Nehru Cup

India wins the Nehru cup for the very first time. A glorious victory in football, after five years, for India. A great performance of an Indian team, in a game other then cricket. And not a single news article in any newspaper/bulletin of any channel, that talks about this victory, miss the words “Chak de India”.

I love the bond we share movies!! :)

Chak De India

Also available at: http://mohitontherocks.wordpress.com/

(After putting in this post, I realized that I was a little (too) late in publishing this but since I felt strongly and so good about this movie, I wanted to share it with movie enthusiasts like you, esp the links to the real life drama that inspired this movie at the end of this post)

A lot of political jingoism and patriotism marked this 15th August week, more so because it was our 60th anniversary of independence. Everyone and their daddy came out with some stuff which could be used to loosen the common man's pockets by pulling on his patriotic strings. I, for one, don't mind parting with a few green bills but at least give me some bang for my buck. My search for the bang took me to Chak De India last Friday which released in that happening week.



Now what can one expect from a movie which stars Shah Rukh Khan as the coach of the Indian Hockey team full of never-seen-before girls, and even has him rapping away in one of the songs. SRK being the coach, would call the shots obviously and lead the team single-handedly to victory because of his hard-hitting mmeh mmmeh dialogues of course. The girls would just happen to be there under the shadow of the mighty SRK. It would be SRK all the way leading the country of a billion people to their 60th year of mindless celebrations over an extremely important event in the history of India which is probably more fondly remembered by the common man as the day we got the freedom to urinate on the walls of any government building without being reprimanded by the British.

But boy, was I glad that I was wrong (about the movie, that is!)! This movie was not anything I mentioned above and turned out to be pretty much the bang I was looking for!

For starters, it's probably the first sports movie about India that takes up real issues and attempts to capture the struggle of sportsmen (actually sports-women) in a team sport. Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander was another exciting movie of this genre that I can recall but even that was about cycling, an individual sport, and individual excellence is not really something to write about in this country with probably the largest number of individual superstars.

Chak de India strives to showcase the struggle of a man from the point he was disgraced by the people of his country to his well deserved moment of joy and pride when he helps bring the Women's World Cup home. And it's the journey between these two points in his life that is more exciting than the final result that makes the movie such a treat to watch. While the fact that a movie from the Yash Chopra bandwagon looked at real problems in hockey hit me as a pleasant surprise, what made the deal a whole lot sweeter was the little nuances that the film brings out about the typical Indian mindset not just towards the game but also towards each other and ofcourse towards public figures who are made demi-gods in moments, crushed to the ground equally sooner and then returned back to their seats among the stars of the celebrity sky with as much as just one flash of brilliance.

The plot is loosely based on the life of Mir Ranjan Negi, the Indian goalkeeper in the 1982 Asiad Games Final where India lost to arch rival Pakistan by a whopping 7-1. Negi was made the scapegoat for that defeat and the humiliation made him vanish from the hockey scene for years only to return as the coach of the Indian Women's Hockey team and lead them to victory in the Commonwealth games in 2002.

The movie does add some twists of its own for adding drama. Negi becomes Kabir Khan so that there can be that extra sting in the humiliation. 20 years is reduced to 7 so that Shah Rukh does not have to get the "Anupam Kher hair style" to match the real coach! But it is the girls that represent the teething issues facing Indian Hockey today and in doing that, carry the movie not only on their athletic shoulders but their hockey sticks, whims and fancies, bitching and most of all their enthsiasm for the sport. Representing different states and teams, the girls intuitively refuse to break away from their regional identities, causing rival groups to be formed - an issue that has always haunted the Indian teams. They have always been accused of not playing as a team. The film portrays the differences with a generous sprinkle of humour. The coach is aware of all that and works on the team building aspect. The girls learn the importance of team work painfully. But as they learn the all important art of team building, they also learn about their own weaknesses and strengths. It is the beauty of the girls' journey from them being the best player in their states to them being the best players for the Indian team. The other ills plaguing all sports in this country viz. politics in associations, sports bodies being lead by people with no interest in the betterment of facilities and the charm of the foreign trip is also subtly shown.

While sports movies are the best teachers for lessons in life, they don't help much if the sports is not good enough. Chak de India has elegantly and realistically portrayed hockey matches and players.



But the most surprising part of the movie was that SRK serves as the lowest common denominator and, for a change, doesn't mind lying low when the scene demands so. His greatest contribution to the movie has been his restraint in his acting which makes him affable yet again to a fan-following he lost somewhere in his quest to become bigger than Big B. Also, to be fair to Shah Rukh and his dream of doing something for the sport he wanted to play at the highest level, his presence itself means a lot in terms of the widespread media attention that the movie is getting. It would be difficult to get the audience to the theatres without the attraction of SRK!

If I see something missing from this movie, it would surely be the fact that it misses out on a major reason for the poor showing of the Indian Hockey team in tournaments around the globe - the Astro Turf. Players in India have always played on grass and most do so till they reach the national level. It is only beyond this phase that the players get to play on the surface which players around the world take all their life to get used to but the Indian players probably get only a fraction of that time to get their act together. Indian hockey was world champion in the days of yore because they played on the same surface all through but Astro Turf takes the game to a totally different level in terms of the stamina of players and the pace of the game.

Iqbaal and Lagaan were outstanding movies about sports too but this one is in a different league. This is a coming-of-age Bollywood movie which showcases recent history that most of us were not even aware of; and it does so in a pleasant yet realistic way coming as a breath of fresh air. The movie sure revived my interest in hockey. I am sure it would have done this for a lot of others as well.

