Chak De India

Ratings : * Avoidable ** Average *** Good **** Must Watch

Chak De India begins with the final minutes of a game between the Indian and Pakistani National Hockey Teams. Pakistan is leading 1 - 0 when Kabir is fouled. Although he did not have the ball, he is captain of the team and elects to take the penalty shot himself. However, his strike flies just above the goal, and India suffers a crushing defeat.

When a press photographer takes a picture of Kabir accepting a handshake from the head of the Pakistani team, Indian fans are outraged. Although the loss resulted only from a bad play, Kabir is accused of taking a bribe or deliberately throwing the game in sympathy with his co-religionists. An investigation is launched and Kabir is drummed out of the game. He collects his mother from the home his grandfather built, locks up the house amid cries of "Traitor" from his neighbors and disappears from public view. Seven years later, Indian sport officials have reluctantly decided to create an Indian Women's Hockey Team. No one wants to coach, and one of Kabir's former teammates is encouraged to accept the job so that he and his wife can get a free trip abroad. But unbeknownst to the officials, Kabir is waiting in reception and he is eager to take the job. Since there are no other candidates, Kabir is appointed coach.

For political reasons, the best female players from each Indian state have been chosen, without regard to the position each normally plays. Most have had to fight their family in order to join the team, and all are more loyal to their home state than to India. There is a funny "who's on first" routine between the stadium manager and some players from remote parts of India.

Kabir begins the difficult process of shaping them into a team by punishing a player who arrives late to the first practice and tossing out everyone who says she plays for her own state instead of India when introducing herself. Nevertheless, as soon as they enter the dormitory, the oldest players attempt to reintroduce the same old regional segregation, and there is much infighting.

Kabir sets a grueling training regimen, including 4 a.m., 10 k runs, speed tests and biting criticism of their performance in an effort to make them work together. He benches every player who gets into a fight or refuses to play the position he assigns her. In short order, five girls are benched. Only when they apologize are they permitted to play. The most experienced player, Bindia Naik (Shilpa Shukla), who resents being taken out of the forward line, sits on the bench for seven days before the other player from her state, who has also been benched, persuades Bindia to relent.

A couple of the players are also faced with ongoing family objections. The goalie is married, and her husband's parents are pressuring her to quit. And Preeti (Segarika Ghatge), a forward from the Railways Team, is engaged to the newly-appointed Vice-Captain of the Indian National Cricket Team. He makes no secret of his opinion that women's hockey is trivial, that only cricket is important, and that his fiancée should start living in the fast lane by giving up her inconsequential game and marrying him.

Kabir deliberately exhausts the women in the hope that if they all hate him, they will bond with each other. Unfortunately, his plan works too well, and they all sign a petition to have him removed as coach. He tells them that their attitude is a loss for India and resigns. But before he leaves, he invites his staff and the players to lunch at McDonalds. None of the women will sit with Kabir or the staff. But when a rude young man makes a pass at one of the players, she slaps him. The boy retaliates, and the team rallies to fight back. Soon, all the young men in the restaurant join in, but they are overwhelmed by the players. Kabir repeatedly prevents the staff from intervening because this is finally a bonding moment for the women. Kabir's only action is to prevent a man from striking one of the women with a cricket bat from behind, which Kabir says is not fair play.
The men are trounced and the players are finally united. Haltingly, and without actually saying so, they indicate that they want Kabir to stay as their coach. He agrees and orders them to report for practice at 5 a.m. the next day.

Just when things are looking up, the government officials decide that they will not send the women to the World Cup after all. Kabir's ex-teammate demands that they admit they intend to use that money for the men's team. But Kabir proposes a challenge: The women will play the men's team, and if the women win, they get to go to the World Cup. The match is set for the next day.

The men are stunned when they discover they are to play the women. The men quickly score 3 goals in the first half. The two most chauvinistic of the sport officials are thrilled. One of them comes onto the field at half-time as Kabir is trying to reenergize the women. The official repeats a litany of disparaging remarks about the proper place of women in Indian society (at home, in the kitchen) and their abilities (always inferior to men). This gives the women new strength, and they are able to score two goals against the men. In the final minutes, Komal (Chitrashi Rawat), another star forward who is smallest player on the team, refuses to pass the ball to Preeti, who is in scoring position, because neither will ever pass to the other. Koumal's shot is foiled, and the women lose. They are devastated.

But the men's captain honors the women, and the rest of the men's team follows suit. Then, most of the officials, who are the only spectators, rise and applaud, and the women show good sportsmanship by honoring the victors. The two chauvinistic officials have no choice but to agree to let the women go to the World Cup. The team's problems are not over, however. The team arrives in Australia, and there is real culture shock when they see the state-of-the-art training facilities and the scanty bathing suits worn by players from other countries. Worse still, the very first match is against the Australian team, which has won the Cup six times. The Australians play hard and score within the first minute, a new record.

