Chak De! India () is a 2007 Indian sports drama film directed by Shimit Amin, written by Jaideep Sahni and produced by Aditya Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan as Kabir Khan, the former captain of the India men's national field hockey team. After a disastrous loss to Pakistan, Khan is ostracized from the sport owing to religious prejudice. 7 years later in an attempt to redeem himself, he becomes the coach of the India women's national field hockey team, with the goal of turning its 16 contentious players into an award-winning team.
Sahni was inspired by the women's national field hockey team's win at the 2002 Commonwealth Games to develop Chak De! Indias script after reading about it in a newspaper. The screenplay was fictional and the characters, while inspired by the real team and coaches, were invented by Sahni. Kabir Khan's struggles bore resemblance to those faced by real-life hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi, although Sahni was unaware of Negi's tribulations while writing the script. On the suggestion of Maharaj Krishan Kaushik, then coach of the women's hockey team, Sahni invited Negi to join the film's production team. A combination of professional players and actors were cast as the sixteen team members; workshops were conducted for training the actors in hockey and the players in acting. Kaushik and Negi would train Sahni, Khan and the other cast members over a period of six months. The sports scenes were choreographed by Rob Miller, and the soundtrack was composed by Salim–Sulaiman, with lyrics written by Sahni.
Chak De! India was released worldwide on 10 August 2007, coinciding with the country's 60th Independence Day, and grossed on a budget, thus becoming the third-highest grossing Hindi film of 2007. It received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with praise for its direction, story, screenplay, dialogues, feminist themes, and performances of the cast, with high praise directed towards Khan's performance. A recipient of numerous accolades, Chak De! India won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment at the 55th National Film Awards. It received a leading 10 nominations at the 53rd Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, Best Director (Amin) and Best Supporting Actress (Shukla), and won a leading 5 awards, including Best Film (Critics) and Best Actor (Khan).
The title track song "Chak De! India," now doubles as a sports anthem in India.
Plot During the final minutes of a Hockey World Cup match in Delhi, India trails Pakistan 1–0. Indian team captain Kabir Khan misses a crucial penalty stroke, costing India the match. Soon after, the media circulates a photograph of Khan shaking hands with the Pakistani captain. The sporting gesture is severely misinterpreted as an act of sympathy towards Pakistan, and rampant religious prejudice forces a disgraced Khan and his mother to flee their ancestral home in exile.
Seven years later, Uttam Singh, a field hockey advocate, convinces the skeptical head of the Indian hockey association, Mr. Tripathi, to appoint Khan as the head coach of the neglected Indian women's national field hockey team. Khan takes charge of a fractured roster of 16 young women plagued by regional biases and interpersonal rivalries. Komal Chautala from Haryana continuously clashes with Preeti Sabarwal from Chandigarh; the short-tempered Balbir Kaur from Punjab bullies teammates Rani Dispotta and Soimoi Kerketa from rural Jharkhand; and Northeast Indian players Mary Ralte and Molly Zimik face systemic racial discrimination. Furthermore, team captain Vidya Sharma struggles with domestic pressure from her husband's family to abandon the sport, while Preeti's fiancé, national cricket vice-captain Abhimanyu Singh, routinely belittles her hockey career.
Khan realizes that tactical skill is useless without team unity. He enforces strict discipline, benching veteran player Bindiya Naik for refusing to cooperate. In retaliation, Bindiya manipulates the team into rebelling against Khan's authority, prompting his resignation. However, during a farewell lunch at a restaurant, a group of local men sexually harass Mary. Balbir retaliates, triggering a massive brawl where the entire team unites to fight off the harassers. Recognizing that the women have finally acted as a cohesive unit, Khan prevents the restaurant staff from intervening. Impressed by his underlying intentions, the players apologize and request Khan to remain their coach.
The team faces a major hurdle when Tripathi refuses to fund their trip to the World Cup in Australia. Khan challenges the men's national team to an exhibition match. Although the women narrowly lose, their fierce performance convinces the association to sponsor their trip. In Australia, Bindiya's lingering resentment over being passed up for the captaincy results in an opening 7–0 loss to the hosts. When Khan confronts her, Bindiya attempts to seduce him to compromise his authority. Khan flatly rejects her advances and orders her to stay away from the active lineup.
Khan adapts his training regimen, steering the team through successive victories over England, Spain, South Africa, New Zealand, and Argentina. Before a critical semi-final match against South Korea, Khan swallows his pride and asks Bindiya to return to the field, relying on her veteran experience to break the Korean team's rigorous "man-to-man" marking strategy. Bindiya delivers, and alongside teammate Gunjan Lakhani, secures India a spot in the finals against Australia.
In the final, Khan implores rivals Komal and Preeti to put aside their personal goal-scoring ambitions for the sake of the collective unit. Trailing 2–1 in the dying minutes of the game, Komal makes a selfless pass to Preeti, who scores the equalizer and pushes the match into a penalty shootout. Despite falling behind 2–0 early in the shootout, the Indian team mounts a spectacular comeback to win 3–2, claiming the World Cup against all odds. The historic victory alters public perception, forcing the players' families to treat them with newfound respect. His patriotism fully vindicated and his honor restored, Khan returns with his mother to his ancestral home, welcomed back by the very community that had cast him out.
