chakde

1. Chak De! India
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Chak De! India
Publicity poster for Chak De! India
Directed by Shimit Amin
Produced by Aditya Chopra
Yash Chopra
Written by Jaideep Sahni
Starring Shahrukh Khan
Vidya Malvade
Sagarika Ghatge
Chitrashi Rawat
Shilpa Shukla
Tanya Abrol
Anaitha Nair
Shubhi Mehta
Seema Azmi
Nisha Nair
Arya Menon
Sandia Furtado
Masochon V. Zimik
Kimi Laldawla
Raynia Mascerhanas
Vivan Bhatena
Music by Salim Merchant
Sulaiman Merchant
Cinematography Sudeep Chatterjee
Editing by Amitabh Shukla
Distributed by Yash Raj Films
Release date(s) 10 August 2007
Running time 153 min.
Country India
Language Hindi, English
Budget 24 crore [1]
Gross revenue 105,48,00,000
$ 21,505,244[1]
Chak De! India (Hindi: चक द इं िियाEnglish: "Go For It, India!")[2] is a 2007
े
Bollywood sports film about field hockey in India. It is directed by Shimit Amin,

2. produced by Yash Raj Films, and stars Shahrukh Khan as Kabir Khan, the former
captain of the Indian hockey team. After a disastrous loss to the Pakistani hockey
team, Khan is ostracized from the sport. He and his mother are further forced from
their ancestral home by angry neighbors. Seven years later in an attempt to redeem
himself, Khan becomes the coach for the Indian women's hockey team with the
goal of turning its sixteen contentious players into a champion team. After leading
the women's team to the Gold, Khan restores his reputation and returns with his
mother to their home, welcomed by those who had shunned them years before.
Chak De! India explores religious bigotry, the legacy of partition, ethnic/regional
prejudice, and sexism in contemporary India through field hockey.[3][4][5]
Screenwriter Jaideep Sahni decided to write a fictional screenplay based on the
winning of the Gold by the Indian women's field hockey team at the 2002
Commonwealth Games after reading about it in the newspaper.[6][7] Thus the
characters, while inspired by the real team and coaches, were invented by Sahni.[8]
Although some media outlets compared Kabir Khan to real-life hockey player Mir
Ranjan Negi,[9] Sahani has stated that he was unaware of Negi's tribulations while
writing the script and that the resemblance with Negi's life was coincidental.[10]
Earning over Rs 639 million, Chak De! India was the fourth highest grossing movie
of 2007 in India [11] and was critically acclaimed.[12] Chak De! India has won
numerous awards (including eight for Best Film) and received the National Film
Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.[13] The
suspension of the Indian Hockey Federation in April 2008 emphasized the film's
influence. After a new hockey council was formed, former hockey player, Aslam
Sher Khan, stated in an interview, "We have to make a Team India as you have
seen in bollywood blockbuster Chak De! India. There are players from several parts
of the country. We have to unite them to make a powerful force."[14]
Plot
The film opens in Delhi, India during the final minutes of the Hockey World Cup.
The game is between the Pakistan men's national field hockey team and the India
men's national field hockey team, with Pakistan leading, 1-0. When Indian team
captain and hockey superstar, Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) is fouled, he elects to
take the penalty stroke himself. However, his strike flies just above the goal, and
India suffers a crushing defeat. Soon after, the media begins to circulate a
photograph of him accepting a handshake from the head of the Pakistani team,
speculating that Khan (who is a Muslim)[5] might have "thrown" the game as an act
of sympathy towards Pakistan. The religious prejudice exhibited towards Khan by

