#film: chak de india

[theinfinitedivides]

me after collecting what is left of my braincells and realizing why Hot Stove League, Prison Playbook, Chak De! India and Perfect Game have made it to the top of the list as some of my favorite pieces of sports-based media:

[spaghettitigers]

the absolute decadence of female rage in that scene in chak de india is scintillating. outstanding. excellence. it is literally everything

[playermagic23]

Yash Raj Films announces the re-release of Shah Rukh Khan starrer Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, and Chak De India

In this unique Nostalgia Film Festival, these films will be releasing from January 19 to January 22 at PVR and Inox Cinemas.

In what seems to be a unique trip down memory lane, Yash Raj Films is all set to take you on a filmy journey with the re-release of three of its biggest blockbusters starring Shah Rukh Khan. In a social media post, the production house announced the arrival of the iconic Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, mega hit Dil To Pagal Hai, and the blockbuster Chak De India at PVR and INOX Cinema chains in what is called as the Nostalgia Film Festival that kicks from January 19.

On Thursday, January 18, Yash Raj Films announced about the weekend film festival with a special post on Instagram along with a caption that read, “Relive the magic of your favourite movies on the big screen again… Nostalgia Film Festival @pvrcinemas_official @inoxmovies from 19th-22nd Jan!” Furthermore, the post also revealed that the ticket prices will be available for as low prices as Rs. 112. Although PVR and INOX chains have collaborated, the film will be releasing only in selected theatres belonging to these chains within selected cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Surat, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Kochi, among others. The list too has been shared by the production house for the ones who are reliving those memories.

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Speaking of the films, all the three movies have Shah Rukh Khan essaying the male lead. While Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995) is an iconic romantic drama featuring the megastar with his favourite co-star Kajol. The film has managed to break all records and remains to be one of the most iconic films in the genre of romance. On the other hand, Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) which stars Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor in lead roles, is expected to be a beautifully penned romantic drama by Yash Chopra, that brings together a tale of friendship and love.  Whereas Chak De India (2007) is a sports drama that features 11 women players across the country fighting against gender biases, caste prejudices and other challenges, as they aim to make to win the World Cup in a Global Championship Match.

[justshahrukhkhan]

My Top 5: SRK Performances

I often wonder if those who say Shah Rukh Khan can't act have actually watched many of his movies. Not only can he act, he is extraordinary. He has the ability to be completely present, which is something not all actors can do. He can display a whole range of emotion using just his eyes, and he develops unique physicality for his dual roles. Of course, he also has star power any Hollywood A-lister would struggle to match. When he is on screen it's almost impossible to look at anyone else.

So, without further ado, here are his Top 5 Performances (in my humble opinion). These are not to be confused with My Top 5 Favorite SRK Movies - that's a different list 😏

1. Fan

I don't think many will argue this movie is SRK's tour de force. Every time I watch it I find more to admire. He is amazing as the obsessive fan, and even better as the isolated, unapologetic superstar. The scene where Aryan is playing Gaurav playing Aryan gives me chills every time. It's a creepy, unsettling film that stays with you.

2. Devdas

Shah Rukh Khan is unique in the way he embodies all the qualities women find attractive: gentleness, playfulness, strength and danger. He's the one your parents warned you about AND the one you can take home to meet them. All of this is on full display here (take a moment and rewatch Morey Piya). Beautiful, tragic, over-the-top, a powerhouse performance and an ending that will tear your heart out.

3. My Name is Khan

This one is a master class in how to play a character with a disability. Shah Rukh wisely lets his charisma shine through just enough to keep you engaged. While it's not one of my favorite SRK films, and it's depiction of small-town USA is frankly hilarious, it's worth a watch just for his performance.

4. Darr

I don't think I've ever seen a movie so thoroughly hijacked by a secondary character as this one. SRK just ran away with this movie; the girl and the guy who is supposed to be the hero are completely unmemorable. A movie that makes everyone wish for their very own beautiful stalker.

5. Chak De! India

I go back and forth on my #5, there are several movies in contention: Baazigar, Dil Se and this one. What makes this performance so extraordinary to me is the way Shah Rukh disappears into the role. For an actor with his presence and charisma it's an amazing feat. I still don't know how he did it. For that reason alone it belongs on the list.

