Thanks for the memories!

Better Late Then Never

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Chak De! India opens in Delhi during the final minutes of a fictional Hockey World Cup match between Pakistan and India, with Pakistan leading 1–0. When Indian team captain Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) is fouled, he takes a penalty stroke. His shot just misses, costing India the match. Soon afterwards, media outlets circulate a photograph of Khan shaking hands with the Pakistani captain. The sporting gesture is misunderstood, and the Muslim Khan[11][12] is suspected of "throwing" the game out of sympathy towards Pakistan. Religious prejudice[11][12][13] forces him and his mother (Joyshree Arora) from their family home.Seven years later Mr. Tripathi (Anjan Srivastav), the head of India's hockey association, meets with Khan's friend—and hockey advocate—Uttamaji (Mohit Chauhan) to discuss the Indian women's hockey team. According to Tripathi, the team has no future since the only long-term role for women is to "cook and clean". Uttamaji, however, tells him that Kabir Khan (whom no one has seen for seven years) wants to coach the team. Initially sceptical, Tripathi agrees to the arrangement.

Shahrukh Khan formally known for his romance genre.Raised a few eyebrow's when he signed this one directed by the Critically acclaimed director Shimit Amin. the movie starts with the disgrace of a Former Hockey player Kabir khan on missing out his winning stroke..and years later he arrives years later to earn his respect by taking the women's hockey team to win the world cup..a lot movies have been made on sports in Bollywood but only few have left their mark while other have disappeared in wind..Chak De India tops that list the emotional content is so high that few scenes might wanna let you choke inside.Shahrukh gets into the skin like anything playing the character with ease and making you believe his intensity..Chak De is all time winner for Srk

How often do we get a very simple story that makes the biggest impact possible? How often does a dull colorless looking film put a huge smile on your face by the end of the screening? You don't see much of that in Hindi cinema. Chak De does not preach, it does not bore, in fact it's just telling you a story with one sequence or another the viewer can relate to.Kabir Khan, once a caption of the Indian hockey team is accused of match fixing due to a leaked picture of a casual handshake between him and the Pakistani Captain. One circumstance leads to another, having Kabir fired and out of the team. Not only is Kabir fired but also heavily criticized and labeled as a traitor.Years later, Kabir returns to hockey. Not to play, but to coach a group of young girls from various states. Then starts Kabir's journey to lead his team to victory and regain his lost respect. As they say, the journey is more important than reaching the destination. Chak De is one tough journey of a coach and his group of girls who don't even know how to play as a team.Chak De talks about a good number of issues that we all see in our everyday lives. However, it's not the talk of the issues that win you over but it's how subtly the writer points it all out.Let's analyze: Chak De talks about India's national sport - No, not cricket. Very few know that field hockey was known as India's national sport in which we have received Olympic honors decades ago. Since the cricket wave hit, Indians forgot about their national sport.Chak De talks about the role of women in our country. Normally seen as housewives, Indian woman in sports is frowned upon. Chak De mentions that in scenes when a player talks to Kabir about her husband. Or when the girls are rejected permission to go to the tournament.Finally, Chak De is basically about playing for your country over anything else. Whether your Punjabi, Gujrati, Tamil, Bengali or Bihari - It's about I-N-D-I-A. As mentioned in a striking scene in the initial reels.there are so many remarkable scenes in the movie. To name a couple, the McDonalds scene is genius. Of Course the climax is electrifying.The writing is flawless. Screenplay glues you. The dialogues are touching, fresh and not a tad bit cheesy. Bravo Jaideep Sahni! Salim-Suleman's music is underrated. The title song and Maula mere are bout gems. Background score is amazing.Shimmit Amin's direction is top notch. It was his second film after a thrilling Ab Tak Chappan. Hard to believe? All girls are natural. Some are hockey players in real life and some are in reel life. They all play their parts flawlessly. Especially the one's that play Balbir, Komal, Vidiya, Alia and Preeti, respectively.Shah Rukh Khan is the heart and soul of Chak De India. Every expression, dialogue, mannerism, smile, cry, it's flawless. He carries Chak De all the way. A subtle act that speaks so loudly about the man's talent. One of his best performances. (Says a lot since he's got a great resume of performances) Aplaudworthy! Overall - Chak De is poetic, controversial and nothing short of a classic.

Shahrukh Khan stars in "ChakDe! India" as a former Indian national hockey player and someone, in his own words, who wants to defeat the reason why he lost out in his own career by this time coaching the Indian women's hockey team to world cup glory. For him, it's all about believing that you can win, and he makes this clear quite often.Equal opportunities in sport (something we all take for granted), religion, self-belief and teamwork are themes central to "ChakDe! India" have been cleverly handled by director Shimit Amin.Shahrukh's performance is brilliant; one can totally understand why he won filmfare best actor for this. Out of the team of girls, the performances that stand out are those by Shilpa Shukla (as Bindia), Sagarika Ghatge (as Preeti), Chitrashi Rawal (as Komal) and Tanya Abrol (as Balbir). Director Shimit Amin has done a good job with this. He clearly is a very talented director and this is evident in every frame of the movie.The screenplay works great and the cinematography is brilliant. From the soundtrack, "Chak De India" is the most memorable song and is probably the best song from the list.Verdict: A national award winning sports masterpiece from Yash Raj Films that should not be missed!! I give it 9/10.