3. the entire society at large [4][5] forces him and his mother out of their ancestral
home and into exile.
Seven years later, Indian sport officials are surprised to learn that Khan wants to
coach the Indian woman's field hockey team, a job no one else wants (as, an
official indicates, the only long term role for women is to "cook and clean"). Khan
thus finds himself in charge of a group of 16 women from all sections of India, who
are divided by their own competitive natures and individual prejudices. One of the
youngest players, Komal Chautala (Chitrashi Rawat) (from a village in Haryana)
conflicts with Preeti Sabarwal (Sagarika Ghatge) from Chandigarh whom she refers
to somewhat derisively as "memsaab" while tough girl Balbir Kaur (Tanya Abrol)
from the Punjab has an extremely short temper that impacts the team. Balbir also
bullies Rani Dispotta (Seema Azmi) and Soimoi Kerketa (Nisha Nair), who are both
from remote villages in Jharkhand. Mary Ralte (Kimi Laldawla) from Mizoram and
Molly Zimik (Masochon "Chon Chon" Zimik) from Manipur (in North-East India) are
both treated as "foreign" by virtually everyone they meet and face repeated sexual
harassment. The team's captain, Vidya Sharma (Vidya Malvade), is forced to
choose between hockey and the wishes of her husband's family, while Preeti's
boyfriend, the (fictional) vice captain of the India national cricket team Abimanyu
Singh (Vivan Bhatena), is deeply threatened by her involvement with the team.
Khan realizes that he can only turn the girls into a winning team if he can help them
to overcome these divisions and learn to cooperate with and help each other. Thus
during the first few days, he benches a number of players who refuse to conform to
his rules, including the most experienced player, Bindia Naik (Shilpa Shukla). In
response, she repeatedly attempts to encourage the players to revolt against Khan.
Bindia finally succeeds and in anger, Khan resigns. As a sign of good will, however,
he invites the staff and team to a going away lunch. The anger that the team felt
towards Khan and each other evaporates, however, when some local boys make a
pass at Mary and Molly. In response, Balbir attacks them, an act which leads to a
brawl between the boys and the entire team. Khan, recognizing that this is their first
instance of working together as a team, repeatedly prevents the staff from
intervening. His only action is to stop a man from striking one of the women with a
cricket bat from behind, telling him that there are no cowards (with a double
entendre meaning of the Hindi word for coward) in hockey.[15] After the fight, the
women (now bonded as a team) beg Khan to remain as their coach.
This newly found unity serves them through a series of additional challenges. When
hockey officials suddenly decide not to send the women's team to Australia for The
World Championship, the girls unite in a challenge match against the men’s team.

4. Despite losing this match, their superb performance on the field forces the officials
to change their mind and send the team to The World Championship. Once in
Australia, the team faces a number of difficult matches with teams such as the
Hockeyroos (Australia), the Black Sticks Women (New Zealand), the Las Leonas
(Argentina), and the South Korean team (known for its use of the man-to-man
marking technique). While initially still working to overcome their differences
throughout the matches, the girls learn to act as a single unit. This move eventually
leads them to victory and the restoration of Khan’s good name. In doing so, they
not only destroy the prejudices which once separated them, but prove to their
families and country the merit of women's athletics. At the end, Khan returns with
his mother to their ancestral home, welcomed by those who had shunned them
years before.
[edit]
Background
A short article about the winning of the Gold by the women's team at the 2002
Commonwealth Games inspired screenwriter Jaideep Sahni to create a film about
the Indian Women's Hockey Team.[8] Director Shamit Amin noted the lack of
coverage of the women's team by the media and stated that "there are a lot of odds
these players are up against".[16]
The media often compared hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi (who faced accusations
of throwing the match against Pakistan during the 1982 Asian Games) with the
character of Kabir Khan in the media.[9][17][18][19][20] In response Negi commented
that, "this movie is not a documentary of Mir Ranjan Negi's life".[21] Sahani has also
stated that he was unaware of Negi's tribulations while writing the script and that
the resemblance with Negi's life was coincidental.[10][22] Negi joined the production
team after his name was suggested by the national coach of the women's team
Maharaj Krishan Kaushik, who was with the team when it won the Commonwealth
Games’ gold in 2002.
The screenplay drew from interviews with current members of the women's field
hockey team as well as the coaches. Kaushik later noted that:
Many of the incidents shown in the movie are true. How the coach actually throws a
girl out when she is not listening, and then goes out himself and there are three to
four other girls also standing there because they disobeyed his instructions. This
happened with Pritam Siwach [...] The scene where they start fighting, happened to
us when we were returning from a game in Bangalore, and some boys started

5. passing comments [...] The actual game-situations we had to actually challenge
another team after being disallowed from participating in an international
tournament's qualifiers, and give it in writing, that we will qualify [...] And lastly the
coach's portrayal, he goes to the match on a scooter. The team wins, but he still
returns on a scooter. So the Coach's stature and status, you know, is always here.
[22]
In addition, Sahni noted that, "the story of Chak De was deeply inspired by the real
life story of ex Chief National Coach Maharaj Krishan Kaushik and his Indian
Women's hockey team's real feat of winning the Commonwealth and many other
championships."[23]
Development
After Sahini approached them both, Kaushik and Negi became involved with the
development of the film. Sahini first met with Kaushik and later recalled that, "M K
Kaushik and his girls taught us all we knew about hockey. Then he recommended
Negi to us, because when we finished writing and finished casting, we needed
someone to train the girls. Negi assembled a team of hockey players to train the
girls."[22] Kaushik also states in the same interview that, "I taught him everything
about the game, starting from how the camp is conducted, how the girls come from
different backgrounds and cultures, the psychological factors involved. Also how
the coach faces pressure to select girls from different states and teams."[22]
Sahini then contacted Negi and asked him to coach the actors portraying the
hockey team. While not initially enthusiastic about being involved in the film, Negi
changed his mind after reading the screenplay. Negi coached the cast stating, "I
trained the girls for six months. Waking up at 4, traveling from Kandivili to
Churchgate. We would retire around 11 in the night. It was tiring. But we were on a
mission [...] They couldn’t run; couldn’t hold the hockey sticks. I ensured none of
them [would have to] cut their nails or eyebrows (as the players do). The girls have
worked very hard. I salute them."[9] Some of the actors however, such as Chitrashi,
Sandia, and Raynia were cast because they were actual hockey players.[24]
ReelSports, under the direction of Sport Action Director Rob Miller,[25][26] also
worked with Negi to train the girls and Shahrukh Khan for the film. Of working with
Khan, Negi recalled that everything was planned, "including the penalty stroke that
SRK missed. That shot alone took us nearly 20 hours as I was keen that it should
be very realistic. I took the help of a lot of my former teammates. But more
importantly, it was so easy working with SRK. He is unbelievably modest and was
willing to do as many re-takes as we wanted."[27]

