Introduction

Chak De India released in India in 2007. It was directed by Shimit Amin, and it has been hailed as one of the biggest sports movies of the last decade. The movie is loosely based on the life of an ex India player, Mir Ranjan Negi, however Chak De does more than just use Mir Ranjan Negi’s story as a backdrop for a fast-paced drama. The movie throws up questions about the nationality of its characters, their loyalties to the nation state, and it reflects upon the concept of nation through the eyes of the protagonist (Kabir Khan).

Chak De India uses two significant tropes to narrate the story of the birth of the nation. The first and the most significant one is the core idea of a Hindu–Muslim bhaichara (brotherhood). According to M. N. Chakraborty, it brings “together the constituent elements of an indigenous landscape with its concomitant pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial histories to reconcile the ‘familial’ rift at the moment of Indian Independence with its attendant Partition.”

The second theme explored in the movie is that of the diverse ‘states’ of India, princely states which were integrated into the federal polity by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel after Independence. Some of these were reorganized linguistically between 1956 and 1960 after Patel’s death in 1950.

For the first theme, the film uses Sufi music in particular as one of the elements to both invoke the history of the nation and accommodate them in the face of an escalating communal divide in the nation. (Song is Maula mere, https://youtu.be/90hNT7UYlZA)

For the second theme, the “idea of one’s matri bhumi (motherland) militates against the polyvocality of the multiple matri bashas (mother tongues) even as they compete under the aegis of an imagined Mother India benediction.”

The next section discusses the three different phases of the film.

The Beginning

The film starts with the sequence of India Vs Pakistan final, and the scene establishes the protagonist, Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) as the captain of the Indian National Men’s Hockey team. Kabir Khan is hailed as one of the best forwards in Asia, hence it elevates the expectations of the viewers from him and justly so he comes forward to take the final penalty kick to save the game. But unfortunately he misses and India loses the important game to their arch rivals Pakistan. As a true sportsman Khan shakes hands with the captain of the Pakistani team. A journalist catches this moment on camera and splashes it in the media as proof of betrayal by Kabir Khan to his team and in turn the nation. The media and in turn the public started alleging that the match had been fixed by him. It all soon turns into a media trial, but Kabir Khan being a gentleman remains unfazed and decides to remain silent and does not give any explanation. Khan instead quietly leaves the city with his mother. During all this he has been banished from playing hockey for the country by the hockey association of India.

Kabir Khan goes through a media trial, “where his implied, understood, but unstated ‘Muslimness’ becomes undeniable proof that he is a desh-drohi, i.e. betrayer of the nation.”

The credit for his removal from the national team goes to an alert pan-Indian (read truly patriotic Hindu) viewership, the janta or ‘public’ of Bharat, “an indigeneous name by which the sub-continental nation was re-imagined in its fight against colonial rule and constructed within its predominantly, now resurgent, Hindu imaginary. Such vox populi comes to stand in for a pervasive received logic regarding the foregone conclusion about the perfidious, seditious Muslim in India, irrespective of his affiliation and citizenship.”

We also see how some people in the public said that he should have gone to Pakistan when partition happened. This signifies that Pakistan is the ultimate enemy of the state and anyone who fails to live up to the expectations of the Indian state is a traitor and therefore should cross over to the other side and go to Pakistan.

The Middle

The middle part of the movie takes us 7 years later with the return of Kabir Khan to Delhi. Uttam Singh, his former teammate and friend has called him to a board meeting where the next coach for the Indian women’s team is to be finalized. The association has no choice and therefore appoints Kabir as the new head coach. They do so, not without questioning his intentions and refreshing the memories of the shame and humiliation that he went through 7 years ago. There is only a single woman on the board but she too holds a pessimistic and dismissive view on women’s hockey like her male counterparts.

THE End

This part of the film begins with the denial by the association to send the women’s team for the world championship in Australia. This conflict is cleared by a match against the men’s hockey team; though Khan’s team loses they don’t go down without a fight. The next and the most significant challenge for the women’s team is to prove themselves at the world championships as “worthy of being allowed to play a sport like hockey withstanding their sex and gender.” The plotline is drawn forward with nail biting scenes of matches and the ultimate victory of the Indian women’s team over the Australian team and Kabir Khan’s vindication as a true Indian. He then eventually returns back to his house which he had left after the loss against Pakistan 7 years ago, with his head held high and a restored dignity.

