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Saturday, August 18, 2007

CHAK De in a copy of Miracle!

In what is probably the highpoint of Chak De India, Shah Rukh Khan delivers an inspirational speech to his team. Telling them that this is their time, he concludes with the now-famous dialogue, "Yeh sarttar minute, tumse Khuda bhi nahin cheen sakta (Even God will not be able to take these 70 minutes from you)."
The film, which after a slow start is doing great business at the box office, however eerily reminds one of the 2004 release Miracle, starring Kurt Russell. "You were meant to be here tonight... This is your time," Russell, who plays the coach of the US hockey team, tells his players at a similar moment just before a crucial match.
Miracle is based on a true-life story of US hockey coach Herb Brooks. It is the tale of a ragtag college hockey team taking on the mighty USSR in the 1980 Olympic games. Strangely enough, Chak De India is also based on the life of Mir Ranjan Negi, a hockey coach who led the Indian women's team to victory in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Despite drawing upon two different incidents, Miracle and Chak De India do have quite a few things in common. For instance, both the actors coach an underdog team and have to overcome their respective politicking federations. The similarities do not end there. At one point Khan insists on having the players say that they play for the country and not individual states. Russell's first aim is to get his players rise above their college team identities. Like Kabir Khan, who reprimands his team for not identifying with the country, Russell punishes his team till one of them, on the verge of collapse, yellsback, "I play for the United States of America."

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