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10 Years of Chak De India: It's a love story between Shah Rukh Khan and his country: Director Shimit Amin and writer Jaideep Sahni
Director Shimit Amin and writer Jaideep Sahni spoke to us about working with Shah Rukh Khan, the idea behind the film and much more, as Chak De India completes 10 years.
Shah Rukh Khan starrer Chak De India turns 10 today. The movie which gave India its sports anthem, literally, was another feature in the cap for SRK. With Chak De India, Shah Rukh managed to open an array of opportunities for women athletes in the country, especially Hockey.
The movie mirrored the sad state of sports in the country. SRK's emotional performance in the movie struck the right chord and while we reminiscence one of the finest movies of the Indian cinema, we spoke to the captain of the ship, director Shimit Amin and writer Jaideep Sahni, to get a more insightful detail of the movie.
How inspired or drove you to make a film on women athletes? What was the triggering point and inspiration behind it?
Writer Jaideep Sahni: Around the time when I was working on Khosla Ka Ghosla and when I was in Delhi, I read a news report of Women Hockey team winning an international tournament but the size of the article was very small which kind of disturbed me. It made me feel like even if the men's team had not done well or lost the match, they both would have been on the front pages, and the Women Hockey team despite winning the tournament did not get the required space. Something very unfair about it hit me and then I started following hockey news and I started meeting coaches and athletes. I just felt that maybe someone should make a film on it and make this world of Hockey alive because for me they were heroes. 
To Shimit, how did you come on board for the movie?
Shimit Amin: When we started the project and Jaideep had character sketches that he had come up with, he just started telling me one by one about each character's background and what they were good at and what their personality was and that intrigued me. After that, I did my own research and saw a match in Delhi and I was really moved by this idea of showing these women players who are so humble and are playing so well.
When a writer starts writing a script, he or she generally has an actor in mind who they think can pull off the role. Was that the same case with you?
Jaideep Sahni: For the team and the players, there were really no references at that time. For them, there was nothing in mind except for the real athletes and therefore it took us a year to find them. As for Kabir Khan's character, we did not start off having an actor in mind but by the time the first draft was over I started feeling that it would be good if Shah Rukh Khan comes on board for this. Of course, now when you see the film, SRK brought a much-needed combination of talent, credibility, and charisma to it which you can only admire and not explain.
Shimit Amin: When Jaideep was writing it and when I was discussing it with Aditya [Chopra], we had SRK in mind- given his talent, his charm, and charisma. For others, we had to do an extensive search of about 8-10 months where we auditioned women all over the country, there were some players who we had to teach how to act and then there were actors whom we had to teach how to play, that was tough.
What was really intriguing about the movie was the subtle political message that it incorporated without really being preachy or sounding too high on patriotism? What was the idea behind this?
Jaideep Sahni: I think we were very clear that patriotism as a term might be very misused not just in our country but around the globe. We believed and still believe that patriotism is about loving your country, not about hating other countries and it is not about blinding praising everything about your country. When we wrote the film, we chose not to ignore the issue of gender, regionalism, language, casteism. We chose not to hide those uncomfortable truths. About the Kabir Khan track, in a country like ours which is so diverse, anyone can be a minority anytime, sometimes based on religion. Sometimes in another state, a person might feel like a minority because of language. With Kabir Khan, we wanted people to understand what it feels like to be a minority and what it feels like when you're asked to prove your love for the same country you have spent your whole life playing for.
Shimit Amin: We did not think about the political angle so much and did not try to over emphasize on anything. We just wanted to strike a balance. It is not about patriotism, it is about the players and the situation they were in. We did not try to go overboard with anything.
Chak De was not a love story. Was there any apprehension on if people will accept SRK in a non-love-story kind of a film?
Jaideep Sahni: A lot of people say that in Chak De, it is a film about Shah Rukh and there is no love story but I would say that, of course, there is a love story, between Kabir Khan and his country.
Shimit Amin: SRK is very sharp as he read the script, he understood everything and knew what was asked of him in the movie. He lived in that character and made it his. He is an actor, he plays every character very perfectly, doesn't matter if it is romantic or not.
Initial reports suggested that Salman Khan was perhaps the first choice for the movie. What went wrong there?
Jaideep Sahni: Actually what happened was after the first draft we had SRK in mind but he wasn't free for a very long time and so I think Adi and Salman had a meeting about it which we were not there for, but nothing came out of it. Then, it took us a year to find the girls and by then SRK got free and fortunately, he said yes to it.
Shimit Amin: What happened was we approached SRK first but he did not have time then. During that time, Adi met Salman but I think that did not work out either and then later SRK accepted the film.
To Jaideep, the '70-minute' dialogue just before the final match became really popular. What was the idea behind it? Did you think it would become so popular?
Jaideep: The dialogue got famous as the 70 min speech but actually you know what it is? It is a pre-match discussion or brief. It is what the coaches do before the game begins. Now, at that phase in the screenplay of the film, our team had somehow reached final and had to compete with the best team, Australia, so the only way we could have won was if each one in the team gives their best because of the gap between the two team was too big to cover. So, it could only come with the spirit of the players and 5 mins before the match, the coach couldn't have taught them anything, so, therefore, the idea was that he cannot teach them how to play the match, what he can do is, maybe, make them think of the match as not a match against a particular team but a match against everyone who had stopped them from achieving their potential. Fortunately, SRK and Shimit did it so well that it became so much better than it was on paper.
Kabir Khan was such a layered and intense character, how did SRK prepare for the role? What was in your mind while you wrote that character?
Jaideep Sahni: Shah Rukh Khan had played hockey a long time ago in his college days so he understood the world of hockey very well. While writing the character, it was just the feeling of being wronged, unfairly blamed for things which you haven't done, inspired me.
SRK just did one reading with us and then one with girls. In just readings, we were done. How he emotionally held that character is flawless. He just does it, don't know how. (laughs)
Your experience working with Shah Rukh Khan?
Jaideep Sahni: Working with SRK is something which only people who have worked with him will understand. You get spoiled and want it to be the same always. He spoils you.
Shimit Amin: He is an incredible professional, there is always an excitement working with him. It is thrilling to see him perform.
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