Next up...my Top 5 Favorite SRK Movies 😎

[soracities]

!! did i hear hindi movie recs? tis me hindi speaking indian person! i love u and when i saw people reccing bollywood to you i literally gasped out loud. im glad people are sharing taare zameen par, maqbool, omkara, they are my favorites!! if its ok and you're still taking recs, im here to rec you a) pinjar (2003)- a heartbreaking film abt womanhood in times of indian partition, the bloodiest part of our history. its my favorite film nobody talks abt so i hope you like it!

b) thappad (2020) i really like the simple, sticking to realism narrative of thappad, that causes the expose so harshly in contrast, talking abt the casual misogyny even educated societies of india are entrenched into that this film caused people to take sides.

c) pink (2016)

d) veer-zara (a classic lol) (2004)

e) hichki (2018)

f) udaan (2010)

g) garam hawa (transl: scorching winds) (1974)

h) chak de india! if you're into sports movies this one is so close to heart everytime i watch it! (2007)

i) barfi! (2012) truly the movie of all time

j) kahaani (2012)

m) jaane bhi do yaaro (who pays the piper) (1983)

n) mughal-e-azam (1960) and last but not the least

o) devdas! (2002) its my screenwriter best friend's favorite movie!!

totally understand if this list is exhausting, i just meant to give you recs im in love with!! im lacking in watching films, smth i wish to correct soon, but i love these films!! if u like english vinglish, you might also like queen! (2013) i love that movie too!! sorry for the long ask, im not really good at containing myself lol. i hope u have a good day!! happy watching!! (and also would u also be watching non hindi indian movies too bcs 👀 there are amazing recs for those too!)

please do not apologise this is exactly the kind of range i love in films i feel like im about to have the world's best movie night / sleepover!!!

[ashesandhackles]

11. favourite native writer/poet? and 27. favourite national celebrity? <3

Heyyyy there 💖 so lovely to receive this from you!

11. Favourite native writer/poet

Jhumpa Lahiri (not exactly native, but you get the point) - I think she is a beautiful writer who obsesses over tiny details of immigrant experience very well and she makes the feeling of rootlessness so vivid and sad. I do think she is a better short story writer than she is a novel writer - I could feel her lose her steam at the end of The Namesake.

Amitav Ghosh is another writer who I think writes beautifully - I read The Hungry Tide by him and immediately wanted to visit Sunderbans (which I did 2 years ago! Fantastic place!)

I haven't read enough poetry to truly give an answer to this :(

27. Favourite national celebrity.

Outing myself as a millennial by saying Shah Rukh Khan. I don't really love his film choices, save a few - but I enjoy his interviews and his 90s movies put me in a nostalgic mood. My favourite role from him though is him as Kabir Khan in Chak De India:

Not from US asks

[hereforb99]

what are your top 5 fav srk films? top 5 fav srk songs and characters? :D

Hello @chameli! Thanks for your ask. Here it goes:

Top 5 SRK films:

1. Main Hoon Na

2. Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani

3. Om Shanti Om

4. Chak De India

5. Baadshah

Top 5 SRK Songs:

1. I'm the Best

2. Chaleya (can't get enough of this one)

3. Main Koi Aisa Geet Gaoon

4. Deewangi Deewangi

5. Baadshah O Baadshah

Top 5 SRK Characters:

1. Raju from Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman

2. Azad Rathore from Jawan

3. Raj from DDLJ

4. Raj from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

5. Ram from Main Hoon Na

[sailorspica]

rules: list your five all time favorite films and have people vote on which one matches your vibe

tagged by @yamat0 beloved!!

tagging... @chappellrroan @drivemysoul @teasel-backatitagain @squidsploitation @strawberrystepmom and anyone else who wants to!

[weepli]

Chak De and SRK

(A couple of months ago, for the 15th anniversary of Chak De, I wrote this article for a publication. It was commissioned, edited and published, but it was taken down the same day. The editor told me it was “technical glitch” but now, it’s been 2.5 months and the glitch hasn’t been sorted. In the meantime, I’ve heard of other writers’ work being taken down from that site if it spoke about minority oppression.). 

When I first watched Chak De! India 15 years ago, one of the things that instinctively bothered me, though I was too young to articulate it then, was that when Kabir Khan and his mother leave their home, amidst the accusation of being a ‘gaddar’, no neighbour or friend is standing up for them. Is there no one in their mohalla who they were friends with, I wondered? Wouldn’t someone miss them? And wouldn’t they silently, if not publicly, ask the others to be more kind? 

