Chak De India

I saw this movie last week and was impressed. It is difficult to mess up a sports themed movie. There is enough tension, emotion, rooting going on in a game/preparation for a game the movie makers have to carry it along. Given it is a movie, we pretty much know before hand who will win the final match. The trick is managing to induce surprises along the way. I think the director has done a very good job of introducing twists and turns, making the different players unique in their background and outlook and nicely integrating those aspects into the movie. It could very well be a nice movie to show on the character diversity present in India and yet how people get along nicely in the end.

I am very happy to see this movie come out of Bollywood where sports movies are a rarity. Even if sports was involved, it was always diluted by being a means to something else - redeem family honor, defeat villain, win over heroine. This movie had winning as its main theme with the different facets of the team - coach, players, administrators taking the central role. Pleasantly absent were a romantic interest for the hero, a born to pain the hero villain, a fight sequence, etc. A nice movie indeed.

Remember the Titans came to my mind after seeing this movie. Its an excellent movie with some underlying similarity with Chak De - underdogs performing above the rest in spite of society's lack of confidence, a bigger message at stake in the results, etc. This movie too had the coach playing a pivotal role in the movie and in unifying the players despite their obvious and not so obvious differences.

ps: To get recommendations on movies based on what you have watched (and others), check MovieLens from the University of Minnesota, CS Department.