Monday, 10 June 2013
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Chak de India 2007
| Directed by | Shimit Amin |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Aditya Chopra Yash Chopra |
| Written by | Jaideep Sahni |
| Starring | Shahrukh Khan Vidya Malvade Sagarika Ghatge Chitrashi Rawat Shilpa Shukla Tanya Abrol Anaitha Nair Shubhi Mehta Seema Azmi Nisha Nair Arya Menon Sandia Furtado Masochon V. Zimik Kimi Laldawla Raynia Mascerhanas Vivan Bhatena |
| Music by | Salim-Sulaiman |
| Cinematography | Sudeep Chatterjee |
| Editing by | Amitabh Shukla |
| Distributed by | Yash Raj Films |
| Release date(s) | 10 August 2007 |
| Running time | 153 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi English |
| Budget |  24 crore (US$5.28 million)[1] |
| Box office | 103.65 crore (US$22.8 million) [2] |
Chak De! India is a 2007 Indian sports film about field hockey in India. It is directed by Shimit Amin, produced by Yash Raj Films, written by Jaideep Sahni, sports action by ReelSports, and stars Shahrukh Khan as Kabir Khan, the former captain of the Indian hockey team. After a disastrous loss to the Pakistani hockey team, Khan is ostracized from the sport. He and his mother are further forced from their ancestral home by angry neighbors. Seven years later in an attempt to redeem himself, Khan becomes the coach for the India women's national field hockey team with the goal of turning its sixteen contentious players into a champion team. After leading the women's team to the Gold, Khan restores his reputation and returns with his mother to their home, welcomed by those who had shunned them years before.
Chak De! India explores religious bigotry, the legacy of partition, ethnic and regional prejudice, and sexism in contemporary India through field hockey. Screenwriter Jaideep Sahni decided to write a fictional screenplay based on the winning of the Gold by the Indian women's field hockey team at the 2002 Commonwealth Games after reading about it in the newspaper.[3][4] Thus the characters, while inspired by the real team and coaches, were invented by Sahni. Although some media outlets compared Kabir Khan to real-life hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi, Sahani has stated that he was unaware of Negi's tribulations while writing the script and that the resemblance with Negi's life was coincidental.
Earning over Rs 639 million, Chak De! India was the third highest grossing movie of 2007 in India and was critically acclaimed. Chak De! India has won numerous awards (including eight for Best Film) and received the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. The suspension of the Indian Hockey Federation in April 2008 emphasized the film's influence. After a new hockey council was formed, former hockey player, Aslam Sher Khan, stated in an interview, "We have to make a Team India as you have seen in bollywood blockbuster Chak De! India. There are players from several parts of the country. We have to unite them to make a powerful force."
Seven years later, Indian sport officials are surprised to learn that Khan wants to coach the India women's national field hockey team, a job no one else wants (an official claims the only long term role for women is to "cook and clean"). Khan thus finds himself in charge of a group of 16 women from all sections of India, who are divided by their own competitive natures and individual prejudices. One of the youngest players, Komal Chautala (Chitrashi Rawat) (from a village in Haryana) conflicts with Preeti Sabarwal (Sagarika Ghatge) from Chandigarh whom she refers to derisively as "memsaab" while tough girl Balbir Kaur (Tanya Abrol) from the Punjab has an extremely short temper that impacts the team. Balbir also bullies Rani Dispotta (Seema Azmi) and Soimoi Kerketa (Nisha Nair), who are both from remote villages in Jharkhand. Mary Ralte (Kimi Laldawla) from Mizoram and Molly Zimik (Masochon "Chon Chon" Zimik) from Manipur (in North-East India) are both treated as "foreign" by virtually everyone they meet and face repeated sexual harassment. The team's captain, Vidya Sharma (Vidya Malvade), is forced to choose between hockey and the wishes of her husband's family, while Preeti's boyfriend, the (fictional) vice captain of the India national cricket team Abimanyu Singh (Vivan Bhatena), is deeply threatened by her involvement with the team.
Khan realizes that he can only turn the girls into a winning team if he can help them to overcome these divisions and learn to cooperate with and help each other. Thus during the first few days, he benches a number of players who refuse to conform to his rules, including the most experienced player, Bindia Naik (Shilpa Shukla). In response, she repeatedly attempts to encourage the players to revolt against Khan. Bindia finally succeeds and in anger, Khan resigns. As a sign of good will, however, he invites the staff and team to a going away lunch. The anger that the team felt towards Khan and each other evaporates, however, when some local boys make a pass at Mary and Molly. In response Balbir attacks them, an act which leads to a brawl between the boys and the entire team. Khan, recognizing that this is their first instance of working together as a team, repeatedly prevents the staff from intervening. His only action is to stop a man from striking one of the women with a cricket bat from behind, telling him that there are no cowards (with a double entendre meaning of the Hindi word for coward) in hockey. After the fight, the women (now bonded as a team) beg Khan to remain as their coach.