Fifteen years later, I know the answer. They wouldn’t. We wouldn’t. 

As I sit down to write this, the news coming in from everywhere is proof that nothing much has changed in the last 15 years. Things only seem to have become worse. I read on Twitter that the Indian Women’s hockey team has lost the Commonwealth Games Semi-Finals to Australia 3-0 in a penalty shootout. Fifteen years on, Indian women’s hockey is notoriously neglected. Gender discrimination is rampant. And, of course, Muslims are still perceived as enemies of the state. 

No one knows this better than Shah Rukh Khan. 

Chak De! India was a story of the quintessential underdog triumph. It wasn’t just the triumph of a women’s team over the dismal conditions and mentality of families, media, and fans. It was as much (if not more) the triumph of their Muslim coach in his attempt to prove his patriotism. 

Chak De has achieved cult status in the country. There are still memes referencing 70 minutes of crucial and intense time. The title song became a national sports anthem, and the dialogues are a part of everyday life. The brawl scene in Mcdonald's became an example of implicit brand placements, mentioned in B-schools and quizzes. “Ja Dikha de apne launde ko” was a mantra of female solidarity. There’s a lot to celebrate about Chak De and the impact it has had on our pop culture over the decade and a half. A sports film par excellence, it doesn’t lose its thrill even with multiple rewatchings. And, of course, Shah Rukh is gorgeous. 

It also marks one of the first times he truly embraced his Muslim identity on screen. (Sure, he played a Muslim in Hey Ram, but that never captured people’s imagination the way Chak De did). In Chak de, the Muslim identity is a crucial part of the plot, and it is emphasized with the references to his name, his betrayal, and his religious/inspirational chants. SRK goes on to play the Muslim protagonist in multiple films after this — My Name is Khan, Dear Zindagi, Raees, and the upcoming Pathan. 

In 2017, journalist Rana Ayub said about SRK in an article on NDTV, “In a country where it is rare to find a Muslim or a Christian character as the lead in films, with minorities usually reduced to caricatures and stereotypes, the fact that the biggest star plays a Muslim in three simultaneous films (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Dear Zindagi, Raees) is a strong message to a country, a rebellion that needs to be noticed and lauded.” 

This week, we have another movie releasing by two superstars: one a Muslim man, one married to a Muslim man, with children named after rulers who happen to be Muslim- Taimur and Jehangir. Calls to boycott the movie grow louder, the posters and WhatsApp messages about the same more and more disgusting. Aamir Khan has declared that he loves India. Of course, we need to wear our patriotism on our sleeves. Whether it is with a birth certificate or with the shouting of slogans, with the display of the National Flag or standing up in the movie hall when the anthem is played, we are all being asked to prove our patriotism again and again and again. No one more than Muslims in India. 

If you are a privileged Muslim actor in India, you can continue making movies worth 100 crores that will face threats of boycott, and maybe your family members will end up in jail for months on flimsy charges. For a regular ordinary Muslim person, you might get lynched if you are suspected of eating a certain kind of meat. 

In the final scenes of Chak De! India, the team overcomes all kinds of external and internal challenges to defeat the favourites, Australia, and win the tournament. Yet, it is not just the journey of the women who have faced gender stereotypes, family pressure, anger issues, and race and language discrimination. It is as much a journey of their Muslim coach, who will finally make it back ‘home’ where he was labeled a traitor and forced to leave. It is a grim picture that Chak De presents. That nothing will ever be enough to get the kind of acceptance and belonging all citizens of this country should feel. Maybe if you do something as grand as winning a world cup, you might be spared for a few days. 

Maybe. 

[chameli]

Bollywood films I've seen that turn 15 this year: Aaja Nachle, Awarapan, Chak De India, Darling, Dhamaal, Guru, Heyy Babyy, Honeymoon Travels, Jab We Met, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Just Married, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Namastey London, Nanhe Jaisalmer, Naqaab, Om Shanti Om, Saawariya, Salaam-E-Ishq, Ta Ra Rum Pum, Taare Zameen Par

[ivesambrose]

Ask game

24, 29, 31, 45, 47

and most importantly

How the hell are you so perfect?!?😡❤️😢🥰

24. height

5'4 ft 🥲 (but 7ft canonically don't ask how)

29. favourite film(s)

The Black Swan

RamLeela

Chak de India

Queen

7 khoon maaf

Aiyaa

Fallen Angels

Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2

Queen of the damned

The Evil Dead

The Mummy

There's a lot I feel 😅

31. 3 random facts

- ever since I found out that pigs can't look up at the sky one of my main goals is lifting a piglet up and making it look at the full moon and giving it a kiss on its head. Speaking of pigs, they are extremely intelligent animals. I adore them!