One of the Indian players argues (in Panjabi) with an Australian referee and is given a penalty card. Another is unable to follow the referee's instructions because the player doesn't understand English. She, too, gets a penalty. Meanwhile, the Australians make a goal on every penalty shot, as well as other goals. Preeti and Komal continue to refuse to pass to each other, and this costs India. Australia wins, 7 - 0.

Moreover, Bindia is still not cooperating because she is angry that the goalie has been made team captain. She even propositions Kabir in an effort to be named team captain, but he refuses, letting her know that it is this very attitude that has caused her not to be chosen. Bindia is relegated to keeping the team water bottles full. In order to stay in the competition, India must win the next day against England. The first half is played to a 0 - 0 score. Then India manages to score in the second half and holds the lead, for a surprising victory.

The Indian team withstands tough play against Germany and returns the dirty tricks of the Argentine team tit for tat, although Preeti and Komal still refuse to work together, much to Kabir's frustration. As the Indian team wins one surprising victory after another, press and fans become more and more excited. One night, Kabir watches in awe as an Australian worker raises the Indian flag above the field. It's the first time Kabir has ever seen a "white man" raise the Indian flag, and Kabir feels enormous pride.

Then India must defeat Korea. The Korean team uses man-to-man marking, which Preeti, Komal, and the other forwards don't know how to overcome. Kabir tells Bindia that there is a job that only she can do for the team. Bindia goes into the game, and the Koreans are no match for her aggressive and experienced style of play. Now India will face Australia again in the finals. There is worldwide excitement about these underdogs who came back from the worst rout in World Cup history to reach the finals. Crates of new equipment arrive unexpectedly from the makers of athletic equipment. Kabir receives universal respect from his international peers. A special dinner is held for the two finalist teams the night before the big match. The Indian team enters demurely in matching saris marked with the national colors. The Australians parade in black evening gowns, each one different. But the matching saris cannot conceal the fact that the Indian team is still not unified the way the Australians are.

Preeti and Komal are lured onto the field by misleading messages. As each accuses the other of calling her out, Kabir appears. He tells them that India is going to lose the Cup the next day because there are two Indian players who will be playing for Australia, not India. He tells them that the Australians are not blind. They see that Preeti and Komal will not pass to each other. After he leaves, Preeti, who has so far scored more goals than Komal, insists that she, Preeti, will finish with more goals no matter what. Preeti feels she must do this in order to prove herself to her husband's parents.

The next day, India shocks the Australians by achieving an early goal, but poor teamwork by India allows the Australians to score two goals. In the final minutes, Komal has the ball and the Australians are sure she won't pass to Preeti. But Komal rises above her personal desires, passes to Preeti, and the score is tied. There is no score in extra time, so each side gets five strikes. Kabir picks Preeti among the five strikers, but she defers to Komal.

India must go first, but the strike is blocked. Unfortunately, the Australians score against the Indian goalie. The same thing happens with the second shot for each side. Then Koumal makes a brilliant strike that goes in the net, and the score is now 4 - 3 Australia. The Australian strike is blocked. The results for the fourth strike are the same for both sides as for the third strike. Bindia takes the final strike for India and it is perfect. India leads 5 - 4, but the Australians have one more strike.

Kabir watches the Australian striker and sees where she intends to place the ball. Through force of will, he gets his goalie to look at him moments before the shot and signals to her where it will go. The shot is blocked by the Indian team captain, the same post Kabir held when his shot cost India the match against Pakistan seven years earlier, and he is redeemed. India triumphs.

All India goes wild. The returning victors are mobbed by press and fans. The captain/goalie's husband tells her how proud his parents are and Komal's father, who disliked her joining the team, gives her a new hockey stick and advises her to hit any man who objects to his daughter playing hockey in the head with the new stick. Preeti's (forward) fiancé arrives with his own media following. Although he was furious that she refused to abandon competing for the Cup because it conflicted with the date he and her father had chosen for her wedding without ever consulting her, the fiancé now intends to propose to her again, in front of the entire world. He won't entertain the idea that she might refuse him. Of course, she does refuse him, telling him that now that everyone knows her name, she doesn't need to marry him, and he should try to learn some sportsmanship.

The players emerge and everyone calls for Kabir. The press report on his past playing skill with nothing but praise, as if he had never been forced out of the game by negative public opinion and journalistic irresponsibility. However, Kabir he is nowhere to be found. He has slipped away to rejoin his mother and bring her back home. As he reopens his house, the neighbors who called him "Traitor" gather quietly. He watches as a young Sikh boy scratches the hateful graffiti from the wall in front of his house. He gives him his old hockey stick and he runs off, filled with joy. The neighbors begin to applaud. Kabir is vindicated. He enters his house and closes the doors. He is home.

My Rating : ****

Genre : Sports/Drama

Director : Shimit Amin

Cast : Shahrukh Khan, Vidhya Malvade, Sagarika Ghatge, Shilpa Shukla.