This newly found unity serves them through a series of additional challenges. When hockey officials suddenly decide not to send the women's team to Australia for The World Championship, the girls unite in a challenge match against the men's team. Despite losing this match, their superb performance on the field forces the officials to change their mind and send the team to The World Championship. Once in Australia, the team faces a number of difficult matches with teams such as the Hockeyroos (Australia), the Black Sticks Women (New Zealand), the Las Leonas (Argentina), and the South Korean team (known for its use of the man-to-man marking technique). While initially still working to overcome their differences throughout the matches, the girls learn to act as a single unit. This move eventually leads them to victory and the restoration of Khan's good name. In doing so, they not only destroy the prejudices which once separated them, but prove to their families and country the merit of women's athletics. At the end, Khan returns with his mother to their ancestral home, welcomed by those who had shunned them years before and continues to be the Indian Women's field hockey coach.
The screenplay drew from interviews with current members of the women's field hockey team as well as the coaches. Kaushik later noted that:
Sahini then contacted Negi and asked him to coach the actors portraying the hockey team. While not initially enthusiastic about being involved in the film, Negi changed his mind after reading the screenplay. Negi coached the cast stating, "I trained the girls for six months. Waking up at 4, traveling from Kandivili to Churchgate. We would retire around 11 in the night. It was tiring. But we were on a mission [...] They couldn't run; couldn't hold the hockey sticks. I ensured none of them [would have to] cut their nails or eyebrows (as the players do). The girls have worked very hard. I salute them."[9] Some of the actors however, such as Chitrashi, Sandia, and Raynia were cast because they were actual hockey players.[18] ReelSports, under the direction of Sport Action Director Rob Miller,[19][20] also worked with Negi to train the girls and Shahrukh Khan for the film. Of working with Khan, Negi recalled that everything was planned, "including the penalty stroke that SRK missed. That shot alone took us nearly 20 hours as I was keen that it should be very realistic. I took the help of a lot of my former teammates. But more importantly, it was so easy working with SRK. He is unbelievably modest and was willing to do as many re-takes as we wanted."[21] Salman Khan was first offered the role of coach Kabir Khan, but refused because director Shimit Amin refused to make a slight change in the climax. Chak De! India was filmed in India and Australia. The Australian portions were filmed in Sydney and Melbourne and used 90 hockey players cast by ReelSports Solutions and 9000 extras.[22]
Chak De! India was critically acclaimed in India and abroad. Subhash K. Jha (film critic and author of The Essential Guide to Bollywood) gave the film a rave review stating, "First things first. Chak De India is an outright winner. A triumph of the spirit. And of craftsmanship. While director Shimit Amin has crafted a film with immense staying power , and exception integrity and gusto, the thought-process behind the endearing endeavour harks back to a series of well-crafted Hollywood films about the team spirit, the low-spirited tream and the burnt-out disgraced and exiled coach who motivates the team and galvanizes his own dormant spirit into a wide-alert status."[31] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and argues that it has "great performances by a bunch of unknowns, a gritty pace and a marvellous restraint make Chakde India an unbridled ode to patriotism without any hysterical chest-beating. And yes, for all you SRK fans and bashers, this time the verdict gotta be unanimous: Chakde Shah Rukh! Can you better this?"[32][33] India Today describes Chak De! India as, "the most feisty girl power movie to have come out of Bollywood ever. The girls, from the truculent Haryanvi Komal to the angry Bindiya, from the Punjabi Balbir to the very proper Punjabi, Chandigarh ki kudi Preeti, may be drawn from stereotypes but they shatter them with aggressive performances, staring Khan in the eye, almost defeating the Indian men's hockey team, assaulting a gang of boys and showing the six-time Australian team a thing or two about how to win."[34] Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu asks "when did we last make a solid ensemble film about sports — one that's not about a few players saving the day but about the triumph of teamwork? Chak De is that rare film where the hero watches from the stands and lets a bunch of 'what's-her-name-again' girls do all the winning [...] At another level, Chak De is about women's liberation. It is one of the best feminist films of our times. Next, the girls themselves are the closest we've seen to a representation of India in any sports movie we've seen. They are not 16 pretty young things. The casting is first-rate. The rawness in the performances actually makes you forget these are actors. Though we begin by warming up to the ethnic/race differences among the players, soon enough, Amin skirts their inter-racial conflicts behind the uniform, the great leveller."[35] Rajeev Masand from CNN-IBN gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and stated that "Chak De's... a winner all the way," he further added: "it's an immensely satisfying movie experience, I'm going to go with four out of five and two thumbs up for director Shimit Amin's Chak De India." [36]
