Chak De effect or a fluke?

A delayed post but as the phrase goes: der aaye durust aaye ('better late than never - for my gore friends and all the desi angrez as well'). A couple of days back, I happened to flip the newschannel and came across a headline: India retains Asia Cup hockey title. As soon as I heard, the thought of Chak De! crossed my mind, since then friends - sports freaks are branding it a Chak De! effect, inspired Indian Hockey Team wins the Asia Cup title. Its not something new (remember team India was supposed to be replaced by lagaan XI sometime back), we Indians have the tendency of comparing real life with reel.

For millions of Indians including me, Team means 'Indian Cricket Team', Match means 'One day or Test Cricket Match (20-20 was not famous untill yesterday) and Captain means 'Rahul Dravid or Saurav Ganguly (yes you morons who still want to stick with dada as the best captain)'.

How many players are in a hockey (remind you its our national sport) team, who is the captain of Indian Hockey Team (?? clueless, yes I am too), what is the website that gives the scores and latest fixtures (tuff ques??), what is a world cup and what the hell is a penalty shot and more mysteries for an ordinary Cricket fan. Not anymore!

Shahrukh Khan and his team that made Chak De! have sent a powerful message. I don't know how many people received this message correctly; apart from the physical endurance, self-confidence and motivation the common terms from the coaching manual, this movie went miles ahead to cut the politics, ego problems within a team, lack of understanding, pursuing self-oriented goals than promoting team's interest, commercialization of the game, people who sit on the boards lacking drive and sponsor support and most importantly INDIA - A Country with Several Countries - that made the difference in this movie. The movie to me was powerful enough to convey the message of - Stay united, think like a TEAM, put the COUNTRY's interest forth and make your mark. Me thinks its a must watch for millions of Cricket and Hockey fans, must watch for Cricketers (esp, Yuvraj Singh will be surprised to see him in the movie) & Hockey Players of all levels and a must watch for Cricket and Hockey BOARDS.

But has a movie brought any big revolution in our country other than fear tears within the movie hall? I am not sure!! Can one result make us believe in Indian hockey team and its standards? Think time is the best teller, hopefully Indian Hockey is revived for good.