The whole movie is an experience. As by now the plot of the movie is well known, I do not plan to get into the nitty gritties of story. But there are some amazing things about this movie.
The first thing that hits you when the movie starts is the cinematography. It starts colourfull, moves to a greenish shade during the coaching sessions. Finally when the team moves to Australia it moves back to the full bright, colourfull demeanor. It is brilliant. Hats off to Sudeep Chatterjee
The second thing which keeps you on the edge of the seat is the editing. It slick, and very tight. Not even an amount of fat. Every shot shows something to be thought about. A rare feat in Bollywood, where Junk is the norm. Amitabh Sukhia has done a wonderfull job here.
But the best goes to Screenplay & story by Jaideep Sahni. The characters are defined very clearly. The subtleties are shown as the story progresses. It’s a tough job to create 17 different central characters, and their behavioral traits. Its fine when there are only a couple of central ones. Here there are 16 players and 1 coach. Most of them share a decent amount of screen time, making it all the more difficult. Amid all this the writer has managed to tell a very tight story as well. It simply amazing.
There are two sets of people who are not mentioned above. Shimit Amin, who has managed to make a Bollywood mainstream movie (well I bush aside the art house movies) without a single dance number, without pulpy romance and without creating a over the board patriotism. I think the movie goers should thank him for this movie, as I see it this would herald a new wave of good movies.
Lastly, but not the least, is the cast. From SRK to the players including Shilpa Sukla, Chitrashi Rawat, Vidya Malavade and others have given one of the most memorable performances so far.
Chak De! India