Anil Sinanan of The Times adds that, "First time director Shimit Amin has fashioned a gripping film: we keep rooting for our girls even though it is fairly obvious what the final result will be. This is achieved via a script which eliminates most of the usual trappings of the formula, and focuses on the game. Romance is absent, parents are sidelined and no one breaks out into song and dance, Lagaan-style whilst training."[37] Jaspreet Pandohar of The BBC gave Chak De! India 4 out of 5 stars stating that, "while the tale of the sporting underdog is hardly new, Jaideep Sahni's screenplay offers a rare look at a popular Indian sport often overshadowed by cricket. But it's not the type of bat and ball, or the number of practice sessions that are at issue here. Instead, the gender and personal prejudices of the players underpin the story."[38] Andy Webster of The New York Times argues that the film gave a fresh look to the conventional underdog sports film and compared the premise to the win at the FIFA Women's World Cup.[39] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter argues that the film is "definitely Bollywood, ashamed of neither sentimentality nor predictability. Yet its sharp-eyed view of Indian society makes for a world of difference from old-style, sugar-coated Bollywood films."[40] Derek Elley of Variety describes the film as "a patriotic heartwarmer that scores some old-fashioned entertainment goals" and that it "is almost an anthem for India's new-found economic clout and its recent 60th-anniversary celebrations of independence from U.K. rule -- and it gets a stirring title song from composing team Salim-Sulaiman and lyricist Jaideep Sahni (who also scripted). Thus, it's hardly a surprise when the team of 16 girls from all over India finally get it together to beat the bejeezus out of their international opponents."[41] Apart from critics, Chak De! India tied with Taare Zameen Par for best film of 2007 according to various Bollywood movie directors such as Madhur Bhandarkar, David Dhawan, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Anurag Basu, and Sriram Raghavan.[42]
On 30 August 2007, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences requested a copy of the Chak De! India script for a place in the Margaret Herrick library.[43]
The soundtrack for Chak De! India was released on 1 August 2007 and is composed by Salim-Sulaiman with lyrics by Jaideep Sahni. The title song "Chak De! India" has become an unofficial sports anthem for India.[54] Salim-Sulaiman composed the song with this intention.[55]
Chak De! India explores religious bigotry, the legacy of partition, ethnic and regional prejudice, and sexism in contemporary India through field hockey. Screenwriter Jaideep Sahni decided to write a fictional screenplay based on the winning of the Gold by the Indian women's field hockey team at the 2002 Commonwealth Games after reading about it in the newspaper.[3][4] Thus the characters, while inspired by the real team and coaches, were invented by Sahni. Although some media outlets compared Kabir Khan to real-life hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi, Sahani has stated that he was unaware of Negi's tribulations while writing the script and that the resemblance with Negi's life was coincidental.
Earning over Rs 639 million, Chak De! India was the third highest grossing movie of 2007 in India and was critically acclaimed. Chak De! India has won numerous awards (including eight for Best Film) and received the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. The suspension of the Indian Hockey Federation in April 2008 emphasized the film's influence. After a new hockey council was formed, former hockey player, Aslam Sher Khan, stated in an interview, "We have to make a Team India as you have seen in bollywood blockbuster Chak De! India. There are players from several parts of the country. We have to unite them to make a powerful force."
Plot
The film opens in Delhi, India during the final minutes of the Hockey World Cup. The game is between the Pakistan men's national field hockey team and the India men's national field hockey team, with Pakistan leading, 1-0. When Indian team captain and hockey superstar, Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) is fouled, he elects to take the penalty stroke himself. However, his strike flies just above the goal, and India suffers a crushing defeat. Soon after, the media begins to circulate a photograph of him accepting a handshake from the head of the Pakistani team, speculating that Khan (who is a Muslim)[5] might have "thrown" the game as an act of sympathy towards Pakistan. The religious prejudice exhibited towards Khan by the entire society at large[5][6] forces him and his mother out of their ancestral home and into exile.Seven years later, Indian sport officials are surprised to learn that Khan wants to coach the India women's national field hockey team, a job no one else wants (an official claims the only long term role for women is to "cook and clean"). Khan thus finds himself in charge of a group of 16 women from all sections of India, who are divided by their own competitive natures and individual prejudices. One of the youngest players, Komal Chautala (Chitrashi Rawat) (from a village in Haryana) conflicts with Preeti Sabarwal (Sagarika Ghatge) from Chandigarh whom she refers to derisively as "memsaab" while tough girl Balbir Kaur (Tanya Abrol) from the Punjab has an extremely short temper that impacts the team. Balbir also bullies Rani Dispotta (Seema Azmi) and Soimoi Kerketa (Nisha Nair), who are both from remote villages in Jharkhand. Mary Ralte (Kimi Laldawla) from Mizoram and Molly Zimik (Masochon "Chon Chon" Zimik) from Manipur (in North-East India) are both treated as "foreign" by virtually everyone they meet and face repeated sexual harassment. The team's captain, Vidya Sharma (Vidya Malvade), is forced to choose between hockey and the wishes of her husband's family, while Preeti's boyfriend, the (fictional) vice captain of the India national cricket team Abimanyu Singh (Vivan Bhatena), is deeply threatened by her involvement with the team.
