Chak de India - From a 'Reel Dream' to 'Dream in Real'

I've always been on the line of criticising movies, not just movies but people, life in general. But in this criticism of movies, it has usually been limited to short discussion, mostly on the negative side for the film, director or the actors. Just in case its good or positive, then it is limited to a small recommendation to people that do watch this movie. And generally, I make this passing judgement on serious movies by acting and screenplay. But here, I'm to discuss (ok first discuss!!) and tell about a sport movie (yes Bollywood sport movie!!). What follows is not a movie critique, but rather a writing inspired by the movie and coming up with few basic questions, sometimes answers as well regarding Sports, specially Sports in India. But by the end of it would be more "words on sports" rather than movie, but let's see.

I've been able to make one judgement about sport movies, those being good or bad depends, if those create a lump in my throat like that one felt before crying or with crying. If there is that heaviness felt in throat or the voice box just gets stuck and it becomes hard to swallow with eyes almost wet, even if tears refuse to trickle down, then the movie is surely good and in all probability great (maybe more because of my special affinity towards sports). And usually there is more than one such moment with one and last one at the ending of the movie, but at least one such 'lump in throat' moment. Be it Miracle (most notably Coach Herb Brookes leaving the playing field after 'the miracle', and to be in gallery under roof and punching the air all alone by himself), Cinderella Man (Boxer Braddock going to the local club and begging from the members to donate to feed his family rather bring his kids back home), and similarly for remarkable movies like Million Dollar Baby, Coach Carter, Das Wunder von Bern, V for Victory, Any Given Sunday, Rudy, Remember the Titans, Invincible, Seabiscuit, Chariots of Fire, The Greatest Game Ever Played, The Fastest Ever Indian, most notable among others.

OK, I'll continue to give reasons why I included such a big list, primarily to convince that lump story is based on class of movies.

So finally, the movie I'm talking about is Chak de India (translated as Go for it India or Buck Up India or Come On India, but I'm really not sure about this translation) because Hindi (Punjabi here with Chak de being words from Punjabi) in itself is so powerful language that translation losses its meaning a few times. Why Chak de Indian is different? Not just because it is Bollywood movie in genre of Sport, we have had movie most recent and famous being Lagaan and Iqbal (those had my lump theory element as well). What Chak de India has different is the game involved, it being Hockey (Field Hockey). Lagaan & Iqbal had Cricket, most famous and 'successful' sport in India. Almost all Sports movies, the good ones as sighted above are based on successful sports, popular sports, mass appeal and professional sports, sports where money is and where the popular audience is, be it Ice Hockey, American Football, Football (Soccer), Golf, Horse Racing.. maybe different once would be Chariots of Fire (Athletics) & The Fast Ever Indian (drag racing) and to be included would be Breaking Away (Cycling) and please excuse me for leaving a few more notable movies specially on Baseball.

So, Chak de India is based on Hockey. And Hockey being the Golden Sport in India, the National Sport, the sport which is just present because of its glorious past and has seen no present achievement in/by India. Even the contest between traditional rivals and erstwhile super houses of hockey, India & Pakistan, has lost its appeal. Another low came as the government degraded it to second degree sport. Nothing going positive for Hockey here, may be a glimmer of hope, but that too not in Hockey but was given by Cricket team's non performance in Cricket World Cup and thus providing other sports a light to be looked at by sponsors, authorities, administrators and public.

And then a Bollywood movie. But a movie on Sport and that too a contact sport like Hockey (Ouch!!). We Indians are 'soft', we believe in playing safe, get educated, get job, get married, watch movies and live happily ever after. If Hockey was not enough it chose topic of "Women's" Hockey. Suddenly it takes a turn to an art movie and non-populous one, maybe something based on gender inequality like Matrubhoomi. But no, its Yash Raj Films, a big, if not biggest production house. still not done, it stars Shahrukh Khan, the best known or second best known actor. But wasn't Sharukh supposed to come in family, love triangle, quadrangle movies with those teary eyes. What's is he doing with hockey stick and yes with those same teary eyes? And wait no actress, correction no lead actress, no Paaro, Chandramukhi, no Preity, no Raani.. not one, nor two but there are 16. 16 actresses playing hockey, swinging hockey sticks in promotions and sticking the ball and dodging Aussies, banging toughies from Argentina and winning the World Cup. Yes, movie is a dream setting, though based on true story of Indian Women's Hockey triumph in Commonwealth Games 2002, but aren't we waiting for such a dream. I was skeptical but after success of movie, I'm convinced, we (Indians) are hungry for success in sports.

