Covering Bollywood and the Hindi Cinema

Shahrukh Khan is geared up for his next release Chak De India where the actor for a change is not playing a romantic lead. The movie does look promising and I hope its not another Yash Raj Production with just gloss and no soul.

Chak De India appears like a very non-SRK film with you having no romantic liaisons or tear-jerking concerns.
I have known the director (Shimit Amin) for years. He is a very simple, hardworking and talented guy. He has worked with me in the film Asoka. He's a very sweet, unassuming kind of a guy and to choose a film which is on sports and which is normally neglected is daring. Apart from Lagaan, Hip Hip Hurray and Iqbal we haven't really made sports film now. It’s something that I wanted to do when I was younger but I didn't get a chance. So when I am old and grey and over the hill I am glad someone like Shimit thought that I could sort of fill in to a sports film. Field hockey has been a personal favourite sport of mine and I have been wanting my kids to learn it. I do feel I am no one to really comment from the outside that the state of Indian Hockey is not good but I have always felt that if there is anything I can do via the medium I love, that is acting, I will go to any extent to do it. Plus the fact that Yash Raj was producing it made it even special because they are all friends and family to me.

Also this time your character doesn’t have a lover-boy image.
Yes. I play Kabir Khan. He is a coach and an ex-Indian hockey player. He is having some problems in his life and wants to overcome them without being cynical and disturbed. He decides in his mind and heart that he is going to do something positive about it. It's a film about achievement in the face of failure and it's a film that looks at failure in a positive way. The idea is to take on some kind of a challenge and try to overcome that obstacle which had stopped you earlier so I would say the character is quite aggressive when he wants to be. It’s a mix of Jaideep's writing, Shimit's outlook, Adi's belief and my mannerisms and style – all rolled into one.

You don’t look the regular Shahrukh in Chak De India
I have reached a stage where directors do not want me to look the same old ShahRukh Khan. Shimit wanted Kabir Khan and that's how I look. A tough coach and a determined coach. I think the producer, director and the writer all thought that may be with a beard and shorter hair I would look different and I was fine with it. Only it’s very scratchy when you wake up in the morning. Even after a bath, you don't feel clean. I hope I don't have to grow a beard for another role for the next couple of years. You are known to be a sporty person. Did you play hockey in school?
Yes. I used to play a lot of field hockey in my school days. I was good at it but when I went and played for the film I was horrible. I was really awful. I had no stamina left. I think the technique of hockey has changed, Astroturf itself is very tiring. As shameful as it is to say but I thought I would be able to beat the girls but they kicked my butt as they were really good. I am no good at playing field hockey I realized. I realized while playing with them that it would be better if I use my status as a super star and not practice at all and tell them that I can pull it off by acting so I did that because I knew that no matter how much I practice, I would never be good at it but I have given it my best shot and hopefully it looks good enough.

Hockey as a sports option is not very common in schools today. Do you think it's a good game for the children of today?
I just hope the film can educate people to understand that even though Hockey is played with a stick and white ball it's not pool, it's not billiards, it's a different sport. It's a national sport. I would tell kids to give it a shot if they like it and go ahead otherwise there is always soccer, cricket or a Taekwondo.

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words Chak De India?
Chak De strangely to me is a line from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge. I remember we used to say Chak De Phate in DDLJ. I hope Chak De India becomes like a sporting line whenever Sachin is playing. Or perhaps when Dhanraj Pillai is going with the ball, somebody screams Chak De India which means score a goal or hit a sixer or get Sania Mirza to win the Wimbledon.


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