Khan realizes that he can only turn the girls into a winning team if he can help them to overcome these divisions and learn to cooperate with and help each other. Thus during the first few days, he benches a number of players who refuse to conform to his rules, including the most experienced player, Bindia Naik (Shilpa Shukla). In response, she repeatedly attempts to encourage the players to revolt against Khan. Bindia finally succeeds and in anger, Khan resigns. As a sign of good will, however, he invites the staff and team to a going away lunch. The anger that the team felt towards Khan and each other evaporates, however, when some local boys make a pass at Mary and Molly. In response Balbir attacks them, an act which leads to a brawl between the boys and the entire team. Khan, recognizing that this is their first instance of working together as a team, repeatedly prevents the staff from intervening. His only action is to stop a man from striking one of the women with a cricket bat from behind, telling him that there are no cowards (with a double entendre meaning of the Hindi word for coward) in hockey. After the fight, the women (now bonded as a team) beg Khan to remain as their coach.
This newly found unity serves them through a series of additional challenges. When hockey officials suddenly decide not to send the women's team to Australia for The World Championship, the girls unite in a challenge match against the men's team. Despite losing this match, their superb performance on the field forces the officials to change their mind and send the team to The World Championship. Once in Australia, the team faces a number of difficult matches with teams such as the Hockeyroos (Australia), the Black Sticks Women (New Zealand), the Las Leonas (Argentina), and the South Korean team (known for its use of the man-to-man marking technique). While initially still working to overcome their differences throughout the matches, the girls learn to act as a single unit. This move eventually leads them to victory and the restoration of Khan's good name. In doing so, they not only destroy the prejudices which once separated them, but prove to their families and country the merit of women's athletics. At the end, Khan returns with his mother to their ancestral home, welcomed by those who had shunned them years before and continues to be the Indian Women's field hockey coach.
Production
Background
A short article about the winning of the Gold by the women's team at the 2002 Commonwealth Games inspired screenwriter Jaideep Sahni to create a film about the Indian Women's Hockey Team.[7] Director Shamit Amin noted the lack of coverage of the women's team by the media and stated that "there are a lot of odds these players are up against".[8]
The media often compared hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi (who faced accusations of throwing the match against Pakistan during the 1982 Asian Games) with the character of Kabir Khan in the media.[9][10][11][12][13] In response Negi commented that, "this movie is not a documentary of Mir Ranjan Negi's life".[14] Sahani has also stated that he was unaware of Negi's tribulations while writing the script and that the resemblance with Negi's life was coincidental.[15][16] Negi joined the production team after his name was suggested by the national coach of the women's team Maharaj Krishan Kaushik, who was with the team when it won the Commonwealth Games' gold in 2002.
The screenplay drew from interviews with current members of the women's field hockey team as well as the coaches. Kaushik later noted that:- Many of the incidents shown in the movie are true. How the coach actually throws a girl out when she is not listening, and then goes out himself and there are three to four other girls also standing there because they disobeyed his instructions. This happened with Pritam Siwach [...] The scene where they start fighting, happened to us when we were returning from a game in Bangalore, and some boys started passing comments [...] The actual game-situations we had to actually challenge another team after being disallowed from participating in an international tournament's qualifiers, and give it in writing, that we will qualify [...] And lastly the coach's portrayal, he goes to the match on a scooter. The team wins, but he still returns on a scooter. So the Coach's stature and status, you know, is always here.[16]
Development
After Sahini approached them both, Kaushik and Negi became involved with the development of the film. Sahini first met with Kaushik and later recalled that, "M K Kaushik and his girls taught us all we knew about hockey. Then he recommended Negi to us, because when we finished writing and finished casting, we needed someone to train the girls. Negi assembled a team of hockey players to train the girls."[16] Kaushik also states in the same interview that, "I taught him everything about the game, starting from how the camp is conducted, how the girls come from different backgrounds and cultures, the psychological factors involved. Also how the coach faces pressure to select girls from different states and teams."[16]
Sahini then contacted Negi and asked him to coach the actors portraying the hockey team. While not initially enthusiastic about being involved in the film, Negi changed his mind after reading the screenplay. Negi coached the cast stating, "I trained the girls for six months. Waking up at 4, traveling from Kandivili to Churchgate. We would retire around 11 in the night. It was tiring. But we were on a mission [...] They couldn't run; couldn't hold the hockey sticks. I ensured none of them [would have to] cut their nails or eyebrows (as the players do). The girls have worked very hard. I salute them."[9] Some of the actors however, such as Chitrashi, Sandia, and Raynia were cast because they were actual hockey players.[18] ReelSports, under the direction of Sport Action Director Rob Miller,[19][20] also worked with Negi to train the girls and Shahrukh Khan for the film. Of working with Khan, Negi recalled that everything was planned, "including the penalty stroke that SRK missed. That shot alone took us nearly 20 hours as I was keen that it should be very realistic. I took the help of a lot of my former teammates. But more importantly, it was so easy working with SRK. He is unbelievably modest and was willing to do as many re-takes as we wanted."[21] Salman Khan was first offered the role of coach Kabir Khan, but refused because director Shimit Amin refused to make a slight change in the climax. Chak De! India was filmed in India and Australia. The Australian portions were filmed in Sydney and Melbourne and used 90 hockey players cast by ReelSports Solutions and 9000 extras.[22]Chak De girls
Shortly after the film's release, the media began referring to the 16 actresses who portrayed members of the team as the Chak De girls.[23][24] The panel of judges at the Star Screen Awards also used this term when they awarded the 2008 Star Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress to the Chak De girls.[25]- Aliya Bose (Anaitha Nair), senior player, from West Bengal.