The movie starts with a sequence of Women players called for camp for the national team, coming from various states. Now comes first critical point on the movie, it picks a sequence from Miracle. Coach asking each player their introduction and players answering with their name & state team. He takes out everyone until a player tells him, "ABC playing for India". As the movies show, Miracle, Remember the Titans, and almost all sport movies, there is some sort of discrimination against which the protagonist(s) are fighting, be it regional dimension, racial, class inequality, some times age (The Rookie). Here it is not just the regional dimension that has plagued India, specially the Indian Sports, but it has been added a twist with the gender bias approach. First, the regional bias, as we see it from other countries, not just from the movies, regional bias exist in each team, be it US, Yugoslavia, Russia, China, so giving reason for regional bias for our inefficiency in sports is just like chewing own fingers for no real reason actually. Second, gender bias, hasn't the Indian women performed better on sporting field specially in recent times. Maybe not better but competent enough for sure as compared with the performance of men athletes or teams.

I think its more a reason for our inefficiency rather than regional or gender bias for non-performance in field of sports. Its not just that, we even don't believe that we can beat anyone in any field, more so in Sports. We are already down by dozen points or goals before starting a game. But then we did well in cricket, sometimes in Tennis, Shooting. We could do it, (My apologies to the athletes as I'm taking their credit and giving it to all Indians here), ok we could do those, special moments, because those individual athletes believed that they could do it, they raised above the potential. That specific day they believed they could do anything, maybe act like God. But sports is not just about beliefs is it, but those athletes also had the basics right, that I take is there, don't we say we (Indians) have the potential, it is just performance on the big stage. Its said Sport is about goals, wish, target, but it seems like our goals are just limited to represent India, wear the national jersey in disguise and get the basics of survival, a job and living. Do we have to be so desperate to achieve success then, like being downcast Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness, another one of the lump theory?

What ever the answer is, this movie and its running to big numbers on charts is a testament that we are indeed hungry and desperate as well. Is it my wishful thinking or for real that we are feeling an environment for sports in India, maybe its because of those increasing numbers in marathons, those increasing registrations in fitness houses or people running/walking on roads/parks, maybe its effect of my involvement in the field and illusion thus created in my neurons, maybe Commonwealth Games 2010, or maybe this movie - Chak de India?

Why isn't sports being taken as career alternative? This would be research topic on its own, so let's just take on a basic theme, why don't we follow sports in school or colleges? One simplistic answer being, sports is painful and we shudder at thought of it, but so is life, isn't it? But I would take more on the thought that Sports is NOT for the intellectuals. Ok leaving me aside (why later..) from the more than billion Indians, Indian mindset has always been argumentative and in search of that Shunya, Nirvana, that high level of intellectualism, now pronounced by intellectual jobs based on technology, management or professional education. It has always been about "achieving" that, may I take liberty of saying it, achieving that absoluteness or being supreme. But not supreme in sports, because in our childhood, teens we are told that "kheloge koodoge ho jaoge kharaab, padhoge likhoge banoge nawaab" translating to "If you play you are going to get spoilt (dishonored), but if you read and write you are going to be the king (honored)". So, everyone else has been fool to run, jump, lift, score, kick, smash, land so higher, faster, longer and that too beautifully & splendidly and get those honors at Olympics or those different fields where action takes place, where sports happen. It is altogether a different story if you have thoughts like why should we go for honor or success at all in life. Anyway coming back, I left myself out because I left myself out of those so called intellectual jobs world to follow world of Sports. But in any case, are we saying Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza, Jeev Milkha Singh, Viren Rasquinha, Anju Bobby George, Rajyvardhan Singh Rathore, Anup Sridhar, Baichung Bhutia and all those whose name I can't include just because of space, from present, past, from India, from Asia or whole world, are all those sportspeople not "Intellectuals". How many option does a football player like Ronaldinho has when he has ball under his boot and playing the Champion League Final? Or, how many decisions did Michael Jordan took in each of his Chicago Bull triumphs in NBA finals? How many decisions does Mahesh Bhupathi take before hitting a volley in the court to win next Doubles's title or out of court to organise or launch new venture with his company? Numbers run from thousands to zillions for each game. That was the decision making done by the Coach Kabir Khan (acted by Shahrukh) in the movie Chak de India, for choosing the right position for each member, right place and time to say to players and same went for the players in final to forget past infighting and raise the game to new level and collaborate when least expected by opponents to score and equalise and later win the title.

That's what we need to do. Forget the past mis/un/non-happenings and act in present to take steps and grab initiatives to first equalise to the stature of being a force to reckon with in sports and then excel. We have done it, unleashing the potential, in the field of technology products & services, no reason that we can't do it in Sports. Not just to see the Tricolor being unfurled and hearing the sweet sound of anthem, but more importantly to engage this 75% population full of exuberance of youth for the well being and supreme health of the nation in coming future. Because those are the people currently thronging the movie halls and chanting "Chak de India"!! And giving us more such stories, so that our autonomic nerves and the autonomic parasympathetic nervous system keep creating those muscle entangles in throat to create that lump in the throat. As this movie (Chak de India) gave one, before providing another one at the final ending of it, at the 100th minute as team enters the final, there is a call from staff back home in India and urging the most experienced player that "Defeat is not acceptable now, come back as victors" and reply being "We 'll die but would not be defeated" and in the next scene the Coach watches tricolour being unfurled on the eve of Final. Making it not just a reel dream but a dream in real!