6. Chak De! India was filmed in India and Australia. The Australian portions were
filmed in Sydney and Melbourne and used 90 hockey players cast by ReelSports
Solutions and 9000 extras.[28]
Box office
Chak De! India was released worldwide on 10 August 2007. It became the third top
grossing movie of 2007 in India, with revenues of Rs 67,69,00,000 domestically,[11]
and was declared a "Blockbuster."[11] In the U.S, it opened at number 20, in the UK
charts at number 11, and in Australia at number 12.[33] It earned a total Rs 35
million in the United Kingdom, Rs 47.5 million in North America, and Rs 35 million
for the rest of the overseas proceeds.[34]
[edit]
Critical reception
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave Chak De! India a rating of 80%,
based upon 5 reviews (4 fresh and 1 rotten).[35]
Chak De! India was critically acclaimed in India and abroad. Subhash K. Jha (film
critic and author of The Essential Guide to Bollywood) gave the film a rave review
stating, "First things first. Chak De India is an outright winner. A triumph of the spirit.
And of craftsmanship. While director Shimit Amin has crafted a film with immense
staying power , and exception integrity and gusto, the thought-process behind the
endearing endeavour harks back to a series of well-crafted Hollywood films about
the team spirit, the low-spirited tream and the burnt-out disgraced and exiled coach
who motivates the team and galvanizes his own dormant spirit into a wide-alert
status." [36] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India gave the film 4 out of 4 stars and
argues that it has "great performances by a bunch of unknowns, a gritty pace and a
marvellous restraint make Chakde India an unbridled ode to patriotism without any
hysterical chest-beating. And yes, for all you SRK fans and bashers, this time the
verdict gotta be unanimous: Chakde Shah Rukh! Can you better this?"[3] India
Today describes Chak De! India as, "the most feisty girl power movie to have come
out of Bollywood ever. The girls, from the truculent Haryanvi Komal to the angry
Bindiya, from the Punjabi Balbir to the very proper Punjabi, Chandigarh ki kudi
Preeti, may be drawn from stereotypes but they shatter them with aggressive
performances, staring Khan in the eye, almost defeating the Indian men’s hockey
team, assaulting a gang of boys and showing the six-time Australian team a thing

7. or two about how to win." [37] Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu asks "when did we last
make a solid ensemble film about sports — one that’s not about a few players
saving the day but about the triumph of teamwork? ‘Chak De’ is that rare film where
the hero watches from the stands and lets a bunch of ‘what’s-her-name-again’ girls
do all the winning [...] At another level, ‘Chak De’ is about women’s liberation. It is
one of the best feminist films of our times. Next, the girls themselves are the closest
we’ve seen to a representation of India in any sports movie we’ve seen. They are
not 16 pretty young things. The casting is first-rate. The rawness in the
performances actually makes you forget these are actors. Though we begin by
warming up to the ethnic/race differences among the players, soon enough, Amin
skirts their inter-racial conflicts behind the uniform, the great leveller."[38]
Anil Sinanan of The Times adds that, "First time director Shimit Amin has fashioned
a gripping film: we keep rooting for our girls even though it is fairly obvious what the
final result will be. This is achieved via a script which eliminates most of the usual
trappings of the formula, and focuses on the game. Romance is absent, parents are
sidelined and no one breaks out into song and dance, Lagaan-style whilst
training."[2] Jaspreet Pandohar of The BBC gave Chak De! India 4 out of 5 stars
stating that, "while the tale of the sporting underdog is hardly new, Jaideep Sahni's
screenplay offers a rare look at a popular Indian sport often overshadowed by
cricket. But it's not the type of bat and ball, or the number of practice sessions that
are at issue here. Instead, the gender and personal prejudices of the players
underpin the story."[39] Andy Webster of The New York Times argues that the film
gave a fresh look to the conventional underdog sports film and compared the
premise to the win at the FIFA Women's World Cup.[40] Kirk Honeycutt of The
Hollywood Reporter argues that the film is "definitely Bollywood, ashamed of
neither sentimentality nor predictability. Yet its sharp-eyed view of Indian society
makes for a world of difference from old-style, sugar-coated Bollywood films."[41]
Derek Elley of Variety describes the film as "a patriotic heartwarmer that scores
some old-fashioned entertainment goals" and that it "is almost an anthem for India's
new-found economic clout and its recent 60th-anniversary celebrations of
independence from U.K. rule -- and it gets a stirring title song from composing team
Salim-Sulaiman and lyricist Jaideep Sahni (who also scripted). Thus, it's hardly a
surprise when the team of 16 girls from all over India finally get it together to beat
the bejeezus out of their international opponents." [42] Apart from critics, Chak De!
India tied with Taare Zameen Par for best film of 2007 according to various
Bollywood movie directors such as Madhur Bhandarkar, David Dhawan, Rakeysh
Omprakash Mehra, Anurag Basu, and Sriram Raghavan.[12]

