The number of Bollywood movies I have watched in a theatre in the past 5 years hardly totals up to a dozen. Somehow, my patience wears thin when I am in the midst of blaring sound and non- stop whistles and more than life size figures, semi or hardly clad!

I watched Shivaji recently, for the sake of my twin sonsand agreed with my BIL who said, Leave your brain outside the theatre and enjoy the visuals I watched Guru before that and spent half the time admiring the good histrionic talent of Abhishek Bachchan blossoming under the direction of Mani Ratnamthe other half spent on tolerating with little grace, the plastic smiles and wooden acting of Aishwarya Rai! I watched KANK and kept kicking myself for my idiocy in wasting good money and time watching crap!

But yesterday, I spent a good three hours in a theatre, mesmerized by one man and his team of 16 girls Not just I, the entire theatre, filled to capacity, kids of various ages et al watched it with dedication. There were moments when there was pin drop silence inside It was as though sheer patriotism permeated the air ( though I am positive there were not only Indians inside that theatre) I, impulsively, punched the air in a sense of exhilaration when the Indian womens hockey team won their second match against Germany. Immediately, conscious about my surroundings I glanced around and saw many other hands up in the air! Such is the fervour the movie creates in you.

For once I saw a movie without inane song sequences, without a heroine or a romantic angle, withount unrealistic stunt scenes and with a superstar who chucks away his typical idiosyncrasies a movie with a message for the cricket crazy country.

Playing for India the idea is beautifully reinforced in the first day in the camp when the girls learn to declare themselves as part of Team India The 16 girls, right down to the delightful Ho HoJarkhand girl Suimoi (?) steal your heart. The characters of Preeti Sabharwal, Alia Bose, Komal Chautala, Balbir Kaur, Vidya Sharma and of course, the negatively shaded Bindiya Naik are extremely well drawn. One doesnt get the feeling that these are actors It is as though the womens team is out there battling for IndiaTheir problems of ego, domestic issues, language,regionalism and personal glory are all shelved when they are motivated to play as Indians, for the teamrather than for themselves. And naturally, they reap gold for that!

The strength of the movie lies in the controlled portrayal of Kabir Khan, the coach. For the first time in my life I wanted to give a standing ovation to King Khan on his performance as an actor. Oh he deserves that title for this movie. I suppose I should say hats off to Shimit Amin for c...c..c..c..controlling K...K...K...K...Khans penchant for overacting Thank God for not giving us that shaking head, that irritating grimace called smile Till today I have had the misfortune of watching Sharukh Khan in every movie of his. Yesterday, I saw Kabir Khan, the coach, Kabir Khan, the man implicated by media as traitor rising as phoenix from the ashes of a debacle, as an Indian who is beyond regionalism and religion. Excellent performance there

The music- I suppose, there is only one song. the title song- adds to the nationalistic sentiment that beats in your heart, the patriotic adrenaline that courses through your veins, and makes you feel so proud of those 16 wonderful girls and the one man who prove everyone wrong! At the end of the three hours, you feel good.

I loved the shot of Dhyan Chands statue in front of the Delhi Stadiumand also the initiation of the girls into Team Indiathe men's team showing respect for thewomen's team,the coach giving permission to Balbir Kaur to use violence in their match against Argentina (tit for tat tactics), the way the most experienced player, Bindiya Naik, gets back to the team, all resentment and grouses laid to rest, to play for her team against Korea the way Preeti Sabarwal and the adorable Komal Chautala learn to bury the hatchet

The movie shows a lot of unsavoury truth the intrusiveness of present day media, the bureaucracy of national sports associations, the politics (?) involved in sports, the attitude towards Hockey in India as opposed to Cricket... the chauvinistic attitude towards womens sports and the typical mob instinct of a people in denouncing a man without any rational thinking.