- apparently you can hear a blue whale's heartbeat from like 2 miles away. I literally cannot fathom that an animal that large actually exists and the fact that we had larger animals in the prehistoric times.

- if aliens were to somehow locate earth right now and see what's going on they will probably see something from a time that's already passed for us. That thing messes me up to some extent.

45. how you found out about your idol

I... Don't have an Idol, I don't really idolize anyone. But hmm if this is related to a kpop Idol I admire then it's Min Yoongi. My elder sister introduced me to the Daechwita music video and I was like, "he's the one." "He just gets it." (They're both Pisces with Virgo moons. I love it)

47. turn ons

Time to be a whore on main

- voices. I'm extremely sensitive to sound and it's extremely important for me to be attracted to someone's speaking voice. I like the raspy ones and even the soft and soothing ones.

- hands. Well kept, neat, soft, long, veiny hands. With or without tattoos. But with a watch or some accessories.

- men who are beautiful in a handsome way? Like pretty men. (Transmen and enby folk as well)

- someone's intellect. The way they think and express themselves. How passionate they are.

- people who are into sports like kickboxing or that they can fight.

- a well choreographed fight scene (eg. The highway fight scene between Captian America and Winter Soldier)

- when I'm obeyed.

It's cuz you are perfect and thus you see such perfection in me, we both are beautiful reflections of each other 🥺🌿🌺

[theinfinitedivides]

hey does SRK giving the locker room speech during the last half hour of Chak De! India (2007) cause you to spiral into an emotional meltdown late at night or are you normal somewhat

[bollywoodirect]

RIP #RioKapadia 🙏🏻 (14/09/23)

Rio Kapadia known for roles in films such as "Dil Chahta Hai," "Chak De India," "Happy New Year," and "Mardaani," has passed away at 66 years old. He most recently appeared in the second season of "Made in Heaven."

[anotherrevue]

Gameday at the Movies

I once met someone who had no interest in sports at all, and yet one of his favourite movies was Chak De India. It took me years to really wrap my head around it. How can you love a sports movie that much, but have no interest in the real life equivalent? To me, sports fandom is so intrinsic to loving sports movies that I had a tough time separating the two. And, to be honest, being a sports fan, if you look past the numbers and win/loss column, is all about the story and the drama: friendships, rivalries, heroics, tragedies, legacies, all of it. What you get in a movie, you get in real life sports, but messier. 

And athletics is one of the few parts of our culture that is still holding on to some of its magic. Every time Dame Lillard throws up a gamewinner from the logo, an arena goes quiet, coiled to explode. When Andy Murray went on his miracle run at the 2023 Australian Open, everyone and their mothers had their fingers crossed, hoping against hope. When Argentina won the World Cup, I watched my relatives (who are, to be clear, not Argentinian) weep with joy.

But getting into sports, getting so emotionally connected to a game in the first place, that’s tough, especially if you didn’t grow up watching it on TV or playing. There are a million rules for you to learn, while fans and analysts alike are constantly volleying stats at you like they’re decrees from god: usage rates, efficiency, value over replacement and every other forced metric is seemingly unimpeachable. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good stat, but for me as a fan, stats do not give or take away meaning or value from performances or narratives. Is Diana Taurasi the most efficient player in the WNBA? No, but that doesn’t matter to me because she represents something more intangible and everlasting: greatness.

Hell, even the basic starting point of picking a team or player to support is tough if you don’t have a home town team or athlete to turn to. You have to be careful – you might, for example, end up on the Mayweather bandwagon for a couple years before you realize that Pretty Boy Floyd might be the most successful poseur in the history of boxing. And once you do end up on a side, you might discover that the fanbase of which you’re now a part has a belligerent online faction that irritates you at every turn (a very merry fuck you to all Laker fan forums). 

There is that great Nora Ephron line, “You don’t want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie.” And to some extent, if you play or love sports growing up, you don’t just want to be a pro athlete. You want to be in the movie. I never thought I could be Michael Jordan, but I definitely wished I could be Calvin in Like Mike, with the miracle shoes from the basketball gods. Movies take the everyday magic of sports and package it into 2 easily digestible hours, so how can you not love it?

