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Winning stroke for
Indian hockey
Abhishek Roy
In a country that
eats, drinks and sleeps cricket, a movie on hockey certainly bucks the
trend. So when Shah Rukh Khan waves the magic stick saying Chak De!
India, the audience rises to cheer
The ultimate goal: Hockey buffs are hoping that
Chak De succeeds in giving a new lease of life to our much-neglected national sport
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Former
women’s hockey coach Mir Ranjan Negi, who inspired Shah Rukh Khan’s
role in Chak De! India, doesn’t want to hog the limelight
emanating from the movie’s success. "I don’t 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," Negi said in an interview.
"There is
nothing called World Championships in international hockey. It would
be stupid to believe that Yash Raj Films would pump in Rs 450 million
to make a documentary on me. So it’s illogical that it is a
documentation of my life," he said. In the movie, Shah Rukh plays
the role of hockey coach Kabir Khan, who turns a ragtag bunch of girls
into a unit that goes on to win the World Championships on the silver
screen.
The movie is based on
the real life story of Negi, a former Indian goalkeeper who fell from
grace after conceding seven goals against Pakistan in the 1982 Asian
Games final, after which he was dropped from the side. He returned to
the hockey field, most grudgingly, 16 years later as a goalkeeping
coach for the women’s team. India won the 1998 Asian Games gold at
Bangkok. But the joy was short-lived as the ungrateful federation
sacked Negi, along with six players and the chief coach.
 The affable Negi
returned to train the girls, won the Commonwealth Games Gold in 2002,
again contributing as a goalkeeping coach. "I was never a big
coach but I was a good management person. I think being a good man
manager is what counts now in modern sports," he said. The former
women’s coach believes sports movies like Chak De! India
would usher in a sports movement in the country. "It is good to
see that the culture of sports movies is growing in our country. It
can do a whole world of good to the sports culture in our
society," he said. Negi, who was roped in as a technical director
by the film’s producers, said he was impressed by Shah Rukh’s
performance and that the superstar was able to do justice to the role.
"When they
(producers) were writing the screenplay, they faced some technical
problems regarding hockey. Then they approached me and appointed me as
the technical director of the movie," he said. "Almost 35-40
percent of the movie was about hockey and I had to teach the girls the
game so that it looked real on the screen. It was real fun working
with them as some of them had never touched a hockey stick in their
life." The former coach now plans to set up a hockey academy in
memory of his son Abhi Ranjan, who passed away 18 months ago at the
age of 19 in a motorcycle accident. Negi’s autobiography Gloom to
Glory will be released later this month. — IANS
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Azera Rahman
Sans
glamour, romance and
even a leading lady, King Khan plays the Indian women’s hockey
team coach who boosts the spirit of the girls, trains them and
leads them to success - all the while rousing passions for the
much-maligned national game.
Ajit Pal Singh,
former captain of the Indian hockey team and an Olympian,
believes movies like Chak De! India have the potential to
give a new lease of life to hockey in India. "I am sure
that more movies like Chak De can attract more youngsters
to hockey. When I was young, cricket and hockey had an equal
following but today cricket has clearly surpassed hockey,"
says Singh, however, believes the interest kindled in the game
can be maintained only with the help of institutional support.
"The place where players are made and passions are lit is
school. In fact, there are many schools that have good hockey
teams but they never stick together to play on at a later stage.
"The
government should step in and encourage schools to maintain
their
hockey teams.
Also the conception that hockey is not as glamorous, doesn’t
attract sponsors and doesn’t offer as much money as cricket,
should be removed. Only then will more youngsters take this game
more seriously," Singh said.
"It is the
number one sport. Unfortunately it has lost its popularity in
India. But hopefully such a medium can bring back the glory of
the game."
Adam Wallish, a
member of the Australian Hockey Board, said the film had the
potential to revive interest in the game. "The film will
give a much-needed boost to Indian hockey, given the fact that
it is going through one of its darkest phases," Wallish
said. Despite being the national game, the Indian government had
demoted hockey from the ‘priority’ to the ‘general’
category of sports because of the continuous poor showing of the
national team in all major tournaments in recent years.
However, the
successes at the 16th Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in
Malaysia in May and at last month’s Champions Challenge Cup in
the Netherlands, where India won the bronze, were a ray of hope
for hockey lovers. After watching the movie, most people are
sure that it will definitely attract more young people to the
game.
Ananya
Mukherjee who had gone to watch the film with her husband can’t
help praising it to the skies. "It was a wonderful movie
and I can probably watch it 10 times more! This is, frankly, one
of Shah Rukh’s best performances and via him, I am sure hockey
will regain its lost glory and encourage youngsters to take it
up," she said.
Aneeta Mehta, a public
relations executive, said: "Shah Rukh is good, there’s no
doubt about it. But the rest of the team - the girls — were
superb too. Hailing from different states, they portrayed the
typical challenges a team faces in building the team
spirit." Close on the heels of Chak de! India is
coming up another sports movie, Goal. A John Abraham and
Arshad Warsi starrer, this movie plays around the central theme
of football. Some other Indian movies based on sports that have
done very well are Lagaan, Iqbal and Awwal
Number, Hip Hip Hurray and Saheb. — IANS
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director’s
cut
Ram
Gopal Varma’s protege Shimit Amin’s second film Chak
De India is a winner. In an exclusive chat with Vickey
Lalwani, Amin talks about his second baby.
How did you come
on the YRF board?
Aditya Chopra had
seen my first film Ab Tak Chappan and he thought that I
would be suited to direct this one.
But after Ab
Tak Chappan, you were supposed to do a film with Ramu again.
Did you have a fallout?
We didn’t have a
fallout. But yes, I was supposed to direct a film for him after Ab
Tak Chappan.
Then why didn’t
that film happen?
The concept of
that film could not be developed.
Was Salman Khan
the first choice for SRK’s role?
No. Those are just
rumours and I don’t know from where they originated.
Was Neetu Chandra
the first choice for Vidya Malavade’s role?
Neetu is a fine
actress whom I personally know. We did audition her. She even
did her hockey rehearsals. But somewhere we thought that...
(pauses and does not finish the sentence). Actually, there are
15 girls in the film. Some needed to be better actors. Some
needed to be better players. It was quite a long process to cast
them.
People hooted the
promos of Chak De aired during the screening of Jhoom
Barabar Jhoom?
Firstly, that was
not a promo. It was just a theatrical music video. And I, for
one, don’t know how people reacted in the theatres. I think
that was just loose talk.
And then you got
in another promo as per what SRK wanted.
No. That promo
came at the time when we had planned to induct it.
Was SRK upset with
you for asking too many retakes and did he storm out of the set?
Actually, SRK was
cool about me asking for retakes. That’s the real story. But
wouldn’t publications get more readership if they turn the
story upside down? That’s what happened.
Was it tough
working with SRK? He must have given a lot of inputs.
I am not
interested in actors who don’t give inputs. And I would be an
idiot to turn down useful suggestions.
Didn’t you get
worried by all these stories? Don’t you think it gave negative
publicity to the film?
Frankly, I was too
busy with the post-production during the time period that these
stories appeared. I had to choose — either to react to them or
to continue with my work.
Ramu is your
mentor. Are yovu inviting him to see Chak De?
I don’t think
that he has the time to come and see other people’s movies.
Will you work with
him again?
(Smiles) Right now, I am under
a three-film contract with YRF. That means two more to go. — TWF
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