Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Chak De Shah Rukh!!!

Friends,

As much as I love seeing movies, I also despise Bollywood stuff – All that jhatak-matak really puts me off. But once in a blue-moon comes a movie really worth seeing, a movie that inspires you, a movie that brings tears of joy to your eyes. One such movie was “Chak De! India”.

A Bollywood movie that talks about sport is not new. We have seen Cricket (umpteen faltoo movies, especially close to the 2007 World Cup), Boxing (one Amir Khan one was inspired by the Hollywood Flick “Raging Bull”), Football (inspired by a Bengali flick) and one on track and field athletics too – It was a Telugu movie but I remember seeing even the Hindi-dubbed version of that movie whose name I fail to recall. One uncharted territory was that of the forgotten game – Hockey. And Yash Chopra finally laid his hands on it!

And boy, he did it beautifully – a super-cast of unknown actors who showed that they can play hockey as well as they can act. Where else can one get to see a line-up of 16 girls ready to kick some ass? And Shah Rukh “coach” Khan completed the team beautifully. It was so perfect that I was dumbstruck. All major states covered (including Andhra Pradesh and my adopted state for 4 years – Haryana – a cute little girl played that role!) and all sentiments echoed, especially the ones of our North-Eastern counterparts when one of them said that “Ab apne desh mein mehmaan bankar kush rahenge?” translated as “Do you expect us to be happy being welcomed as guests in our own country?” It’s subtle dialogues like these that spice up the movie even more!

All in all, the movie went on the expected lines to a large extent. I didn’t expect the women’s’ team to lose to the men’s team. I did expect the match to go into penalties. I didn’t expect India to be on a roll from the very second game. I did expect them to face in the final a team with whom they lost their first match – Australia. Strange, but it was scheduled just like the Cricket 2003 WC, the major difference being that the girls bought home the trophy.

The movie has two major points of which I have always been an ardent supporter – Girls are equal to boys in almost every aspect and that “the country” is above everything. It’s true that girls get some leverage and that some of them act so dumb that it’s hard to stick to this statement, but it can be made generic that if they want to, they can defeat us by hook or by crook. I have seen it in my 4 years as a engineer that girls are both smart and stupid at the same time. Hard to imagine – well, they are girls!

The next point is very much relevant for all of us trying to make it big in life – Keep your country’s interests above everything else. The nation comes first – India is our first priority. It’s very easy for us to sit back and blame the Government for everything. But remember that it is you and me who elects the party to come to power, if anyone of us ever voted. You and me are to blame for this situation, not the Government.

Why? Because all we care for is ourselves. Then what is it that makes us different from them, those blood-sucking MPs and MLAs, many of whom come to power just to satisfy their own greed? What is it that makes you “you” and me “me”? It’s what we are – the youth, the nation of tomorrow. What do we want – a nation handed over by some senseless bureaucrats or a nation of your dreams? That I leave for you to decide.

Most of you must have already seen this movie and must have been really thrilled. But did the message hit you where it matters? I hope it did.

Kabir Khan, you are a true inspiration. Thank you giving the “King Khan” something worth remembering a lifetime and something worth cherishing for all of us. After all, this was for me the best Shah Rukh movie in the last 5 years. Chak De India rocks!

Ciao.

2 comments:

RAJI MUTHUKRISHNAN said...

It is obvious that you have been deeply affected by this movie. So was I - it inspires love for our country in a subtle manner, without resorting to any kind of blatant patriotism. We so want those girls to win.
Nice bit of writing - from the heart.

IIM ka Sarkari Babu said...

Thanks Aunty!