Cast Shortly after the film's release, the media began referring to the 16 actresses who portrayed the players as the "Chak De! Girls". The panel of judges at the Screen Awards also used the term, awarding the Best Supporting Actress award to the "Chak De! Girls" at the 14th Screen Awards in 2008.
Team Actor Character State or city Position and number Shah Rukh Khan Kabir Khan India Head coach Vidya Malvade Vidya Sharma Madhya Pradesh Captain and goalie (18) Shilpa Shukla Bindiya Naik Maharashtra Centre half (5) Nichola Sequeira Nichola Sequeira Utility player (12) Sagarika Ghatge Preeti Sabarwal Chandigarh Centre forward (9) Chitrashi Rawat Komal Chautala Haryana Right in (8) Tanya Abrol Balbir Kaur Punjab Fullback (3) Shubhi Mehta Gunjan Lakhani Andhra Pradesh Right half (4) Sandia Furtado Nethra Reddy Left out (11) Anaitha Nair Aliya Bose West Bengal Right out (7) Arya Menon Gul Iqbal Uttar Pradesh Left in (10) Kimi Laldawla Mary Ralte Mizoram Penalty Specialist (15) Masochon Zimik Molly Zimik Manipur Left half (6) Kimberly Miranda Rachna Prasad Bihar Utility player (14) Seema Azmi Rani Dispotta Jharkhand Right defender (2) Nisha Nair Soimoi KerketaSubstitute (17) Raynia Mascerhanas Raynia Fernandes Goa Utility player (16)
Supporting cast Aanjjan Srivastav as Mr. Vishal Tripathi, Head Indian Hockey Official Vibha Chibber as Krishnaji, assistant coach for the Indian women's field hockey team Javed Khan as Sukhlal Mohit Chauhan as Uttam Singh, Kabir's former hockey teammate and friend Vivan Bhatena as Abhimanyu Singh, Vice captain of the Indian national cricket team and Preeti's fiancé Nakul Vaid as Rakesh Sharma, Vidya's husband Joyshree Arora as Kabir's mother Ramakant Dayama as Association Member Rio Kapadia as Commentator
Production
Development A brief article about the victorious women's team at the 2002 Commonwealth Games inspired screenwriter Jaideep Sahni to create a film about the Indian women's hockey team, and he modelled Kabir Khan on hockey coach Maharaj Krishan Kaushik. After listening to the storyline Kaushik suggested that Sahani meet hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi, who faced accusations of throwing the match against Pakistan in the 1982 Asian Games. Shah Rukh Khan stated in a speech delivered at the University of Edinburgh that the phrase Chak De! was originally "an inspirational martial cry that Sikh soldiers used while lifting logs in order to make bridges across rivers on their campaigns against their enemies. It implies the will to get up and get on with it."
According to Sahni, he was unaware of Negi's plight while he wrote the script and any resemblance to Negi's life was coincidental. Negi agreed, saying that he did not "want to hog the limelight. This movie is not a documentary of Mir Ranjan Negi's life. It is in fact the story of a team that becomes a winning lot from a bunch of hopeless girls". Responding to media reports equating Kabir Khan with Negi, Sahni said: "Our script was written a year and a half back. It is very unfortunate that something, which is about women athletes, has just started becoming about Negi."
Casting
Although Salman Khan was initially considered for the lead role, he ultimately declined because the film "was not my genre at that point in time...it was a more serious kind of film and I was doing more of a commercial kind of cinema." Shah Rukh Khan (who had originally declined due to a scheduling conflict with Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and Farhan Akhtar's Don) was later confirmed as Kabir Khan. Khan accepted the role partly because he used to play hockey in college. Some media sources called the actor's role offbeat, since it departed from his usual romantic image and included neither lip synched songs nor a single female lead.
Casting of the 16 actresses as the hockey players took over six months. Amin described the process as "very, very difficult" and "very strenuous because the requirement was they had to play – and act". A four-month training camp was held where the girls learned the rules of the game, took acting lessons and followed a strict diet; safety precautions were also taken. According to Amin, it was "tricky" to teach the actors how to play hockey, and those who were hired because they were hockey players, had to learn how to act. Some of the actors, such as Chitrashi, Sandia, and Raynia, were cast because they were hockey players.
Rob Miller was the sport action director, choreographing the sports scenes, and worked with Negi to train the actors. About 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."
Soundtrack
The soundtrack album of Chak De! India and the film's background music is composed by Salim–Sulaiman. This film marks the duo's first collaboration with actor Shah Rukh Khan. The lyrics for all the songs were written by Jaideep Sahni. The album features seven tracks with a remix song and a dialogue by Shah Rukh Khan from this film. The album was released on 11 July 2007, and upon its release 11,00,000 units of the album were sold, making it the eleventh highest selling soundtrack album of the year, according to the Indian trade website Box Office India. The title track song "Chak De! India," now doubles as a sports anthem in India.
Release