Chak De

Yesterday would be easily one of the most interesting days in my life. Well, I got the first free service (Engine oil billable to customer) for my new Avenger. Right after that, loads of “designer droppings” for free, thanks to all the birds in that corner tree in the Satyam parking lot. Of course, you guessed it right: these certainly are not among the interesting things that happened yesterday. Chak De India was there among the things that raised my happiness quotient, though not exactly at the top of the list. ;)

Bollywood seems to be carrying out interesting experiments these days. Not many “movie buffs/purists” would agree. While we had the sixty-four, still sexy Big B romancing the lustrous Tabu in Cheeni Kum not so long ago, here we have the King Khan himself coming out with Chak De, surrounded by 16 girls. And God!! Those gals with SRK are not in bikinis, but in some drab blue hockey gear.

However, some time into the movie, you feel you are going through an emotional saga of the triumph of collective human spirit (to be specific the spirit of Indian women). Almost all the gals he has for company, except for the gorgeous Preeti Sabharwal (anyway my vote goes to the dusky Vidhya Kapoor – more on her later), are the ones who you wouldn’t have a second look at. Delightful performances by the whole girl team easily endear them to you. Particularly, the tomboy, Komal Chautala from Haryana, whose dialogues I never understood. Yet, she was so adorable. And also the rich Preeti Sabharwal (who is in love with a star cricketer), Punjabi kudi Balbir Kaul and Sui Moi from Jharkand are also unforgettable. (Proof? I could remember so many names after watching the movie. Need any more?)

And then, the Captain of the Indian Women’s hockey team, the just-married Vidhya Sharma. I still have no clue what makes me fall for someone like Vidhya, who has a glimpse of sadness, strength, conviction, all together, in her eyes. Probably the same thing that makes me go weak at my knees whenever I see Rani Mukherji on the screen. Hmmm.

Shah Rukh’s histrionics and predictable story line notwithstanding, the movie packs a lot of pace, spiced up with patriotism and some inspiring dialogues. SRK’s idea of “serious acting” doesn’t seem to go very much beyond having a stubble. That said, his conviction in the role is apparent through out the film. Though he wouldn’t have charged any lesser for his appearance in this movie, that he chose to do a film knowing thoroughly well that he would be at the background with no songs, leave alone item numbers, and more than anything, no shapely heroines (note the use of multiples) in skimpy clothes to dance with is just amazing. Still, King Khan has a point to prove and he does it convincingly. Kudos to you, SRK!!!