For decades now, intellectuals from all schools-Marxists, Feminists, Fascists, Postmodernists, Liberalists, or Hayekianists-have struggled with understanding and explaining the global phenomenon of nationalism. This bogeyman of a concept may baffle the scholars, but for the makers of Chak De India there is nothing less convoluted and ambiguous.

In fact, not only Chak De, but scores of Indian films have brandished nationalism as if it's the most uncontroversial thing. By now, Bollywood has mastered the craft of making nationalist flicks. It knows from inside out the formulas that are needed and the exact emotions that are to be played with.

Chak De, like its forerunners , is a perfect feel-good movie. It makes you laugh, it makes you teary, and most of all, it makes you proud. So mechanical are the functions of nationalism that you don't even need to be an Indian to gloat over the histrionic victory of the girls in Chak De who bring India the much coveted title of a World Cup winner.

The sport in question is not cricket but hockey. Lest you forget, the filmmakers will remind you that hockey is after all the national sport of India and deserving the deference of all other games. One captain of this sacrosanct sport, Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan), has been defamed for losing a final of the World Cup. He returns seven years later to vindicate his patriotic ambitions as the coach of the hopeless women's team.

Director Shimit Amin and co-writer Jaideep Sahni seem to think that internal differences are simply to be jettisoned if India is to make it in the global arena, ignoring how specious national unity often is in reality. Coach Kabir Khan has no desire to celebrate the diversity in his team and sees vernacular identities of the girls as the major impediment to the eventual success.

Oddly enough, it is precisely the spunky array of female characters that makes the film most enjoyable. There is a special pleasure in watching the motley charms of bullish girls that will make you forget all you grievances. So what if it appears that non-traditional roles for women are to be tolerated only when it is in the service of the nation. So what if only the grandest conquests will stave off the pull of conventional gender roles for them. So what if it seems that women will only emulate machismo and militarism when they enter male-dominated fields. And so what if homophobic slurs can't be avoided even when muddling gender boundaries.

Bollywood's churning of patriotic films has always been an indication of India's postcolonial mentality. And the idea of the underdog has worked fascinatingly in its insistence that India can 'do it alone'.

Chake De preserves the same outlook, but in a way it also adjusts the genre to the changes wrought by the forces of globalization. You may find it ironic that the girls in the film consolidate their team spirit for the first time at McDonald's. But really, newer narratives of nationalism may simply have to be supported by multinational product placements.

CHAK DE INDIA
Dir: Shimit Amin
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Vidya Malvade, Sagarika Ghatge.
2007. 148 min. In Hindi.