Chuck-ed Hockey???

Chak De! India has been declared a runaway hit of this year. The movie is based on the true story of former hockey player, Mir Ranjan Negi. Negi was branded a traitor for losing to Pakistan in the 1982 Asian games and had to fight to reclaim his lost honor by coaching and leading the Indian woman’s hockey team to victory.

Truth be told, I did not expect this movie to be a hit as it involved hockey and not cricket—India’s beloved sport! Of all the vestiges of the British Raj, cricket is perhaps the most loved and nurtured of them all. A sport that transformed into a religion to produce hysterical and fanatical fans—that even has the atheist fervently praying for a sixer in the last ball of the last over to emerge victor in the one-day Indo-Pak match. A country that deifies actors and cricketers has all but pulled the plug on hockey to die a death as an unloved orphan.

No other country but India can boast of producing the wonder-boy called Dhyan Chand, who brought unprecedented glory and fame to hockey. A man who spun magic with his hockey stick was even accused of black magic and had his stick broken just before a match for the ball left his stick only when it arrived its destination—GOAL! Chand scored 59 out of India's 175 goals in the pre-Olympic matches and 11 out of 38 in the Olympics. Not only was he the world’s greatest sportsmen but was also a true patriot for he turned down Hitler’s irresistible offer to make him a Field Marshal in the German army, but the latter refused.

Dhyan Chand, who devoted his life to hockey, died as an unsung hero and a pauper receiving a meager pension. When he was on his deathbed at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, he reportedly told a doctor that Indian hockey was dying. He then went into a coma and died in 1979.

Today, is hockey dying a slow death like Dhyan Chand? Will the Indian government take suitable measures to resuscitate the sport? Will the media turn its focus from cricket to hockey? Will we as “Chak De!” fans demand not only that we get to see more of such films but also live to see the day when our national game is revived and restored to its former glory? Will hockey see its halcyon days?

I can only pray that the answer to all of the above questions is a YES!