- Balbir Kaur (Tanya Abrol), from Punjab.
- Bindia Naik (Shilpa Shukla), senior player from Maharashtra. As the most experienced member of the team, Bindia is condescending towards everyone but her two best friends, Alia and Gunjun. She attempts to overthrow Khan after he refuses to give her power equal to her experience.
- Gul Iqbal (Arya Menon), from Uttar Pradesh
- Gunjun Lakhani (Shubhi Mehta), senior player from Andhra Pradesh.
- Komal Chautala (Chitrashi Rawat), from Haryana. Komal's character is based on Mamta Kharab, the current captain of the Indian Women's Hockey Team.[26]
- Mary Ralte (Kimi Laldawla) Substitute and Penalty Stroke specialist from Mizoram.
- Molly Zimik (Masochon "Chon Chon" Zimik), from Manipur. Mary and Molly are from North-East India and are initially treated as "foreign" by their teammates.
- Nethra Reddy (Sandia Furtado), from Andhra Pradesh.
- Nichola Sequeira (Nichola Sequeira), is from Maharashtra.
- Preeti Sabarwal (Sagarika Ghatge), the Chandigarh team captain. Her boyfriend Abimanyu Singh (Vivan Bhatena) is the (fictional) vice captain of the India national cricket team who doesn't take her commitment to field hockey very seriously.
- Rachna Prasad (Kimberly Miranda), from Bihar.
Rani Dispotta (Seema Azmi), from Jharkhand. Rani moved from a jungle village to Ranchi and learned how to survive among her urban-born classmates.
- Raynia Fernandes (Raynia Mascerhanas).
- Soimoi Kerketa (Nisha Nair), Substitute from Jharkhand. Also from a jungle village, Soimoi struggles with language and fitting in.
- Vidya Sharma (Vidya Malvade), Goalie and Captain from Madhya Pradesh. Former goalkeeper for The Railways. Recently married, Vidya's husband attempts to force her to choose between hockey and family.
Release
Box office
Chak De! India was released worldwide on 10 August 2007. Despite having a below average opening, it became the third top grossing movie of 2007 in India, with revenues of Rs 67,69,00,000 domestically,[27] and was declared a "Blockbuster."[27] In the U.S, it opened at number 20, in the UK charts at number 11, and in Australia at number 12.[28] It earned a total Rs 35 million in the United Kingdom, Rs 47.5 million in North America, and Rs 35 million for the rest of the overseas proceeds.[29]Critical reception
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave Chak De! India a rating of 80%, based upon 5 reviews (4 fresh and 1 rotten).[30]Chak De! India was critically acclaimed in India and abroad. Subhash K. Jha (film critic and author of The Essential Guide to Bollywood) gave the film a rave review stating, "First things first. Chak De India is an outright winner. A triumph of the spirit. And of craftsmanship. While director Shimit Amin has crafted a film with immense staying power , and exception integrity and gusto, the thought-process behind the endearing endeavour harks back to a series of well-crafted Hollywood films about the team spirit, the low-spirited tream and the burnt-out disgraced and exiled coach who motivates the team and galvanizes his own dormant spirit into a wide-alert status."[31] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and argues that it has "great performances by a bunch of unknowns, a gritty pace and a marvellous restraint make Chakde India an unbridled ode to patriotism without any hysterical chest-beating. And yes, for all you SRK fans and bashers, this time the verdict gotta be unanimous: Chakde Shah Rukh! Can you better this?"[32][33] India Today describes Chak De! India as, "the most feisty girl power movie to have come out of Bollywood ever. The girls, from the truculent Haryanvi Komal to the angry Bindiya, from the Punjabi Balbir to the very proper Punjabi, Chandigarh ki kudi Preeti, may be drawn from stereotypes but they shatter them with aggressive performances, staring Khan in the eye, almost defeating the Indian men's hockey team, assaulting a gang of boys and showing the six-time Australian team a thing or two about how to win."[34] Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu asks "when did we last make a solid ensemble film about sports — one that's not about a few players saving the day but about the triumph of teamwork? Chak De is that rare film where the hero watches from the stands and lets a bunch of 'what's-her-name-again' girls do all the winning [...] At another level, Chak De is about women's liberation. It is one of the best feminist films of our times. Next, the girls themselves are the closest we've seen to a representation of India in any sports movie we've seen. They are not 16 pretty young things. The casting is first-rate. The rawness in the performances actually makes you forget these are actors. Though we begin by warming up to the ethnic/race differences among the players, soon enough, Amin skirts their inter-racial conflicts behind the uniform, the great leveller."[35] Rajeev Masand from CNN-IBN gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and stated that "Chak De's... a winner all the way," he further added: "it's an immensely satisfying movie experience, I'm going to go with four out of five and two thumbs up for director Shimit Amin's Chak De India." [36]
