The battle-cry “Chak de India” will reverberate at the Astroturf-laden hockey stadium in the City Beautiful next month when the entire cast of the film led by Shah Rukh Khan plays an exhibition hockey match against a team comprising a galaxy of Bollywood and television stars.
The match will be preceded by a friendly match between the full-strength hockey teams from India and Pakistan, sources in the sports department chandigarh said. The department has agreed to provide the flood-lit stadium for the match on the night of September 11.
The Indian and Pakistani hockey teams will be arriving here after participating in the Asia Cup Hockey Championship which concludes at Chennai on September 9. The event is apparently the brainchild of another Bollywood star, Suniel Shetty who was recently appointed as the official hockey ambassador by the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF).
The appointment of Shetty as hockey ambassador by the IHF is laced with irony as it comes at a time when another Bollywood star, Shah Rukh is setting the silver screen on fire with his histrionics as a coach of the Indian national women hockey team in his latest film, “Chak de India.” Apparently, the IHF is trying to encash the success of the film with a view to popularise the national game.