Plenty of ways, it turns out. You’ll see plenty of jock writers lament the death of their precious genre and that, I think, is just panic. The sports documentary has had a major resurgence in recent years, sparked, no doubt, by the popularity of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series (Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the Knicks is among my favourite films all time) and The Last Dance. But when it comes to dramatized features, in the last 20 years, there have been maybe five great sports films (we’ll get to that in a minute) and a diminishing number of attempts (with one subgenre being the exception – we’ll get to that too).

But I think there are a couple obvious reasons for that. First and foremost, they cost a little too much, and it’s not like people are rushing to theatres to watch a movie about tennis or football or the other football. Plus, like with most genres that are so laden with stereotypes and set narrative beats, audiences tend to have a “seen one, seen them all” mentality towards sports flicks.

And then there is the sense that everything has been gamified, from movies to governance to your daily news of choice. Politics seems to be more "my team, your team” than ever before, and reporting on TV has devolved mostly to talking heads with the loosest grasp on the facts giving hot takes – which is entertaining and only mildly annoying when Stephen A. Smith does it about the NBA, and horrifyingly glib when NDTV does it about life/death situations.

But one of the more insidious ways that sports has permeated a non-sports part of my life is at work. I feel like, for our parents’ generation, the pitch was “your office is like a family”. You watch movies and TV from the mid-to-late 90s when they were entering the workforce, and they’re constantly pitching you this idea that work is a family, one for all and all for one. It’s gross and saccharine, and although it’s blatantly dishonest, the evolution since then has not been much better.

The workplace now is nominally modeled after sports. I think it comes from the transposability of sports-related wisdom to any sort of group effort. “Take one for the team” or “don’t drop the ball” or “that’s a slam dunk” (which, don’t believe the hype, very hard to do) are all things I hear regularly. To be microscopically one-to-one about it, there is the idea that you all come together to work and execute a plan as a fully enmeshed unit that will beat all the other teams competing against you to reach the same goal. At a glance, it might track, but if you have any experience being on a sports team or even spend an extra second thinking about the implications, it’s absolute horseshit. 

Within a team, there isn’t a strict sense of hierarchy and the style of play is crafted around the strengths of the players. That’s not translated into work culture at all, especially within corporations. A worker, regardless of their skills and/or talent, is slotted into place depending on what the company needs. In all honesty, my workplace, like most corporate workplaces that I’m familiar with, is modelled after a factory line. You get your corner of the product to work on, do your job, pass it on to the next person in the line. And if someone fucks up in that line, the shit always flows down the hierarchy. If you don’t do your work or don’t do it on time, that’s a loss. But, especially on the middle and lower rungs of a corporation, there is no work equivalent to winning. You just do what is required of you and maintain the status quo. And that idea of beating the competition in the marketplace at all costs? Studies in the field have posited that maybe, just maybe, it’s not a sustainable model for businesses. Which makes sense. Sports teams, even the greatest dynasties of all time, are build for immediate success. Few of them are successful for more than two years, so why would that be any different for businesses built on the same ethos?

Yet, despite all this, despite the sickening conflation of work and play, despite the declining interest of filmmakers and studios, once in a while, we still get sports movies that hit home. So, beyond making sure that the technical and story aspects of the movies are solid, what makes those select few successful?

You have to cast right. This is the biggest issue with sports movies. If the actor can’t convincingly look like they play the sport at a high level, the movie is pretty much dead in a ditch to me. Even outside the arena, athletes carry themselves with the confidence that they are in control of every minute motion made by any part of their body. This confidence is often referred to as swagger, but let’s call it jock credibility. 

For example, in High School Musical, I totally believe Corbin Bleu’s Chad is a two-sport athlete, but it’s way tougher buying that a local community college would be interested in Troy Bolton, much less UC Berkeley. Zac Efron can spin the ball on his finger but that does not buoy his ghastly dribbling skills. One of the big flaws of High School Musical is choosing basketball as his sport. Basketball requires so much basic technical skill to qualify for an elite level that it requires someone who is actually excellent at the sport (Sanaa Lathan in Love and Basketball) or a generally athletic actor and some extremely creative editing (Wesley Snipes in White Men Can’t Jump).

