Chak De India preview

In the not-so-long list of sport-themed movies, here comes yet another one, Chak De India. But this one will be interesting to see, because Chak De India is not based on India's Holy grail ---Cricket--but on Hockey, our much ignored national (?) game. And, bucking tradition and testosterone, Chak De India will focus on Women's hockey!

After KANK, Shah Rukh Khan once again plays a coach who is out to redeem himself. The same formula has been loosely applied to many movies before - Boxer (1965), Mein Intequam Loonga (1982), and the more recent Apne. All three movies have been based on boxing though, except the better executed Hip Hip Hooray (1984) that was based on soccer.

Chak De India is supposedly based on the life of the hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi, who was the goalkeeper of the National team, during the 1982 Asian games. India faced a humiliating defeat at the hands of Pakistan - a stunning 1-7. Later, Negi went on to coach the Indian Women's hockey team to win the gold at the Commonwealth games in Manchester. Apparently, the makers of Chak De India took lots of inputs from the Women's Hockey Association of India, and the association is hell-bent on a screening of the movie before the release.

Chak De India also marks the debut of model-turned-actress Vidya Malvade. It would be interesting to see how she fares later in her career, after her first release, since most of the actresses debuting with King Khan in the past have lived under the 'curse-of-the-Khan'. Examples such as Suchitra Krishnamurty (Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa), Mahima Choudhary (Pardes), Hrishita Bhatt (Asoka), and Gayatri Joshi (Swades) would be the few 'cursed' ones. Shilpa Shetty (Baazigar) almost made it to the list, had she not redeemed herself by appearances in the UK Big Brother and Metro. Hopefully, things won't be so bad for this pretty actress.

The new teasers of Chak De India now being aired on TV, are stylish, yet very subtle. The makers of the film are obviously playing the underdog theme close to the heart. 'Lagaan' had people wanting for more, even after the team wins, and everyone goes home very happy; each character had his own personalities, quirks, and qualities.

In the same breath, watching a particular promo for Chak-De reminded me of an earlier trailer of the movie Mortal Kombat, where the fighters come on screen in flashes, highlighting their fighting techniques. Catching on, the films' homepage has a complete synopsis of the movie, character profiles, and general promotional stuff. Be warned though, the website is video-heavy.

Enough said. Chak-De is the most awaited film of this year. The movie has been creating waves, since it went under production about two years ago. The film has everything going for it - the Shah Rukh Khan and the YashRaj duo, a fresh director - Shimit Amin, beautiful cinematography (judging by the promos), and an all-girls cast! The film is written by Jaideep Sahni, who has earlier written movies like Khosla ka Ghosla, and Company.

The film opens on 10th August, 2007.