The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : ‘Chak De’ promises to be a winner Film review

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Saturday, Aug 11, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

‘Chak De’ promises to be a winner Film review

Film: Chak De India

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan

Director: Shimit Amin

In the land of a billion people with a solitary Olympic medal, sports films are understandably non-starters. Little surprise, ‘Chak De India’, despite being a Yash Raj film, and boasting of Shah Rukh Khan in its ranks, has arrived without the hullabaloo.

A slow starter, the film eventually turns out to be a fairly involving saga of one man’s nightmare that rode roughshod over a nation’s dream. And his own personal dream that he nurses for seven years after the loss.

Drawing liberally from the life of former goalkeeper M.R. Negi, who was accused of the worst following the debacle at the hands of Pakistan in the 1982 Asiad, director Shimit Amin cloaks the reality with doses of fantasy. Of course, there is cinematic liberty, but the resemblance is still quite plain and clear: Amin’s hero, Shah Rukh as Kabir Khan, is a centre forward – in real life, it was the goalie – who had failed the final test. One loss, and the hero is termed a traitor. However, it is a taint the not-so-young man is determined to erase. The salvation comes in the form of an opportunity to coach the much-derided women’s hockey team.

ZIYA US SALAM

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