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Home > Bollywood Movie Reviews > Chak De India To The Point And Honest APK | August 11, 2007 Rating: ***.75 (***** Very Good, **** Good, *** Fair, ** Average, * Bad) Art Director: Sukant Panigrahy. Cinematography: Sudeep Chatterjee. Costume Designer: Mandira Shukla-Shiraz Siddique. Editing: Amitabh Shukla. Music: Salim-Sulaiman. Sound Design: Manas Choudhary-Ali Merchant (YRF Studios). Sports Action Director: Rob Miller (Reel Sports). Story, Screenplay, Dialogues & Lyrics: Jaideep Sahni. Associate Director: Karan Kashyap. Director: Shimit Amin. Executive Producer: Aashish Singh. Presenter: Yash Chopra. Producer: Aditya Chopra. Banner: Yash Raj Films. Release Date: 10th August, 2007.  Chak De India is everything one would expect it to be, and nothing one would expect it to be. King Khan returns with a movie that is so not him. No huge sets, no grandiose picturization, no female leads crying and romancing him throughout and no synchronized dances. That is not SRK anymore. He does it, for a change, and what do you know! He's good at it. Shimit Amin has already directed a slick flick before this-Ab Tak Chhappan. This sports show is another feather in his cap.PS-it's supposedly based (loosely) on Mir Ranjan Negi, who got the Asian Cup as the women's team captain. Plot Kabir Khan misses a goal in the hockey World Cup and India loses, after which the media captures him shaking hands with the Pakistan Captain. India stamps him as a traitor and he has to leave his ancestral home, unable to bear the shame. 7 years later, he returns to good old hockey-this time as a coach for the women's team. His aim-to get home the world cup, a feat that the women's team cannot even dream of hitherto. Story, Screenplay and Direction After movies like Iqbal have made a place in the audiences hearts and movies like Goal (John Abraham-Arshad Warsi again) yet to come, we are always ready to watch a good sports movie. And hockey! A game so exciting, that to tackle the subject itself is enough to give on jitters. Amin does a good job, without overdoing anything and capturing every emotion felt in any tournament, big or small. So we have catfights and senior players, punishments and lessons; and people behind the players. A team composed of girls from AP to Punjab and Jharkhand to Mizoram, all playing for India. From playing for their glory, to the glory of the states and finally learning to be team players, Amin makes their journey enjoyable viewing. It's predictable, of course. But that does not make it any less fulfilling, as it tends to be a sports treat as much as a cinematic one. The narration is the straight, no-nonsense type. No frills and thrills here and that is the beauty of the movie. Background music by Salim-Sulaiman is very good. The editing and cinematography deserve a mention.  Performances SRK shines. Among the girls, each one makes a difference, as each is a unique character. Credit must be given to the writer and director, as they are mostly newcomers.Special mention, however must be given to a few key players. Bindia Naik (Shilpa Shukla), a bossy bully, Preeti Sabarwal (Sagarika Ghatge) whose ego clashes with her cricketer boyfriend's, her rival in the team, Komal Chautala (Chitrashi Rawat) and Punjab Di Kudi, tempestuous Balbir Kaur (Tanya Abrol) and the captain, Vidya Sharma (Vidya Malavade). All of them fit their roles perfectly and are extremely convincing. Music The title song is peppy, and Salim-Sulaiman's background score is good. Last Word The first half is spent in getting to know the team and the second half, we watch them play. The good, bad and ugly side of a team trying to play together and win a Herculean feat is definitely an interesting watch. Khan shows what he is made of, and we see a different side of him. Not the usual 'rondu', sympathy seeking character, Kabir Khan is a gutsy fighter. This movie might not be as lovable as an Iqbal, but it's to the point and honest, so 'Chak De' SRK. And his Team India. |