Chak De India - Lessons in building a kick ass team

Just finished watching the third test between India and England. This live telecast will be remembered not for the performance of India which resulted a test series win in England after 21 years, but for the constant IRRITATION provided by the background music of chak de india for every replay, even the commentary box was graced by the presence of the Badshah King Khan. And if this was not enough there were the visuals of Indian cricketers with Indian flag with the background score of chak de india in the after match show also. For five full days the cricket lovers were made to compulsory listen the chak de india song just to see the match live.

The movie which has lot of negative aspects to say about cricket telecast and how it affects other sports in India, uses live cricket telecast to market itself !!!! . Fate it seems is not without a sense of irony.

Well said agnipankh!

@aish2kar
You call the team in chak de a team? Led by a captain, who has not a single dialog with the team? The team comprised of 16 but barring preeti, balbir and komal which other team member had any contribution whatsoever? Balbir had some skill at least but that too because of her physical built. What skills did the other 12 have? Did the writer forget about them? Bindiya did something towards the end. That too was totally unexplained. In the first place, why did kabir khan remove her from her primary strength position? Can you explain?

Do you even remember Aliya Bose, Gunjan Lakhani, Soimoi, Nethra Reddy, Gul Iqbal, Molly Zimik and Mary Ralte? Well I do not either. I copied these names from some site. Even that site did not have the names of the other players. What role did they play in the "team"?

Excuse me but your "kick ass team" won only because Mr Director wanted that. Otherwise no wise man can see any such potential in the team. The coach united the team. At least that is what I was made to believe. But did the team ever realize what did the coach do for them? Not a single scene in that respect, why??? There was not even a single eye contact of any player with the coach after the final match, why???

Now, if you compare chak de with lagaan...I can bet you'll still remember most of the team members' names and their specific skill set, which led them to victory.

And don't tell me that the screen time of 2:30 hrs does not allow that. That is what we call screenplay. And I repeat, Chak De could have been much better if it was written well.

Trying hard not to compare Chak De with Hollywood movies.....but even mediocre films with a moderate budget like Glory Road and Coach Carter had much better screenplays and performances than this one.....

I was able to associate more with some punk from Richmond than our own girls because in a short time I was given a glimpse of his life and made to realize what it's like to face real hardship and when that guy accomplishes something that big which their respective team does, it makes it that much more powerful.....

I think my favorite sports movie in India is Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander, where you actually see the transformation of a callous young guy into a serious contender and you actually root for him.....Lagaan as Vijay pointed out had some really cool team dynamics moments which were never seen before in a Bollywood movie.....

Chak De is good but its not that great which SRK fans are making you believe.....when compared with movies like these it doesn't stand a chance....I think Aish2kar you should rent the DVDs of the two movies I mentioned (the hollywood ones) and maybe rethink the whole kickass team concept....

@agnipankh: Do you know that hockey is India's national game? Please count me the names of 5 national level hockey players. The reason why cricket was mentioned in the movie is that it's the reality in Indian sports. Cricket players are paid in huge numbers, while football and hockey players get peanuts.
That's why I mentioned in the review "..for taking the path lesser traveled - i.e. hockey (and not cricket)."

@Vijay: The team has certain set of rock stars, a few great execut-ioners and a few followers. you don't have to remember all the 11 players in the movie (otherwise you end up making 3.5 hrs lagaan sort of movie).
"did the team ever realize what did the coach do for them?" - If not, then why did they say sorry to him@ McD outlet? Point I am trying to make is that a few emotions can be displayed in subtle manner and not really a need to get too verbose about it..
"if you compare chak de with lagaan" - Is that you really want to do? Compare apples with oranges? The two movies are diff. they talk about diff games..one very popular theme (cricket), the other - not at all popular.
"Chak De could have been much better if it was written well" - Well, there are always areas of improvement.
But overall, its a bold step for bollywood and I have lotsa respect for the team. SRK included.

@Ashish Sinha
That don't convince me much.

I am not really comparing Lagaan with Chak De. If I do that, I would not even give 2.5 stars to Chak De. It stands no chance. The point I wanted to make was I did not see the chak de team as a "team" in the first place. At least in the games they could have shown some contribution from the other players. 3 out of 16 contributing don't make a team. Again, my comment was in "kick ass team" reference and not movie in general.

Honestly speaking if it was not for Shah Rukh, the movie would not even been discussed so much. I think, that speaks a lot about the "movie", without getting too verbose :)

@Vijay
"Excuse me but your "kick ass team" won only because Mr Director wanted that."

No its not that the director wanted it to happen, its because it DID happen. This is based on a true story if you didn't know.

I haven't watched the movie yet, but i just wanted to make that point clear. Argue away..

