DISCLAIMER: Issued in public interest, this is a creative spot based on that inspirational box-office scene from Chak De India! where Shahrukh Khan as the national women’s hockey coach gives a pep talk to his girls ahead of the final match between India and Australia. That talk was a game changer. And how!
Former ad man P. K. Anil Kumar, who is a filmmaker, lyricist, poet, and musician, has in his voice put together a moving narrative, based on the inspiring visuals from Chak De India! while appealing to the public to stay indoors during the lockdown and maintain #social_distance in order to fight the global pandemic of Coronavirus effectively. The data is terrifying as it unspools by the hour. At the time of writing there are as many as 2,345,476 confirmed cases of Coronavirus infection worldwide, with deaths totalling a horrific 1,61,196, that is, upwards of 1.6 million globally.
India reports as many as 16,365 cases of infection and 521 deaths at the time of writing. Community spread is the most lethal. Therefore, staying within the confines of our homes is the only option to stave off further infections.
So, stay indoors and watch Lockdown.
The following is the English transcript:
“Two weeks. You’ve two weeks. Maybe the most important two weeks of your life. Whether you work from home or relax at home, you’ll remember these days forever in life.
“And I am not going to tell you how you’ll spend these two weeks of your life. I’ll only say this… go, go home… and live it up to the fullest. It’s a holiday.
“Because in the future, whatever crash course you did will come in handy or not… whether anybody follows your online French or not… whether someone savours the aaloo paratha your baked or not… whether you’re able to take a selfie while doing the dishes or not…
“No one will ever snatch these two weeks of your life because I know if every citizen of this country spends these two weeks inside their home practising social distancing, Corona wouldn’t do a thing to you… We have beaten the British… we have won the battles of Mahabharat, Panipat, and Kargil… we shall beat Corona in his own lair.
Jai Hind!”
Chak De India! (Let’s Go! India) is a 2007 Hindi film directed by Shimit Amin and produced by Aditya Chopra, with screenplay by Jaideep Sahni and music by Salim–Sulaiman. A story woven around the Indian women’s national field hockey team, it was inspired by the team’s win at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. While it’s a full-on film on sport, it does not shy away from exploring the interplay of feminism and sexism, the Partition of India, racial and religious bigotry, and deep-rooted issues surrounding ethnic and regional prejudice. Shahrukh Khan stars as Kabir Khan, former captain of the Indian men’s national hockey team.
After a terrible loss to Pakistan, Khan is shunned by both — the community and the sport that he loved so much. Soon, Khan and his mother are expectedly driven from the family home by angry neighbours. But the brooding Khan returns, to redeem himself, and becomes the coach of the Indian national women’s hockey team, which was riven deep by sectarian and partisan by its 16 belligerent players. The rest was history. The film was released worldwide on 15 August 2007, coinciding with India’s 60th Independence Day.
Anil has been an award-winning advertising professional with close to 25 years in the industry and has worked with most of the big ones — McCann Erickson Delhi and Mumbai, RK Swamy BBDO, Bates Chi & Partners, BBDO Lanka (Projects), among others. He worked with brands, such as Nerolac, Onida, NDTV, Marico, Vaseline, Fortune Oils, Aquaguard, Mood, Bacardi, Sprite, MasterCard, and Perfetti to name a few. Anil, who has won top honours at Cannes (Print, Outdoor, Radio), One Show, Spikes, AdFest, and others, has worked on two feature films Ishqdaariyaan and Praana (multilingual) as screenplay writer, dialogue writer, and lyricist. Both films were directed by National Award winning director V. K. Prakash.
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END NOTE: [**FAIR USE**] above original video has been used with reference to Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, which allows for “fair use” for purposes, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. In the present instance it has been used in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic for non-profit public education.
