Chak De! India has entered the portals of Indian movie lore as a film that tackles quite a few socio-political aspects of India through a story told in a format that sticks to the Mumbai industry norms, yet is apart from them.
Quite naturally, its director Shimit Amin is a man much in demand, both within the industry and the media. Amin was in Hollywood before returning to India to direct Ram Gopal Varma’s Ab Tak Chappan. He took up a subject that was developed by Jaideep Sahni. Basking in the commercial and critical acclaim that have come in for Chak De! India, Amin looks back at the project in a chat with Utpal Borpujari of Deccan Herald. Excerpts:
Was it not difficult to maintain the mainstream format and bring up various issues without going into the details?
We didn’t want to bore people. We wanted to reach out to more people. But we did not want to hit them on their head with the idea. We have been able to entertain the people, and at the same time, if they want to go home and think about it, they can do that. It is pure consciousness of the individual.
Can this be described as your idea of filmmaking?
Well, it’s actually our idea, mine and Jaideep’s. Once in a while, we should do something like this. Who does not want to see his country play and with a world cup? At the same time, you can take home all the other things you have learnt without your realising it.
Should cinema be just a medium of entertainment?
There is no formula to it. Entertaining people is a service to the society. People work hard through the day or the week and want some entertainment with the family. They want to see something that does not make them sick about everything around them. At the same time, one can address something to the conscience of the viewer. I would like to see comedies, issues, everything.
Usually Shah Rukh Khan is identified with a certain kind of cinema, barring a few exceptions like Swades. How confident were you of breaking that stereotype?
SRK is always an actor. He started with serials like Fauji, did street theatre with Barry John, acted in films like In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones. He started in a non-superstar way. In all his movies, he has been acting like a superstar, but ultimately he is an actor.
You have tried to break a lot of stereotypes in the film, were you mentally prepared for the worst?
I was never under pressure, as (producer) Aditya Chopra fully supported the project. He told me ‘Never worry about anything, make the best movie you can’. It was a team effort — every department — which lent beauty to the film.
In both your films, you have not used typical elements of Hindi cinema. Did your Hollywood experience help in breaking the stereotypical requirements of song, dance, etc?
I cannot explain that. The projects were offered to me as they loved my ideas, I never had to force my views on anybody. I didn’t have to convert anybody.
Was Kabir Khan’s character inspired by former Indian goalkeeper Mir Ranjan Negi?
I think Jaideep had developed this character with a lot of dimensions. We took Negi after M K Kaushik, who was the coach of the national women’s team, recommended him. We found that we were trying to talk something about players who are damaged, and they all think that some injustice had been done to them. They gave their best and may be it was not the right time when they did that. Negi was a goalkeeping coach, but it is convenient to draw the line and say it is based on him.
When the character of Kabir Khan was made, a Muslim, was it a political comment also?
I think it is a layer to the story that adds drama. All sportspersons playing for the country are equally patriotic. The question is why these players are not accepted as patriotic as somebody going to war. Of course, going to war means one might be dead also, but these players are also doing a lot. They don’t see their families for months. Kaushik himself had not seen his family for months while going to all tournaments. Why is he doing it? We would never know what it is like to walk in the Olympic March Past, a feeling that only an athlete can have.
And the feeling of disappointment when your country does not support you, could be immense. You may not be the best player on a day, but that does not mean you don’t wake up every morning at 4 am for a rigorous practice. Right now we are looking at the winners in the film, but there are so many people involved in sports who never get that limelight. I don’t know if the Muslim character was a conscious decision. We were looking at it from the point of view of adding another layer — patriotism — that was Jaideep’s idea. The intention was not to be political, but it is nice if it has added that aspect also.
The composition of the hockey team in the film reflects regions from where women hockey players actually come from. How much research went into that?
The strength of our country is the diversity. In most countries, the team speaks the same language. In India, there is no single culture, it is so many languages. We did not want to make an art film, as it was an expensive film. So, we tried to make it as basic as we could, not heavy headed.
