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It was exactly 5 years ago, when I walked into a cinema hall in my home-town Mangalore, with expectations at an all-time low for a film starring Shahrukh Khan. The promos were dull, the music wasn’t great either and an SRK film without romance or a lead heroine? Seriously? The only glimmer of hope was Shimit Amin, whose first film – Ab Tak Chappan – I thoroughly enjoyed watching.

Two and a half hours later, even as the credits rolled, it was hard to digest the fact that I had just witnessed one of the best films to come out of Bollywood and hands-down Shahrukh Khan’s best performance ever. I would rate it even higher than Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge or Swades.

Since then, it’s the only SRK film that I have watched thrice in theatre and innumerable times on DVD. The songs, especially the title song, was suddenly my favourite. Like one of the cricketers said, the song helped motivate the cricket team, when it was played on repeat when India won the T20 World cup.

Below are some of the best scenes, dialogues, songs and moments from Chak De India that remain etched in my memory, 5 years after the film’s theatrical release.

Chak De India Dialogues

• Mujhe states ke naam na sunayie dethe hai, na dhikai dete hai. Sirf ek mulk-a-naam sunayi detha hai, I-N-D-I-A
• Jo nahin ho sakta, wahi tho karna hai!
• Har team mein bas ek hi gunda ho saktha hai, aur iss team ka gunda mein hoon!
• Vaar karna hai to mardho ki tarah aage se karo.. Woh kya hai ki humare khel mein chakke nahi hote!!
• Sattar minute, sattar min hai tumhare paas. Shayad yeh tumhare zindagi ke sab se khaas sattar minute. Aaj tum aacha khelo ya bura khelo, yeh sattar minute tumhe zindagi bhar yaad rahegi. Tho kaise khelna hai.. aaj mein tumhe nahin bataunga.. Bas itna kahunga, ki jao aur yeh sattar minute jee bhar kar khelna.. kyunki iske baad aane wali zindagi chahe kuch sahi ho ya na ho.. chahe kuch rahe ya na rahe.. haro ya jeeto..lekin yeh sattar minute.. tumse koi nahin cheen sakta, Kyunki mein jaantha hu ki aagar yeh sattar minute iss team ka har player apne zindagi ki sabse badiya hockey khel gaya.. tho yeh satar minute khuda bhi tumse vapas nahin maang saktha.

Best Scenes from Chak De India

The famous McDonald’s scene from Chak De India, just before the intermission. The girls unite to fight against the boys, followed by SRK’s ‘chakke’ dialogue. The team and the coach then walk out with the title theme playing in the background. EPIC.

And my personal favorite scene from Chak De India, this was soon after the penalty shootout. The way SRK emotes through his eyes and facial expressions, takes the climax to an entirely new level. Even though it was completely predictable from the start, that the team was eventually going to win.. you truly feel for Kabir Khan, don’t you? His struggle, passion for the game, patriotism.. all culminating in an historic victory. Awesome! Do watch it.

Best Songs from Chak De India

The Chak De India title song!

Badal Pe Paon Hai

I hope generations to come will watch and love this film as much as I did! Do share your thoughts too. If you liked reading this article, do LIKE on Facebook or share on Twitter (See below).