refused to give passes to former in the Olympics matches. Mohammad Shahid, who was such a gifted hockey player, rarely used to give a pass which eventually destroyed his career. How the players from Punjab had made a cartel against others.
At some locations, writer did took cinematic liberties like - creating a character - Abhimanyu Singh - which is not unlike Yuvraj Singh. The guy is young, dashing, on whom girls croon( including the hockey team girls) and shares the same surname. He has been recently appointed the vice captain of the one day Cricket team, again like Yuvraj who was made vice-captain though was dropped later.
One of the hockey officials who flanked Anjan Srivastava - the hockey chief who was babudome personified - bore an uncanny resemblance to Jafar Iqbal, the former hockey captain and coach. All director needed was to put a Sikh at the helm of the affairs and KPS Gill's team would have been complete.
The chauvinism of the cricket towards hockey was, though rightfully added, but to prove more than a point, especially the stuff mouthed by the character Abhimanyu Singh towards hockey. No genuine sportsman can give such remarks for another sport, much less for our national game.
Then something about breaking one-to-one marking of the Korean team. It was made like that it was some Chakravyuh like situation which could be solved only by one individual. It sounded intriguing but silly. More that one to one marking, Koreans forte is long passes. They outwit their opponents with this. But these are minor gripes, and to dwell more on these will be knit picking.
However I will reiterate that what towered above everything else was the breezy performance by Shahrukh Khan. It was like breath of fresh air. I think he should pick up a fight with Yash Chopra, and say sorry to Karan Johar so that he may not have to do their movies in future.
Last but not least I must thank Aryan that he had let us see this movie without moving our limbs, and did not wake up till we were well inside the parking.
I am no Shahrukh fan, but despite myself I went ahead to see this movie because like to Vandy, to me also it had raised hopes of Prakash Jha's Hip Hip Hurray. My only concerns were the ones which a typical Yashraj- Shahrukh combo present.
While the former was notably a realistic movie, latter was threatening to be larger than life, but as a pleasant surprise, Sharukh is excellent in this movie - even better than Swadesh - the movie is almost without a blemish, and no, this is one is not a piece of art. Its a complete masala movie till the last scene.
As a writer, not a doubt remains that Jaideep Sahini has the nerve of his characters. He knows the nuances of the lives of common Indian, first Khosla Ka Ghosla, and now Chak De has shown that. The eclectic troupe of actors (& non actors) were given the as much significance as they deserved.
The build up was realistic too. In the do or die match against men's hockey team, there were no adrenaline or heroics. The result was realistic too, and very well conceived( I won't reveal that). To show the revenge, there was no compulsory match against Pakistani women's team just because no such team exists! Sanely, India didn't create any extravagant fireworks in the follow-up matches after losing to Australia in World Cup.
The point I am trying to make is though you knew the final outcome, writer kept you from guessing the outcome of the sub plots. In fact, he consistently surprises you with the unexpected.
The best part I liked about the movie was the fact the way they repatedly dealt with State regionalism, the seniority and internal bickering. It was like a harsh-slap-in-face kind of dialogues delivered with clenched teeth and pursed lips. It was clear that writer-director duo were firm in their message, if at all there was a message.
All these examples are from live events. We very well know about the egos of our seniors like Dhanraj Pillai. How we are aware about the shameful spats between Dhanraj Pillay and Gagan Ajit Singh, where latter refused to give passes to former in the Olympics matches. Mohammad Shahid, who was such a gifted hockey player, rarely used to give a pass which eventually destroyed his career. How the players from Punjab had made a cartel against others.
At some locations, writer did took cinematic liberties like - creating a character - Abhimanyu Singh - which is not unlike Yuvraj Singh. The guy is young, dashing, on whom girls croon( including the hockey team girls) and shares the same surname. He has been recently appointed the vice captain of the one day Cricket team, again like Yuvraj who was made vice-captain though was dropped later.
One of the hockey officials who flanked Anjan Srivastava - the hockey chief who was babudome personified - bore an uncanny resemblance to Jafar Iqbal, the former hockey captain and coach. All director needed was to put a Sikh at the helm of the affairs and KPS Gill's team would have been complete.
The chauvinism of the cricket towards hockey was, though rightfully added, but to prove more than a point, especially the stuff mouthed by the character Abhimanyu Singh towards hockey. No genuine sportsman can give such remarks for another sport, much less for our national game.
Then something about breaking one-to-one marking of the Korean team. It was made like that it was some Chakravyuh like situation which could be solved only by one individual. It sounded intriguing but silly. More that one to one marking, Koreans forte is long passes. They outwit their opponents with this. But these are minor gripes, and to dwell more on these will be knit picking.
However I will reiterate that what towered above everything else was the breezy performance by Shahrukh Khan. It was like breath of fresh air. I think he should pick up a fight with Yash Chopra, and say sorry to Karan Johar so that he may not have to do their movies in future.
Last but not least I must thank Aryan that he had let us see this movie without moving our limbs, and did not wake up till we were well inside the parking.
posted by Unknown at 11:49 AM
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