Anil Sinanan of The Times adds that, "First time director Shimit Amin has fashioned a gripping film: we keep rooting for our girls even though it is fairly obvious what the final result will be. This is achieved via a script which eliminates most of the usual trappings of the formula, and focuses on the game. Romance is absent, parents are sidelined and no one breaks out into song and dance, Lagaan-style whilst training."[37] Jaspreet Pandohar of The BBC gave Chak De! India 4 out of 5 stars stating that, "while the tale of the sporting underdog is hardly new, Jaideep Sahni's screenplay offers a rare look at a popular Indian sport often overshadowed by cricket. But it's not the type of bat and ball, or the number of practice sessions that are at issue here. Instead, the gender and personal prejudices of the players underpin the story."[38] Andy Webster of The New York Times argues that the film gave a fresh look to the conventional underdog sports film and compared the premise to the win at the FIFA Women's World Cup.[39] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter argues that the film is "definitely Bollywood, ashamed of neither sentimentality nor predictability. Yet its sharp-eyed view of Indian society makes for a world of difference from old-style, sugar-coated Bollywood films."[40] Derek Elley of Variety describes the film as "a patriotic heartwarmer that scores some old-fashioned entertainment goals" and that it "is almost an anthem for India's new-found economic clout and its recent 60th-anniversary celebrations of independence from U.K. rule -- and it gets a stirring title song from composing team Salim-Sulaiman and lyricist Jaideep Sahni (who also scripted). Thus, it's hardly a surprise when the team of 16 girls from all over India finally get it together to beat the bejeezus out of their international opponents."[41] Apart from critics, Chak De! India tied with Taare Zameen Par for best film of 2007 according to various Bollywood movie directors such as Madhur Bhandarkar, David Dhawan, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Anurag Basu, and Sriram Raghavan.[42]
On 30 August 2007, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences requested a copy of the Chak De! India script for a place in the Margaret Herrick library.[43]
Awards
Main article: List of Chak De India awards
Chak De! India has won numerous awards including eight for Best Film from: The Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild, The Australian Indian Film Festival, The Billie Awards, The International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA), The Star Screen Awards, The UNFPA-Laadli Media Awards, The V. Shantaram Awards, and The Zee Cine Awards. It also received the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.[44]Special screenings
Chak De! India was screened on 30 May 2009 at the opening of the SPAR Cup in Durban, South Africa in order to welcome the Indian Women's National Field Hockey Team.[45] The SPAR Cup is a lead up to the 2009 Hockey Champions Challenge in October. India competed against three other teams: Hockeyroos, Las Leonas, and the South African Women's National Field Hockey Team.[46]Impact
Suspension of IHF
The suspension of the Indian Hockey Federation in April 2008 emphasized the film's influence. India Today used the film to label the event in two articles titled, "Operation Chak De impact: Jothikumaran resigns"[47] and "Operation Chak de impact: Furore in Lok Sabha".[48] The Indiatimes, in an article titled, "Five wise men set for a Chak De act" also argued, "It looks like Indian hockey has done a real Chak de this time around".[49] In addition, former hockey player, Aslam Sher Khan, who was appointed by the Indian Olympic Association to head a committee which will replace the IHF, pointed to the film as a model to work towards. He stated in an interview, "We have to make a Team India as you have seen in bollywood blockbuster Chak De! India. There are players from several parts of the country. We have to unite them to make a powerful force."[50] In another interview, he emphasized that he wants "to create a Chak De effect" on hockey in India.[51]For mp3 downloads
Chak De India- Title Song - YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcKqMkYXzYU6 Jan 2009 - 3 min - Uploaded by Zazai101another awesome movie from the best actor shahrukh khan chak de india.
