Chak De India - Breaking the Stereotypes

    Chak De India was one of the best movies of 2007. As mentioned in one of my other blogs, this was only the second sports movie (after Iqbal) made in the history of Indian cinema. Iqbal was about the struggle of a hearing impaired boy from a small town to get into the Indian cricket team and Chak De was about hockey that too women's, a far less discussed or written about sport in India, despite being the national game. Chak De had a very subtle theme of patriotism which was not beaten into the audience. It was so refreshing to see that being patriotic was not being anti any country but is rather the harmony between our own people. It also was by far Shah Rukh Khan's best performance till date.

    But above all I think, one thing that touched me was the breaking of the stereotypes. In the very beginning of the movie when the girls come to the hockey academy to register, they are asked about their domicile. It was really refreshing to see, when a girl from Andhra Pradesh is told "oh so you are a madrasi" and she replies back instantly saying no, she speaks telugu (one of the four languages spoken in southern India). It is very true that people from north do consider anyone from down south as a "madrasi". It is also in fact used as a derogatory word, sometimes. This is because of ignorance, no intention of knowing the difference and arrogance of their own culture. Another one was when a manipuri girl is told that "you are our guest" and the girl immediately says that "how would you feel if I call you a guest in your own country". This is exactly what India has done in the last 60 years of independence, treat the north easterners as guests. Northeast insurgency would not have been an issue today had we cared for them and treated them as equals.

    It was good to see the representation from Jharkhand. Importance of punctuality was very well shown as was the feeling of being an Indian rather than living in our own state wells. Team was shown as the ultimate, not individuals or seniority. I hope people become more understanding and compassionate about other's culture rather than ridicule it. I thought these were some very strong statements made in the movie which I hope, people would have taken notice of and would act on.

Chak De India or Check De India

Chak De India, as per me is by far one of the best movies made, if not in the history of Bollywood film industry, in the recent past. I also think that it was the best performance by our King Khan. Patriotic theme was nicely woven into this movie. This is the second sports movie, after Iqbal, I know of in the history of Indian films which was completely about the game. It was all the more refreshing to see that it was about our national game which is seldom talked about.

But this is not what this blog is all about. This is about what Shah Rukh Khan said in the media before and after the release of the movie and his actions that followed that. Shah Rukh claimed that he has always liked hockey and that he has played it during his college days and such. Also that he would like his kids to take up sports and how much respect he has for the sports persons and all that. All this is fine, except that you would think that a person showing so much passion towards a game, would do something to elevate the status of the game in India and elsewhere (India has not even qualified this time for the Olympics, first time in the last 80 years). But that was not to be the case.

Instead Shah Rukh poured in money into IPL (Indian Premier League - Cricket), which has no lack of funds, if required. He has shown that, he is just another business man who knows where to put his money. Cricket already gets the maximum media coverage. Cricket does not need big names attached to it. I have nothing against cricket, in fact I am a big cricket enthusiast myself. But I just feel that other sports in our country should be encouraged and promoted more than what is being done, if not giving the same status as cricket.

I have always felt that celebrities can and should exploit their stature in positive ways for the betterment of the society. I am not saying that they do not do charity, I am sure many of them do. But more than charity if they attach themselves with a noble cause, that would go a long way into the future. At the end of the day charity and social work cannot be forced, it has to be voluntary. I just feel that Shah Rukh could have had a real "Chak De Phatte" moment, had he really done something for hockey instead of cricket.