This is why picking the right sport is crucial. Almost every great sports movie has a significant chunk of gameplay, so it’s always best if the sport allows the actors to easily fake competence. This is, for example, why there are very few great tennis films (a pure swing in tennis or golf is impossible to fake), while baseball (an objectively easier sport to pick up) has one of the best movie rosters.

The other secret sauce to cinematic sports is making sure the audience can identify the players. Again, it almost doesn’t need to be said, but film is a visual medium, and the best movies show the actors’ reactions, body language or expressions, so that the audience is inherently more likely to connect to the characters. This is also why individual (boxing) and individualistic (running) sports tend to be more successful than large team sports (American football).

The final key to a great sports movie – and this is entirely my own theory and thereby is likely to be complete nonsense – is stats. I know I just railed against the inadequacies of using stats in sports, but I think that if you can quantify the effort and contribution of each player in a sport, it makes it easier to portray it in a movie. In these sports, because it’s easier to see the importance of every player and every action, the filmmakers have a much easier job of setting up stakes in a way that even a novice to the sport could understand. Again, baseball comes to mind (it is after all the original Moneyball sport) but the example on the other side is football (as in soccer, not hand-egg). I think I might get yelled at for this one so let’s just start there.

Football is the least stats friendly of the major sports, because it’s such a fluid sport where the players’ contributions are so interwoven that it’s hard to quantify what an individual player means to a team – and indeed the importance of any single character to a narrative about football.

Quick aside: In Bend It Like Beckham, both Keira Knightley and (especially) Parminder Nagra have unimpeachable levels of jock credibility, which is what sells it to me as a sports movie, even if the amount of football depicted is a bit sparse.

What I find amusing is that the other nearly impossible to adapt sport, tennis, has the opposite issue of football. It’s very easy to relate to the player, but it’s unbelievably hard to fake being good at tennis (see: 2004's Wimbledon – or don’t). There are very few good tennis movies.

I don’t know if I can overstate how in the pocket I am for any basketball movie. To me, there are 5 great basketball movies, but there will seem to be one glaring omission, a pretender that everyone loves to bring up: Hoosiers. The gameplay in Hoosiers is awful, Gene Hackman (an actor I love) looks legitimately afraid of getting bonked in the head by a ball and the message is hacky and plays on racial prejudice. Plenty of movies have done the tough new coach concept better since then (Coach Carter, The Way Back, Hurricane Season). We certainly don’t need Hoosiers any more.

I’m not much of a baseball fan, but baseball is the best screen sport for the same reasons that I think the real life version is quite dull. The games go on forever, it is a relatively unshowy sport (in terms of athletic feats) and there is enough time between each ball to have dialogue, make stressful decisions and build tension. Baseball is a poetic sport, the pounding thump of the ball against a glove, the crack of the bat when it connects, a runner sliding through the dirt to get to base. Movies about the great American pastime often tend to be similarly long, with a soothing energy and a quick (if quiet) wit.

To be fair, all of the above this can be said about cricket as well, so why have there been so few attempts at making a great cricket movie? I think the big difference is, where baseball gives the teams the opportunity for a back-and-forth in scoring, cricket is structured in a way that each team only has one chance to score, making it harder to show realistically dramatic shifts in momentum.

And more than any other sport, cricket and baseball are easiest for a newcomer to keep up with: there’s a ball, you gotta hit it. What’s confusing about that?

With cycling and track sports, there is something that fascinates filmmakers. It might be a yearning for the near-total sense of control over one’s own achievements and failures that a track athlete might feel, which is antithetical to the inherently collaborative nature of moviemaking. Or maybe it’s a sense of kinship with the singular focus of the athletes and their constant tinkering with the most minute aspects of their craft that attracts legendary script doctors (Robert Towne) and detail-obsessed directors (Michael Mann). Whatever the reason, track movies tend to be philosophical and often pure meditations on determination and willpower.

Pugilism. The sweet science. I started to obsessively watch boxing movies after I read Budd Schulberg's book Ringside. At the end of the book, he included an essay on the best boxing films in which he broke down the artistry in faking a fight for the silver screen. That really seeded itself in my brain and sprouted into such slightly unhinged takes as "Creed is the best Rocky movie" or "Ali examines the complicated public, personal and interior life of an iconic boxer better than Raging Bull".  The stakes in a fight are clear and most actors relish the chance to get into absurd shape and take their shirt off, so the pugilistic picture show will likely never die.

