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By Deepa Gahlot, August 14, 2007 - 09:46 IST
As Chak De India, about a hockey coach training a bunch of girls, releases this week, we flashback to an almost forgotten Prakash Jha film, called Hip Hip Hurray (1984). The director, now known for his hard-hitting realistic films, made his debut with his little gem about a football coach in a small town school.
Sandeep Chowdhary (Raj Kiran), an electronics engineer takes up a job as a sports coach in a Ranchi school, while he is waiting for a job in a computer firm in Mumbai. As is often seen in Indian schools, sports is not a priority. The school's football team keeps losing to the rivals, where the coach (Shafi Inamdar) is a pompous, arrogant man. Sandeep challenges them to a match, but it is an uphill task coaching a bunch of rowdy boys, led by the unruly Raghu (Nikhil Bhagat).
Neither the parents of the kids, nor the school care much about Sandeep's efforts to build a fine football team, on the contrary they make it harder for him to function. Only one fellow teacher (Deepti Naval) is supportive, and the two fall in love. Eventually, Sandeep wins the confidence of the boys, trains the team and trounces the rival school.
It was almost formulaic in a sense – the To Sir With Love kind of plot – but what set this film apart was the realistic portrayal of a small town and its ethos. The schoolboys were also very authentic, with all their confusion and ambitions and rebelliousness. Jha also made a strong case for not neglecting sports in schools, so that kids balance academics with other fulfilling activities.
It was simple, sincere, small-budget film, that in the pre-multiplex days did not have much of a chance at the box-office, but it got the director's work noticed, and today Jha is one of the foremost filmmakers in India.
Gulzar wrote the lyrics and Vanraj Bhatia composed the music for the film, which had songs like Jab Kabhi Mud Ke Dekhta Hoon (Bhupinder, Asha Bhosle), Ek Subah Ek Mod (Yesudas), Hip Hip Hurray (Asha Bhosle, Shailendra Singh, Udit Narayan)
Interesting Trivia
Prakash Jha and Deepti Naval fell in love during the making of this film and got married; the marriage didn't last very long.
Nikhil Bhagat was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, which was won by Anil Kapoor for Mashaal.
Nikhil appeared in just one film Shyam Benegal's Trikaal before returning to his hometown Kolkata and resuming his studies.
Raj Kiran did a few good films, but his career never really took off and he was reported to be suffering from mental illness.
Today IT experts would laugh at a question aimed at the hero of this film during an interview: "What is the difference between a computer and a calculator?" to which he replies, "A computer is more intelligent."
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