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smellyNow Playing: Shah Rukh Khan's movie on nationalism restores losing pride
Topic: POSER ON PATRIOTISM
Hindi flicks, any movie buff would tell you, have changed a lot in the 21st Century. If they have been good, bad or tepid lately, though, is a matter of conjecture. But Chuk de India, the latest Shah Rukh Khan release, shows that Hindi film industry is not obsessed with inane issues or terrorist-are-victims-of-circumstances stories. Chuk de India will perhaps go down in the annals of Indian film industry's history as the most nationalist movie ever made.
Though the production values slacken at several places, the movie comes through as the most cogent vehicle to promote nationalism -- a bad word these days. The script has included so many messages for the countrymen and it has been done with finesse. Chuk de India also means Hindi film industry has come a long way from Manoj Kumar's melodrama and Sunil Dutt's understated performances. The fatigue over watching such movies perhaps gave Chuk de a slow start at the box office, but the hyperactive internet community of young Indians has given it the momentum to make it a formidable success. Running into fourth week the interest does not seem to flag.
The story of Chuk de India begins with Indian hockey captain Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) missing a goal and losing the game to Pakistan. Kabir Khan, like Amitabh in Kala Pathar, is called a traitor and faces brazen criticism of being a Pakistani mole in the team. He lives through the ignominy and even the media as well as his neighbours don't support him. Shah Rukh Khan appears highly motivated to play this role and he does wonderfully well. To retrieve his lost honour he approaches the Hockey Association with his proposal to make the women's hockey team worthy of the ensuing World Cup. When they don't entertain him he approaches the National Hockey Camp where he starts training 16 young girls who are state champions. Predictably, he goes on to coach them to victory in the World Cup.
The way director Shimit Amin handles the roles of the maverick players in the team has to be seen to be believed. Especially, Shah Rukh Khan's repeated instructions to his team members to play for the country giving up their regional biases sound so credible. With the regional political parties calling the shots at the Centre over the last decade, regionalism has become fashionable with language-based biases gaining legitimacy. In such circumstances there is the desperate need for movies like Chuk de India to make it abundantly clear that "nationalism comes first, your team-mates come next and if there are any feelings left, keep it for your state". Also, in these times when Islamic terrorism is gaining currency even in educated circles, movies like Chuk de India can prompt Shah Rukh Khan's millions of fans to realise that love for the country is above all other emotions.
The women hockey players in the movie have been chosen well, though they might look like a motley crowd of incongruous team-mates in comparison to the foreign teams playing against them. Kabir Khan's team gets the message of diversity of this country come through effectively. Vidya Malvade as Vidya Sharma, Sagarika Ghatge as Preeti Sabarwal, Chitrashi Rawat as Komal Chautala, Shilpa Shukla as Bindia Naik, Tanya Abrol as Balbir Kaur, Anaitha Nair as Aliya Bose, Shubhi Mehta as Gunjan Lakhani, Seema Azmi as Rani Dispotta, Nisha Nair as Soimoi Kerketa, Sandia Furtado as Nethra Reddy, Arya Menon as Gul Iqbal, Masochon V. Zimik as Molly Zimik, Kimi Laldawla as Mary Ralte, Kimberly Miranda as Rachna Prasad, Nichola Sequeira as Nichola Sequeira and Raynia Mascarenhas as Raynia Fernandes are appropriately chosen to represent various states.
What really hits the conscience of the viewers is the treatment meted out to the people from north-east and how people from the backward, yet richly naturally endowed states like Jharkhand, are considered as outcast or at best, as guests in this country. The girl players from north-eastern states bluntly tells the association official that they don't feel great to be be treated so. The girls from Jharkhand become the butt of jokes for others in the hip Delhi locality for their ignorance of English language. But their contribution to win the World Cup held in Australia makes for touching scenes. Almost every frame in the film draws heavily on the things that are wrong not just with Indian sports, but in our attitude, our language biases, our skewed political culture and our inability to look at the larger good of the country for the sake of personal good or religion. Shah Rukh Khan single-handedly brings the team members to fight for the country, and the relevance of it is not lost on the viewers.
Producer Yash Chopra has got Salim and Sulaiman to compose the music for Chuk de India. The music might sound too loud like a jamming session, but for a movie on sports that is probably par for the course. The most difficult part of making a movie on sports though, lies in editing. Any slip in editing can have voluminous consequences, and some of the shots in Chuk de India with appropriate sound effects remind the viewer of Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby. Also, the shaky camera during the fisticuffs in the cloakroom where the players vent their dislike for each other is almost like a Hollywood movie. The direction and editing by Shimit Amin are world-class. The director earlier worked as an editor before venturing into direction. Shimit had earlier directed the police encounter story Ab Tak Chappan for producer Ram Gopal Verma. And cinematographer Vishal Sinha has given him company here too in Chuk de India, though Sudip Chatterjee is the boss in this department. The story has been woven by Jaideep Sahni. The film has been shot at several locations in Australia including Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane for the World Cup matches scenes. To tell our readers to watch a Shah Rukh Khan movie because it is good might be a little presumptuous, but if you have not seen it yet, you will never know what you have missed.
Posted by Anil Nair
at 10:02 AM
Updated: Tuesday, 11 September 2007 7:32 PM