Soundtrack
Chak De India- Title Song - YouTube | |
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcKqMkYXzYU6 Jan 2009 - 3 min - Uploaded by Zazai101another awesome movie from the best actor shahrukh khan chak de india.
| |
| No. | Title | Singers | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Chak De! India" | Sukhwinder Singh, Salim Merchant, Marianne D'Cruz | 4:43 |
| 2. | "Badal Pe Paaon Hai" | Hema Sardesai | 4:05 |
| 3. | "Ek Hockey Doongi Rakh Ke" | KK, Shahrukh Khan | 5:36 |
| 4. | "Bad Bad Girls" | Anushka Manchanda | 3:39 |
| 5. | "Maula Mere Le Le Meri Jaan" | Salim Merchant, Krishna Beura | 4:47 |
| 6. | "Hockey - Remix" | Midival Punditz | 5:17 |
| 7. | "Sattar Minute" | Shahrukh Khan | 2:05 |
Don:The Chase Begins Again 2006
| Directed by | Farhan Akhtar |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Farhan Akhtar Ritesh Sidhwani |
| Screenplay by | Farhan Akhtar Javed Akhtar |
| Story by | Farhan Akhtar Javed Akhtar Salim Khan |
| Starring | Shahrukh Khan Priyanka Chopra Arjun Rampal Isha Koppikar Boman Irani |
| Music by | Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Midival Punditz DJ Randolf |
| Cinematography | Mohanan |
| Editing by | Neil Sadwelkar Anand Subaya |
| Studio | Excel Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Excel Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | October 20, 2006 |
| Running time | 178 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | 35 crore (US$7.7 million)[1] |
| Box office | 105 crore (US$23.1 million)[2] |
Upon release, Indian critical reception was mixed while the overseas reception was generally positive. A week after its theatrical run, Box Office India declared the film a hit in India, and a "blockbuster" overseas. Don grossed over
104 crores worldwide.[4]Plot
In 2006, the drug trade is booming. The Malaysian Intelligence and Anti-Narcotic Department are called upon for assistance by their Indian counterparts. The Indian team is headed by DCP D'Silva (Boman Irani), who wants to break the drug operations of a drug lord named Singhania. Helping him along the way is Malik (Om Puri). He believes that capturing Singania's most dangerous and elusive lieutenant, Don (Shahrukh Khan), will be the most effective way of accomplishing this. Don's gang consists of Anita (Ishaa Koppikar), his girlfriend, and Narang (Pawan Malhotra). Soon, Roma (Priyanka Chopra) joins them, but she has other plans - kill Don; Don was responsible for killing her brother Ramesh, as well as his fiancee, Kamini (Kareena Kapoor in a special appearance).During a police chase, Don is fatally injured and captured by D'Silva. D'Silva keeps it a secret that he has captured Don and proceeds to track down a Don look-alike, a singer named Vijay (also played by Shahrukh Khan). He asks Vijay to infiltrate Don's gang by pretending to be Don. In return, he will make sure that the child Vijay found and adopted, Deepu (Tanay Chheda), gets a proper education. Meanwhile, Deepu's real father Jasjit (Arjun Rampal), who has just been released from prison, sets out in search for his son and to get his revenge on DCP D'Silva, who had arrested him and prevented him from rescuing his wife and child from blackmailers.
Vijay convinces Roma that he is not Don and the two fall in love. Through various plot twists, Vijay recovers the disc. Eventually, it surfaces that D'Silva is alive and had staged his death. He is actually Vardhan, a notorious underground criminal with a grudge against Singhania, who he eventually ends up killing. Vijay then arranges a meeting with Vardhan and assists in his capture.
In a final twist, it emerges that the real Don is still alive, and was pretending to be Vijay. After giving birth marks and scars that Don had to Vijay, doctors gave him sedatives and left the room. After their departure, Don had switched beds with Vijay in the hospital and took his place; it was actually Vijay who had died of heart failure in front of Vardhan (DCP D'Silva), not Don. He had also been acting out his "love" for Roma as Vijay, which Roma realizes too late. In the end, Don escapes with Anita, bewildering both police and Roma.[5]
Cast
- Shahrukh Khan as Don / Vijay
- Priyanka Chopra as Roma
- Arjun Rampal as Jasjit
- Boman Irani as DCP D'Silva / Vardhaan
- Ishaa Koppikar as Anita
- Om Puri as Inspector Malik
- Pawan Malhotra as Narang
- Rajesh Khattar as Singhania
- Tanay Chheda as Deepu
- Romitesh Prasad as J.K Daven
- Sushma Reddy as Geeta
- Chunkey Pandey as Teja aka TJ
- Kareena Kapoor as Kamini
- Diwakar Pundir as Ramesh
Production
Eighty percent of the movie was shot in Malaysia, and was filmed around the tropical Langkawi island as well as the Petronas Twin Towers and the Jalan Masjid India area, which is the "little India" of Kuala Lumpur. Akshay Kumar was offered the role of Jasjit but he rejected it saying he might have accepted if he had been offered the part of Don.[6] Shahrukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra underwent special martial arts training for their roles in the movie.For mp3 downloads
Music Videos
Khaike Paan Banaraswala (Full Song) Film - Don- The Chase ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryfaiS77OQw24 May 2011 - 5 min - Uploaded by tseriesKhaike Paan Banaraswala, Film - Don- The Chase Begins Again, Singer - Udit ... Standard YouTube License ...