Important Elements

The major conflict in the film develops when players come for registration. Shukla ji, the caretaker at the camp is shocked when he finds out that players from as far as Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand have come. To him this gathering of players seems to be like that of the Ram Leela troupe, varied and weird. He doesn't comprehend the difference between Tamil and Telugu. Through him the movie producer builds up the popular view of the south, the north east and the general lack of concern towards states like Jharkhand by states and individuals closer to Delhi. The nation which is equated to Delhi and the Hindi heartland assumes larger proportions; it invokes comprehensiveness as a character of the state. This scene is very important as a couple of players from the North Eastern states are called/ treated as guests by Shukla Ji. “This behavior is indicative of the psyche of a layman, for whom the North East is a different place, separate from the rest of the nation. Shukla Ji is representative of the Hindi speaking people for whom the nation is the Hindi heartland.” One of the girls retorted back and asked him how he would feel if he was called a guest in his own country, and unsurprisingly Shukla Ji went into a thought. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XheKsdTCSN)

This contention is additionally worked during the introduction of the players with the coach. Each player takes the name of her state except Vidya who says that she is from India. The message is that the girls are in Delhi to play for the nation and not as representatives of their states. “I can neither see the names of the states, nor hear them. I can see only one name—I-n-d-i-a,". This dialogue sends a strong message of Unity and single Indian identity to the audience. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrH90zd9uco)

Since day one several camps are created amongst the team members and camaraderie amongst the players is hard to build. One of the major conflicts between Preeti and Komal is resolved in the last match when Komal eventually passes the ball to Preeti to hit the winning goal. This scene demonstrates that the nation is bigger than individual milestones, and the scene is the defining moment of unity in the team. Another scene which is demonstrative of the nation above all is when Kabir Khan convinces Bindiya to play in the Semifinal against Korea. (She did not feature in the games after the first match because she had a rift with the coach).

The team’s coach unites the team of differing women coming from different economic, social, cultural backgrounds, having varied individual prejudices, and possessing strong competitive identities into a national team. Thus, coach Khan strategically deterritorialized them from their local identities to finally re-territorialize them into a national entity. Khan instills a sense of community removing local and fixed boundaries and reuniting the team in a wider affiliation preparing them for national victory.

Important Symbols Used In the Film

The Indian tricolour is seen atop the stadium. In a sequence right after the defeat at the hands of Australia women’s hockey team, Kabir Khan in an introspective mood looks at a white man hoisting the Indian flag. Here the Indian flag is the symbol (representative) of a nation which is free of all bounds of colonialism. (It is only symbolic) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4tAwbe_NmY)

The other important signifier used repeatedly in the film is the use of the term ‘team’. The coach makes it clear to all the players gathered for the national camp in Delhi that for him it is team ‘India’ that is important. Hence the players should first play for the nation, then for their teammates and then if at all they have any energy left, then for themselves. In effect, the nation is above all. “No ties are more important than the ties that bind one to her nation. He does not let his players forget that throughout the film.”

The song ‘Maula Mere’ is undoubtedly the most significant part of the film as it refers to the colour green in the flag. The colour is popularly related with Islam and the Muslim community. “The song appears in the film at points of desperation and defeat. Firstly when he is forced to leave his house, then when the team revolts against him and his harsh training methods, after the team loses its first match in the championship and when Kabir Khan is alone in the rain, then when he watches a white man hoist the Indian flag and finally after the final victory over Australia to win the championship.”

The lyrics of the song are ‘teeja tera rang tha main to, jiyaa tere dhang se mai to tuhi tha maula tuhi aan, maula mere le le meri jaan” which translates to [I was the third colour in you, I lived according to you(r manner) You were master, you were honour, Master take my life away]

This song acts as an appeal by the protagonist to learn or rather to understand the reason for the hostile treatment meted out to him by the nation (read Hindu nationalists) that he has so served. It is also a metaphor for the shame and humiliation that Kabir Khan has suffered.

Conclusion

Kabir Khan turns out as the ‘genuine patriot’ in the film. Being the focal character of the film, Kabir Khan and different entities, for example the state and the team are created in the movie as opposing one another. The paradox is that despite the fact that they are pitched against one another, the ultimate aim of the hero is to become one with the nation. It uses the tricolor to emphasis the presence and significance of the nation state and its omnipresence.

On the outset, it seems that the movie is about Hockey, team-spirit, position of women in sports and the struggle of a man to avenge his honour, however if we read deep into the movie, we would understand that the movie builds the image of a ‘Patriot’. The patriot takes it upon himself to build up the nation by infusing a nationalist spirit. This has been done through a sports team in the movie. The team in the movie is ‘infected’ with regionalism. Hence, an issue that the country faces in contemporary times is taken up by a 'true patriot' who by the end isn't just able to tackle the issue, yet additionally recovers his respect and honour in the procedure.