8. On 30 August 2007, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences requested a
copy of the Chak De! India script for a place in the Margaret Herrick library.[43]
[edit]
Awards
Main article: List of Chak De India awards
Chak De! India has won numerous awards including eight for Best Film from: The
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild, The Australian Indian Film Festival, The
Billie Awards, The International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA), The Star
Screen Awards, The UNFPA-Laadli Media Awards, The V. Shantaram Awards, and
The Zee Cine Awards. It also received the National Film Award for Best Popular
Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.[13]
[edit]
Special screenings
Chak De! India was screened on 30 May 2009 at the opening of the SPAR Cup in
Durban, South Africa in order to welcome the Indian Women's National Field
Hockey Team.[44] The SPAR Cup is a lead up to the 2009 Hockey Champions
Challenge in October. India competed against three other teams: Hockeyroos, Las
Leonas, and the South African Women's National Field Hockey Team.[45]
[edit]
Impact
[edit]
Suspension of IHF
The suspension of the Indian Hockey Federation in April 2008 emphasized the
film's influence. India Today used the film to label the event in two articles titled,
"Operation Chak De impact: Jothikumaran resigns" [46] and "Operation Chak de
impact: Furore in Lok Sabha."[47] The Indiatimes, in an article titled, "Five wise men
set for a 'Chak De' act" also argued, "It looks like Indian hockey has done a real
'Chak de' this time around."[48] In addition, former hockey player, Aslam Sher Khan,
who was appointed by the Indian Olympic Association to head a committee which
will replace the IHF, pointed to the film as a model to work towards. He stated in an
interview, "We have to make a Team India as you have seen in bollywood
blockbuster Chak De! India. There are players from several parts of the country.
We have to unite them to make a powerful force." [14] In another interview, he
emphasized that he wants "to create a Chak De effect" on hockey in India.[49]
[edit]

9. Soundtrack
Chak De! India
Soundtrack by Salim-Sulaiman
Released 1 August 2007
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Length 28:92
Producer Aditya Chopra
Professional reviews
Rediff [50]
Bollywood Hungama [51]
Salim-Sulaiman chronology
Dor
(2006)Chak De! India
(2007)Aaja Nachle
(2007)
The soundtrack for Chak De! India was released on 1 August 2007 and is
composed by Salim-Sulaiman with lyrics by Jaideep Sahni. The title song, Chak
De! India, has become an unofficial sports anthem for India.[52] Salim and
Suleimaan Merchant composed the song with this intention.[53]
No. Title Singers Length
1. "Chak De! India" Sukhwinder
Singh, Salim
4:43
Merchant,
Marianne D'Cruz
2. "Badal Pe Paon
Hema Sardesai 4:05
Hain"
3. "Ek Hockey
K K, Shahrukh
Doongi Rakh 5:36
Khan
Ke"
4. "Bad Bad Girls" Anushka
3:39
Manchanda
5. "Maula Mere Le Krishna Beura,
4:47
Le Meri Jaan" Salim Merchant
6. "Hockey Remix"
Midival Punditz 5:17
7. "Sattar Minute" Shahrukh Khan 2:05
The DVD was released by Yash Raj Films on 3 November 2007 as a 2 DVD pack.
Subtitles in English, Arabic, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Tamil and Malayalam

10. languages are available for the feature film. The companion DVD with special
features includes 32 minutes of deleted scenes (without subtitles), music videos, a
documentary on the making of the film, and guest appearances by the Chak De
Girls and members of the India women's national field hockey team on CNN-IBN
and NDTV.