The Indian hockey team may not be on a high but the girls, who played hockey on the screen, are undoubtedly in a tizzy.

The seven girls, who were part of the Indian hockey team in the recently released Bollywood film ‘Chak De India’, were in Bangalore on Thursday, to attend a couple of events, including meeting the winner of a lunch contest, at his office.

Arunchandra, an employee of Mindshare was the lucky winner of the Bollywood lunch contest.

And it was not just Arun, who had lunch with the seven stars at his office. His colleagues joined in and had pizzas and soft drinks with them. They also got their autographs on their T-shirts, office calenders and notebooks from them.

As the girls went around the City, people addressed them by their film names, including the organisers, who found it easy to use their star names. So their names — Anaitha Nair, Arya Menon, Shilpa Shukla, Seema Azmi, Masochon V Zimik, Nisha Nair and Shubhi Mehta were forgotten for the time being; instead they were addressed as Aliya Bose, Gul Iqbal, Bindia Naik, Rani Dispotta, Molly Zimik, Soimoi Kerketa and Gunjan Lakhani, the names that have made them hugely popular.

Anaitha Nair (Aliya), a Bangalorean, and a Mass Communication graduate from Mount Carmel College, was particularly euphoric to return home “after a huge success,” she said.

Her fans who loved her red mane in the film, were curious to see her bald head. She explained that she had to shave her head to suit a role, of a terminally ill cancer patient — Padma, in Nagesh Kukunoor’s next venture ‘Aashayein’. Having John Abraham as her co-star in the film has added to her excitement.

Shubhi (Gunjan in ‘Chak De’) said, her dream is to host a Filmfare award show with Shahrukh Khan. “The day I realise my dream, I’ll retire from Bollywood; will get married and have kids,”  said a beaming Shubhi.

When asked about the making of ‘Chak De’, the girls said that their team of 16 in the film,  was like any other group of girls. “We used to fight with each other during the making of the film but stood together whenever anyone of us was in need,” they chorused.

Father figure

They gave the credit to their coaches Negi and Rahul for training them to act as professional players. Shahrukh, they added, was like a father figure to them.

Shubhi said that time spent on coffee with Shahrukh, when both of them were hurt during the hockey practice, was very special to her. “I had never played hockey before and had broken my ankle and back during the practice. But I have got addicted to hockey now, and if nothing else works out for me, I would join the Indian Hockey Team, the real one”, chuckled Shubhi — the daughter of a hockey player.