Yeh Mera Dil - Don - The Chase Begins Again [2006] - YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvLfTo5htZo5 May 2009 - 4 min - Uploaded by muktadirvanderaliSong Title: Yeh Mera Dil Playback Singer: Sunidhi Chauhan Lyricists: Javed Akhtar Album: Don - The Chase ...
Main Hoon Don (Full Song) Film - Don- The Chase Begins Again ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZAi6QTNZtE24 May 2011 - 5 min - Uploaded by tseriesMain Hoon Don, Film - Don- The Chase Begins Again, Singer - Shaan, Lyricist - Javed Akhtar, Music ...
Aaj Ki Raat (Full Song) Film - Don- The Chase Begins Again ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXOj4bUuzSg24 May 2011 - 5 min - Uploaded by tseriesAaj Ki Raat, Film - Don- The Chase Begins Again, Singer - Alisha Chinoy, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Sonu Nigam ...
Soundtrack
Khaike Paan Banaraswala (Full Song) Film - Don- The Chase ... | |
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryfaiS77OQw24 May 2011 - 5 min - Uploaded by tseriesKhaike Paan Banaraswala, Film - Don- The Chase Begins Again, Singer - Udit ... Standard YouTube License ...
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Yeh Mera Dil - Don - The Chase Begins Again [2006] - YouTube | |
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvLfTo5htZo5 May 2009 - 4 min - Uploaded by muktadirvanderaliSong Title: Yeh Mera Dil Playback Singer: Sunidhi Chauhan Lyricists: Javed Akhtar Album: Don - The Chase ...
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Main Hoon Don (Full Song) Film - Don- The Chase Begins Again ... | |
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZAi6QTNZtE24 May 2011 - 5 min - Uploaded by tseriesMain Hoon Don, Film - Don- The Chase Begins Again, Singer - Shaan, Lyricist - Javed Akhtar, Music ...
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Aaj Ki Raat (Full Song) Film - Don- The Chase Begins Again ... | |
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXOj4bUuzSg24 May 2011 - 5 min - Uploaded by tseriesAaj Ki Raat, Film - Don- The Chase Begins Again, Singer - Alisha Chinoy, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Sonu Nigam ...
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Main article: Don: The Chase Begins Again (soundtrack)
The music was released on 26 August 2006 by T-Series, at the Inorbit Mall, Malad, Mumbai. Over 30000 people attended the function.[7] The film has seven songs composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Two of the original songs, "Khaike Paan Banaraswala" and "Yeh Mera Dil" were remade for the movie. The song "Aaj Ki Raat" was used in the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire and is included in the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack.Release
Box office
Don: The Chase Begins Again was released worldwide on 20 October 2006. It became the fifth highest grossing film of 2006 in India, with revenues of 51 crores domestically. Box Office India declared it a hit.[8] It also grossed $7 million in overseas territories and was declared a "blockbuster".[9] The film grossed a total of 104 crores worldwide.[10]Critical reception
/99-Don%2520-%2520The%2520Chase%2520Begins%2520Again-Wallpaper-2656.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cuppax.in/movie/Don---The-Chase-Begins-Again/wallpapers/2023/20547/&usg=__X3f5ljRMwM1p4mwPsAI6RhQvs58=&h=768&w=1024&sz=143&hl=en&start=8&zoom=1&tbnid=8Xv3Qr6Fh-4-UM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&ei=Qz1OT5OXDoLMrQfEm_CnDw&prev=/search%3Fq%3DDon:%2BThe%2BChase%2BBegins%2BAgain%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26gbv%3D2%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D513%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1)
Reviews were generally positive, although it was extensively compared to the original film starring Amitabh Bachchan. Mumbai Mirror's Mayank Shekhar gave it a rating of 4 out of 5. He did criticize the treatment of certain scenes in comparison to the original, though.[11] The Times of India's Nikhat Kazmi gave it a rating of 3.5 out of 5. However, she did not like a few casting choices.[12] Khalid Mohammed of the Daily News and Analysis rated it 2 on a scale of 5.[13] Bollywood Hungama's Taran Adarsh gave it 3 out of 5.[14] Variety stated that the film "could have been much better."[5]Awards
The film was nominated for the following awards:- 2007 Filmfare Awards
- Best Actor - Shahrukh Khan
Sequel
A sequel to the film, titled Don 2 was released on December 23, 2011. Shahrukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra reprised their roles as Don and Roma in the sequel. It also features Boman Irani and Om Puri from the original, with Lara Dutta and Kunal Kapoor as new characters.
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