The year is 2007. The Salim Suleiman soundtrack has become the nation’s anthem coinciding with the country’s 60th Independence Day. Shah Rukh Khan, in one of his most riveting performances as sports coach Kabir Khan, gives a goosebump-inducing inspirational speech in the “Sattar minute” scene. Shah Rukh Khan’s iconic lines from Chak De! India is remembered to date and of course the expressions, the patriotic feeling, 

Shah Rukh Khan makes the monologue the heart of Chak De! India making the film is more of an emotion than a movie.But at the heart of the film that is taking the nation by storm is an unexpected hero—an all-woman hockey team. The Swaddle presents Re-casting Shimit Amin’s Chak De India plays to the audience’s affinity towards rooting for the underdog.

The film is based on the life of Mir Ranjan Negi and how CHAK DE INDIA tackles SEXISM, RACISM, STEREOTYPING and ENCOURAGED WOMEN EMPOWERMENT, directed by Shimit Amin and produced by Aditya Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films.

Chak de india cast

This was the first movie that focused on a sport other than cricket in a long time. Additionally, it focused on a women’s game, which is extremely uncommon in the nation. The movie also defied a lot of stereotypes and is well ahead of its time. 

The other leading star cast included Vidya Malavade, Anaitha Nair, Tanya Abrol, Shilpa Shukla, Arya Menon, Shubhi Mehta, Chitrashi Rawat, Kimi Laldawla, Masochon Zimik, Sandia Furtado, Nichola Sequeira, Sagarika Ghatge, Kimberly Miranda, Raynia Mascerhanas, Nisha Nair. 

Despite the fact that none of the girls had performed before, their show was impressive. The movie helped a lot of people become actors in the Hindi cinema business.

To create a team of vastly different women, grappling with unique circumstances and challenges, but united by one common goal of showing all the naysayers that not only can women play hockey, but they can play well enough to win India gold. Through the personalities of the different women, Chak De India challenges tropes that we associate both with women who play sports and women who represent the nation. 

The women on the team have differing life goals and moral standards and make divergent life choices. The film finds a way to make each of them relatable and worthy of championing. Be it Preeti and Komil’s ego battle to score the most goals or senior players Bindya, Gunjan, and Alia bullying the newcomers, the film poses these problems but never villainizes the women who display these traits, casting an empathetic gaze instead.

And so, in the lead-up to becoming a team that is good enough to win the World Cup, the focus is always on their training, skill, and discipline, and building in character in a way that will enable them to put the team before their individual ambitions. Along with being a sports film about the women’s team.

Chak De India is also a tale of a Muslim man trying to redeem himself in a nation where he has been deemed a gaddar and falsely accused of rigging a match for Pakistan’s benefit in his time as one of India’s top hockey players. Through his story arc, the film makes us question the ways in which we glorify and then villainize national heroes overnight and presume people’s national loyalties based on their religious affiliations. 

And though Kabir Khan’s redemptive arc is central to the film, he never overshadows the women. In Bollywood, when big male stars are cast in films about women to sell the film better, the story ends up becoming more about them.

However, in Chak De, India, the coach and the women are equal-part facilitators in each other’s stories. And when it really comes to the girls needing rescuing, Kabir Khan stands as a supporter, while the women are at the forefront of one of the most cathartic moments in Indian cinematic history. 

A scene that is otherwise far ahead of its time, unfortunately, leaves you with an uncomfortable feeling because of Kabir’s transphobic dialogue. Chak De India also advocates for a fresh kind of patriotism based on fraternity instead of jingoism. It challenges the idea of a homogeneous patriot by showing how we can love our country while maintaining our distinctive gender, religious, state, and caste identities.

And so, the Indian Women’s Hockey team becomes a mirror of a modern, secular, and inclusive India, and Chak De-India becomes a genre-defining film.

The soundtrack album of Chak De! India is composed by Salim–Sulaiman and the lyrics for all the songs were written by Jaideep Sahni. Songs like ‘Chak de.. ho chak de India’ by Sukhwinder Singh still give us goosebumps whenever we listen to it while ‘Badal Pe Paaon Hai’ by Hema Sardesai makes us believe that we can achieve our dreams as long as we are confident. 

‘Maula Mere Le Le Meri Jaan’ by Salim Merchant, Krishna Beura is another soothing song that can calm you in every circumstance and its a treta to listen to this song everytime we are feeling down and the last one ‘Ek Hockey Doongi Rakh Ke’ by KK.

“Chak De! India” became the third highest grossing Hindi film of 2007 with a total of ₹109 crore after its release on August 10, 2007, the nation’s 60th Independence Day. Upon its release, it was widely praised by critics for its directing, plot, script, dialogue, feminist themes, and cast performances—especially Shah Rukh Khan’s. “Chak De! India,took up the 55th National Film Awards with Best Popular Film. 

The 53rd Filmfare prizes saw it win a leading five prizes, including Best Film (Critics) and Best Actor (Khan), and it garnered a leading ten nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Amin), and Best Supporting Actress (Shukla). Regularly performed at athletic events, the title song “Chak De India” still maintains its tremendous popularity and prominence.