Shocking truth of Chak De
Yash Raj Films has done it again. Just when everyone was going gung-ho about how YRF have broken tradition and come out with a non-romantic sports based movie, Chak De India, few people have found its obvious resemblance to 2004 hollywood release Miracle.
In what is probably the highpoint of Chak De India, Shah Rukh Khan delivers an inspirational speech to his team. Telling them that this is their time, he concludes with the now-famous dialogue, "Yeh sarttar minute, tumse Khuda bhi nahin cheen sakta (Even God will not be able to take these 70 minutes from you)."
"You were meant to be here tonight... This is your time," Kurt Russell, who plays the coach of the US hockey team in Miracle, tells his players at a similar moment just before a crucial match.
Miracle is based on a true-life story of US hockey coach Herb Brooks. It is the tale of a ragtag college hockey team taking on the mighty USSR in the 1980 Olympic games. Strangely enough, Chak De India is also based on the life of Mir Ranjan Negi, a hockey coach who led the Indian women's team to victory in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Despite drawing upon two different incidents, Miracle and Chak De India do have quite a few things in common. For instance, both the actors coach an underdog team and have to overcome their respective politicking federations. The similarities do not end there. At one point Khan insists on having the players say that they play for the country and not individual states. Russell's first aim is to get his players rise above their college team identities. Like Kabir Khan, who reprimands his team for not identifying with the country, Russell punishes his team till one of them, on the verge of collapse, yells back, "I play for the United States of America."
Yash Raj is quite known for intelligently repackaging Hollywood scripts. Despite its stupendous success, their 2000 release, Mohabbatein was written off as a song-n-dance version of the Robin Williams-starrer Dead Poets' Society.
However the sad part about Chak De India is that it comes at a time when two of the most popular hits of the year are under fire for being 'inspired'. Bheja Fry is a scene-by scene copy of the French film Le Diner De Cons (The Dinner Game). And although the original film's makers haven't seemingly noticed the remake, Partner hasn't been so lucky. Sony Pictures has sued K Sera Sera and Eros for lifting the plot of their film Hitch.
Chak De India however, has one advantage. It is a sports film. And at a very basic level, all sports films thrive on a basic premise – underdogs overcoming all hurdles to win the most important game of their lives. Chak De too tells a similar story. And they have Negi's tale to back up their argument.
But somehow the nagging feeling doesn't leave. Replacing ice hockey with hockey and college-level boys with state-level girls simply isn't enough. Agreed, India doesn't have a tradition of sports films. But turning to the West for inspiration is not the answer.
posted by nK @ 11:31 PM
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