Also i wanted to add. There was a little talk about comparing Lagaan and Chak de, and how one poster said its like comparing apples and oranges. Actually no its not. Its the same genre, sports. Yes different sports but same genre. Like how you can compare Burger King and McDonalds. They are fast food restuarants and both sell burgers, but they sell different types. Thats what makes them two different stores. But we still compare them because they fall in the same genre even though they sell different types of items. Just like Lagaan and Chak de, same genre but different sports. Thats my analogy.

@Digger
I know it did happen. If your argument is that then what was the need of the movie to begin with? If you assume the audience knows everything and do not show how it actually happened, what's the point? Do you call chak de team a team if 80% of the team is shown insignificant?

@Digger:
Good that you raised that point about apples and oranges. Here is why cricket and hockey are like apples and oranges to the audience.
[Cricket]
a. You dont need to build context around the game. It comes naturally to us. We all are aware of technicality of the game.
Take football - how many positions are you aware of? I know only center fwd, goalie and a few others (which i dont remember) - You might say, I am a dumb. Fair. So are others.
You NEED to build a context for the game (and spend some time on that) - And I think that was director's most intelligent part - he DIDNT CONCENTRATE on the other aspect of the game. And that's why he restricted to only a few players (otherwise it could have been a lesson on learn "how to play football")

I believe the two movies shouldn't be compared - lagaan rides on the popular sport, while CHak de doesnt.
The heroes are diff - In lagaan, it was the player. In Chak de.it's the coach.

PS: I am not a SRK Fan!, but quite impressed with his performance in chak de

@Vijay
I guess you are completely lost. When you put questions like : "In the first place, why did kabir khan remove her from her primary strength position? Can you explain?"..I guess, here you are trying to make "Chak De India" on your own....but here, director's work is very appreciative. He did a commendable job.
And do you really want me to answer your question? I guess, you didnt care to listen carefully enough..SRK says in the movie "She's a senior player and the team needs her stength from the mid-field". What she's been doing till now was not good enough and that was the reason the team never won anything.
On a second note, if you raise such trivial points about an otherwise fine movie, you put your own observation and deduction skills to test.

I have been a regular reader of this site but lately after reading reviews of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Partner and now Chak de............

@Pushkar
I am usually not that fussy about petty details but this post provoked me. It's hard to believe how can anyone say Chak De is a movie to take lessons in building a kick ass team! It's a decent movie just go and enjoy it. Why make exaggerated statements like this? There are so many better movies on team building that would put chak de to shame. Glory Road, Coach Carter (rightly mentioned by Rajat above) and why go to Hollywood when we have our own Lagaan - to name a few.

Regarding the second part of your comment, that's purely subjective. What you may like might not be necessarily liked by others too. I would still say Jhoom Barabar Jhoom was a decent enough movie with great music. It made me laugh. And I enjoyed it thoroughly. Whereas Partner was a pathetic movie. I second Sunil's review.

Pushkar you are nice man and so is Vijay.....you just like different movies.....the whole point of this site is to allow others to provide their opinions so that there is no single main reviewer.....if you thought our reviews of those movies was wrong, please do what Aish2Kar and Shaan have done, write your own reviews or opinions.....we'll publish it

Can someone please upload Chak de India on this site. PLEASE!!!! I'm dying to see it.

@Pushkar:
SRK says in the movie "She's a senior player and the team needs her stength from the mid-field". What she's been doing till now was not good enough and that was the reason the team never won anything." -

THis is exactly the reason, why director didn't spend lot of time in discussing the nitty gritty of the game (most of us didn't care to or don't understand the game).

Hockey, I repeat doesn't come naturally to us. Atleast most of us.
And the director handled the ignorance-yet-India's-team-spirit very well.

Anonymous we'll put it as soon as we find it.....

I HAVENT SEEN FOOLISH PEOPLE WASTING TIME ON FOOLISH DISCUSSIONS EVER BEFORE !!!
TO THIS EXTENT ???

Hocky is our National game and it was very greatful to watch the hocky cum the Chak DE India Movie.We always be to proud this game because we are Indians and we have to support this game. Do you know that hockey is India's national game? Please count me the names of 5 national level hockey players. The reason why cricket was mentioned in the movie is that it's the reality in Indian sports. Cricket players are paid in huge numbers, while football and hockey players get peanuts.
That's why I mentioned in the review "..for taking the path lesser traveled - i.e. hockey (and not cricket)."
The team has certain set of rock stars, a few great execut-ioners and a few followers. you don't have to remember all the 11 players in the movie (otherwise you end up making 3.5 hrs lagaan sort of movie).
"did the team ever realize what did the coach do for them?" - If not, then why did they say sorry to him@ McD outlet? Point I am trying to make is that a few emotions can be displayed in subtle manner and not really a need to get too verbose about it..
"if you compare chak de with lagaan" - Is that you really want to do? Compare apples with oranges? The two movies are diff. they talk about diff games..one very popular theme (cricket), the other - not at all popular.
"Chak De could have been much better if it was written well" - Well, there are always areas of improvement.
But overall, its a bold step for bollywood and I have lotsa respect for the team. SRK included.