Sidebar: Million Dollar Baby is often listed as one of the best fight movies and it likely is, but I watched it once a long time ago and it was one of the most thoroughly soul-crushing movie watching experiences of my life. I haven't been able to rewatch it since.

Field hockey is a rare movie sport for the same reasons as football, and even though Chak De India towers over most of the sports movie heap, it is not in general a cinematic sport. Ice hockey on the other hand is a much more dynamic game because it has some element of fight sport ingrained into it. And as much as I love Paul Newman's beautiful, soulful, sparkling blue eyes…

Sorry, what was I saying? Oh yeah, Goon has snatched the title of best ice hockey movie from Slap Shot, because it's basically what if Rocky wanted to be in a team sport.

There are of course other sports that have received the silver screen treatment: American football (lots of okay movies but honestly none as good as the TV show Friday Night Lights), golf (Tin Cup, starring the movie king of sports Kevin Costner), racing (the impeccable Ford v. Ferrari) and so on and so on. Hell, one of my favourite movies of all time period is The Color of Money, and while that’s only half about shooting pool, it gives the audience, in parts, the ecstatic highs and the rock bottoms of a great sports story.

But I think the subgenre that is the undisputed king of the sports movie right now is management. Like most non-traditional movements in modern sports, this starts with Moneyball. Is there a greater sports movie with less gameplay than Moneyball? No. Is there a sports movie that makes me choke up as reliably? Also no. It's filled with peeks into the behaviour of athletes, the superstitions and the motivations, the behind-the-scenes drama. One of the very few perfect films in my book. And while that's the peak of the management movie, there are some really strong movies in this category, from aspirational stories (Hustle) to morality tales (The Damned United) to weird experimental movies about the possible future of athlete management (High Flying Bird).

Odd to close this with management, but that’s where we’re at, with sports movies to sports fandom. Everyone on the internet thinks they can manage or coach a team better than most professional managers or coaches, and movies are here to tell them, “Hey, maybe not.” As usual, I side with the movies.

[cupidsbower]

Indian Film Fest, Day 8: Shah Rukh Khan Drama & Action Recommendations

Fandom: Swades: We the People (2004), Chak De! India (2007), Dear Zindagi | Dear Life (2016), Don: The Chase Begins Again (Movies), Ra.One (2011), Raees (2017), जवान | Jawan (2023) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Additional Tags: Recommendations, Meta, Action/Adventure, Drama Series: Part 6 of Indian Film Recommendations

Previously

IFF Day 1

Introduction to Indian Cinema and a Primer for Watching

·        Chapter 1: Falling in love with Indian cinema

·        Chapter 2: Bollywood and SRK

·        Chapter 3: Primer for watching Indian films

·        Chapter 4: Power & Caste in India

Fanvid: i gotta feeling (SRK/Kajol, G)

IFF Day 2

Recommending Fantastic Indian Movie Dances

IFF Day 3

Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol Recommendations

IFF Day 4

Recommending Shah Rukh Khan RomComs

FanFic: A Kind Man (KKKG, Rahul/Anjali, Teen)

IFF Day 5

Dances Recommended by Commenters

General RomComs

IFF Day 6

Another dance recommended by a commenter

Fanvid: Only Happy When it Rains (SRK/Kajol, G)

Indian Drama Recommendations

IFF Day 7

Fantastic Indian Dances from Films I've Recommended

Indian Action Movie Recommendations

[soracities]

Hello!

If you want srk films then there are My name is Khan, Chak de India, Devdaas. Other than that please watch QALA!! It came out december 2022 on netflix and its a story about mother daughter trauma + creative (music) obsession + THE MOST BEAUTIFUL music of different forms with the most poetic lyrics. Plus did anyone say insect imagery?? ^^ Please check for the trigger warnings you will need though

For stunning visuals you can watch any Sanjay Leela Bhansali film. Historical, grandeur, love stories with amazing amazing set design, costumes, direction and dialogues. Bajirao Mastani is a MUST watch!

And also a latest film: Baipan Bhari Deva. Its a marathi film, a story of 6 sisters who come together for a competition. Its an exploration of each of their lives, independent and intertwined. Beautiful and hearwarming, its making everyone cry good tears

Happy watching! 💕

oh these are the textures of human relationships i LIVE for bless u anon!!!!