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Chak De! India backdrop
9 August 2007Hindi148 min

Chak De! India

6.811 reviews
CriticsRecommended

Bayesian avg · 11 critic reviews

7.5+ Exceptional · 6.5 Recommended · 5.0 Mixed

8.76 ratings
UsersExceptional

User Score · avg of 6 ratings

8.0+ Exceptional · 7.0 Recommended · 5.5 Mixed

Jaideep Sahni ScreenplayJaideep Sahni StoryJaideep Sahni WriterShimit Amin DirectorSalim-Sulaiman MusicSudeep Chatterjee Cinematography

A team of rag-tag girls with their own agenda form Team India competing for international fame in field hockey. Their coach, the ex-men's Indian National team captain, returns from a life of shame after being unjustly accused of match fixing in his last match. Can he give the girls the motivation required to win, while dealing with the shadows of his own past?

Critic Consensus

Critical reception for Chak De! India is strongly positive, with reviewers consistently praising Shah Rukh Khan's restrained, against-type performance and the ensemble work from the largely unknown female cast. Critics highlighted the film's emotional engagement, its sharp commentary on the neglect of non-cricket sports in India, and its celebration of women's athletics as particular strengths. The predictability of the sports-drama narrative is the most commonly noted weakness, though most reviewers found the character investment sufficient to overcome it. Pacing drew near-universal approval, with multiple critics noting the film holds attention across its full runtime without a dull moment.

11 reviews · 9 positive

Praised: Shah Rukh Khan's restrained performanceCriticised: Predictable, formulaic narrative trajectory

AI-generated summary of 11 critic reviews · may contain errors

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Critic Reviews (11)

Rajeev MasandTop Critic· IBNLive
8.0
"...it's an immensely satisfying movie experience, I'm going to go with four out of five and two thumbs up for director Shimit Amin's Chak De India. It's got a predictable premise and you know exactly which way the story's going to go, but sometimes, when the characters win over your heart and you're rooting for them to win, that's all that really matters."
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Raja SenTop Critic· Rediff
7.0
"Sure, you know what's going to happen, but it's a good ride -- and especially satisfying to see Swiss flower-fields replaced by Australian stadiums. Not to mention the return of the King."
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ApunKaChoice Bureau· ApunKaChoice
8.0
"I cannot recall a single dull moment in the film. From the word go, the movie grips you like a vice and keeps you riveted until the end credits roll. During this 'Chak De' ride, you go through myriad emotions. You empathize with the pain of the protagonist, cherish the clashes and camaraderie of the girls, and you are filled with an uplifting, charged-up feeling as you see the underdogs rise to the occasion."
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TNN· Times Of India
8.0
"Great performances by a bunch of unknowns, a gritty pace and a marvellous restraint make Chakde India an unbridled ode to patriotism without any hysterical chest-beating. And yes, for all you SRK fans and bashers, this time the verdict gotta be unanimous: Chakde Shah Rukh! Can you better this?"
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Martin D'Souza· Glamsham
8.0
"CHAK DE INDIA is a team effort and no one person can take credit, but for commercial purposes alone, it's Shah Rukh Khan who will pull in the audience. As for the women, I suggest they go in groups and bring the house down. This is one film that celebrates women power!!!"
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Filmibeat Reviewer· FilmiBeat
8.0
"Shah Rukh Khan has moved away from his typical image yet again after Swades. He breathes life into the character and fits the role to a t. It's a treat to watch the Baadshah do something so drastically different, in the process successfully convincing the viewers."
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Devyani Srivastava· Fully Hyderabad
7.5
"Like Iqbal, Chak De India attempts to keep it real. The story, though it succumbs to cliché now and then, is told convincingly. In this cricket-obsessed nation (Chak De India tackles the issue of cricket versus hockey too, through an interesting sub-plot), plenty of players are placed on, and toppled off, pedestals overnight; Kabir's rabid persecution thus strikes a chord."
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Mayank Shekhar· The W14
7.0
"One, a brilliant comedy and comment on the cultural divide and diversity of India. Two, a strong perspective on team and attitude building. Three, a sharp look at the manner in which all largely 'unsponsored' sports, besides cricket, is run in this country, where an international sports tournament is more a sarkari tour for its administrators. Four, a soft take on the under-estimated female brawn. Five, a timely point on unfair trials by the media. That's five goals that I can count on my fingers straight. Not a bad game at all!"
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Hindustan Times· Hindustan Times
7.0
"Of the girls, the little stick of dynamite Chitrashi Rawat, the independent-minded Sagarika Ghatge, the team's zip-unzip vamp Shilpa Shukla and the anger-spewing Tania Abrol are marvellous discoveries. Yup, so go for it!"
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Meeta Kabra· Wogma
"When the entire audience is rooting for a women's hockey team for 150 minutes straight, you know the movie has worked. The movie certainly achieved its aim of drawing attention to our national sport and especially to the plight of the women in this sport. It invoked the national spirit, made us whistle and cheer, clap hard, and laugh out loud."
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IndiaGlitz· India Glitz
"Throughout this 2 hour 30 minutes film, you keep glued to the proceedings with not a single minute making you feel disinterested. In fact the parts before and after the interval have their own tales to tell. The first half is absolutely breezy while stuffed with light hearted/truly hilarious moments."
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Cast & Crew

Cast

Details

Release Date
9 August 2007
Runtime
148 min
Language
Hindi
Genre
Drama

User Ratings & Reviews

Users8.76 ratings

6 ratings from the community

Community Reviews (1)

'Chak De! India' is one of the most satisfying, amazing experiences in Hindi cinema in a long time. And that's because of three reasons- no necessary jingoism, an unlikely but blazingly women-empowering premise and the best performance by Shahrukh Khan in his career. Chak De! India, although an inspiring story about Women's Hockey Team, is Shahrukh Khan's game as he essays the 'terrorist' coach Kabir Khan. Actually, it is Shahrukh's best film as an actor, as he makes an effective cut as a strict coach, a great friend and one of the best emotional mentors. But what makes the film different is its being a Shahrukh Khan film without any romantic angle. There is India and there are Indian sportswomen, and as are the regular writing clichés like focusing on one naive word of a colloquial language as Santhali, and the film oozes with melodrama. But what's further there is fun. You seldom get that these days.

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