Chak De: The after-effects linger on.....

September 2007 will be the month Indian sport fans will never forget. Close on the heels of retaining the men's Asia Cup hockey title was the euphoria of bringing home the Twenty-Twenty World Cup.

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Pankaj Advani retained the IBSF World billiards title and Viswanathan Anand regained the World Chess Championship. Calls for back-to-back celebrations while the world acknowledges these champions grudgingly!

Well, the point here was not to write about the sports, but the movie 'Chak de'; thanks to the movie. Indians have been enlightened with the fact that there is more to sports than cricket. Let me share my first hand experience of the 'Chak De' effects.

We happened to pass by the KSHA stadium on the Sunday evening and saw huge crowds trying to get a view of the event in the stadium. Curiosity got better of me and thought of checking out the event.

So, we stopped over the elevated side of the road to get a better view and joined the crowd to watch the event. The event was a hockey match played between two local teams.

So, what's interesting about this event?

Well, just like me, there were others who stopped over the road and stood there with little kids trying to explain the game.

Interestingly, the kids were more excited to know what was going on in the team and constantly battered parents with questions comparing it to 'Chak de' and more interesting was the fact that the parents trying to explain 'hockey' their own way (I am sure most of them including me were enlightened about the game through the movie).

One of the teams wore blue and the kids wanted only the blue team to win!

Thanks to 'Chak De', more than a billion Indian kids now know what is 'Hockey'! While the men in blue have done the Indians proud by winning titles, Chak De shows how a movie can be educate and entertain at the same time.