Indian Hockey players of the past were so good that there is actually a skill named after them - the Indian Dribble. Let's hope this movie can inspire some young blood to bring some of that glory back to India.

Chak de India!
Here is the news item related to the actual Commonwealth Games that the Indian Hockey Women's team won under Mir Ranjan Negi. The actual win was a bit controversial. Read on!
India Deny England Gold

A few news articles highlighting the problems in the Indian Hockey camp:
1) Egos drag hockey team into sticky mess
2) Killer Instinct: Do we really lack it?
3) Dhanraj has attitude problem, says coach

Last, but not the least, the man himself, Mir Ranjan Negi
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070814/cth3.htm#2

Chak De India

Previous Reviews [1][2][3].

A marathi playing the role of a Chandigarh'ite, a Garhwali that of a Haryanvi, a Kerlaite that of a Bengali; isn't that the best example of National Integration? But even more, it is testimony to the script and direction of the movie - Chak De India!.

Chak De India, indeed excels in both the screenplay and direction. The story of Mir Ranjan Negi, rehashed as Kabir Khan's tale is inspiring - but the way each character in the movie is etched, is what makes it even more interesting. Whether it is the brash Komal Chautala (played by Chitrashi Rawat), the bright striker Preeti Sabarwal (Sagarika Ghatge) or the no-nonsense Nethra Reddy (Sandia Furtado) - each character is believable yet far from being stereotypical.

The story is based on the life of Mir Ranjan Negi - but the writer (Jaideep Sahni) has also successfully integrated issues like regionalism, groupism, and arrogance of seniors into it.

Shilpa Shukla gets full points for her portrayal of the arrogant senior Bindiya Naik. Similarly, the silent rivalry between bright players (Komal and Preeti) is well presented. I am sure each one of us have been through situations in school, college or workplace in which we have faced or witnessed all the above issues.

The screenplay should get 200/100 - for adding enough wit, humour into the seeming serious storyline. Komal Chautala's dialogues are outright witty, so are sequences illustrating the ignorance of Indians about each other's regions. Balbir Kaur is another funny character, and the sequence where the attendant asks Netra Reddy's about the difference between Tamil and Telugu is so typical of Delhi that one cannot but smile.

Coming to Shahrukh, Chak De once again proves that Shahrukh is a great actor - and it is more because of certain directors which he gets stereotyped. This is undoubtedly one of his best and most natural performances after Swades!!

Kafila- The Final Survivors

Overall Rating 4/10

Kafila is the movie based on real life story of Malta Boat Tragedy, few years back.

In between the exams i went to see it , as i wanted the break. I knew the movie is not that good, but still went for it with least expectations. I went for it, cause I am Punjabi and for a punjabi its very tough to resist Sunny Deol's movie.

The movie had all the larger than life figure of Sunny. But there were some good things I didn't expect from it. The good things were actual shooting in Afganisthan and erstwhile USSR. Then there was realistic portrayal of giant sea wave. And above all the over portrayal of skin of hot Russian babes.

The story line is good till second last phase of movie, with the theme in this world of greed ' Expect Unexpected!!'.

Also it shows national integeration spirit and also that Pakistani's and Bangaldeshi's also share emotions like us.

The movie tried to portray that the good relations are possible between India & Pakistan, only thing required is true will.

Above all it gave a beautiful message, that ' Home is ultimately Home' and its landing oneselves into cruel and brutal circumstances by embracing illegal means of immigration.

I am just wondering, why it took so many years for such a movie to come out. Had it come out earlier, it might have saved many Indians from undergoing the grind of illegal immigration.

At last, seeing the movies like Kabul Express, Krish and Kafila, I feel happy that Bollywood is at least trying to come out with better graphics and true depiction of real life stories.

Zodiac - Meticulous

Cast : Jake Gyllenhal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr.

Rating: 6.5/10

I went to this movie with my mind full of expectations of a psycho thriller which would end with a twist that wud stun me, because thats what David Fincher has always given me. Be it Se7ev or Fight club or The game, he has never dissapointed. In a way the end does surprise me, but not in the way I wanted. It is after all a movie based on real life events and real case files and hence there is no artistic freedom to David.

The movie is meticulously made - because it plots down 22 years of pursuit of a killer named ZODIAC, from 1969 to 1991. Its about this serial killer who has an unconfirmed number of killings.He appeared first in 1969 and then killed people with gaps of months and even years. It shows the pursuit of 3 people - 1) Journalist - Downey Jr. 2) Cartoonist - Jake Gyllenhal and 3) Policeman - Mark Ruffalo, who tried to solve the mystery of this killer. This killer used to send letters to the Press and tell them how he killed people and if they did not put weird crypted notes on the front page he would kill more. Also, he used the cypher symbol and the name ZODIAC which he picked from a watch brand. This killer was hungry for Publicity and tried various stunts to get that. 22 years of pursuit by the 3 guys is shown painstakingly.

Acting is top class and Downey Jr. gives his role the Johnny Depp- Jack Sparrow kinda spunk. The movie does has its boring bits, but again it is because the movie traces all the events that occured during the pursuit. It also has some loose ends, which seem stunning because if that would have been the case, police would have caught the killer much earlier. It some how depicts the lack of coordination between the police officers in various states of the US. But the atmosphere and the detailing is meticulous (I cant find a better word). I think David should return to the SHOCK genre he belongs to after this, because he has done a good job on real life stuff - but I rather have his shocking fantasies. Watch this 2 and a half hour movie for the story and dont hope for a twist which you cannot comprehend.