Miracle vs Chak De! India

I chanced on "Miracle" on Zee Studio last evening. It's the movie on which Chak De! India is based, or to put it more blunty - Chak De! India was "inspired" by Miracle.
Out and out copy. Okay, there are a few differences - it's US vs Soviet conflict playing in the background; the coach is not battling charges of  being a "traitor"; Herb Brooks almost made it to the 1960 US Olympics team, but was cut out in the last week before the Games.
He is chosen to coach the US Ice Hockey Team, in times when the country's morale has been bruised and hurt; the Soviets appear invincible. And, the boys he is leading belong to rival Universities - Minnesota and Boston. In the Indian version, we have the States.
The "India" call which set the mood for Chak De...came in much later in Miracle.
I found this movie a lot better - you can see for yourself that SRK's mannerisms, posturing is based on the Brooks guy. The former is more "aggro" in tone/speech; Brooks is more in action. He hardly ever raised his voice. Their climax (win over Soviet Union on American soil) was thrilling, nail-biting even though I knew how it would end.
There's lot of history and politics in the movie too. It was the Cold War era; nuke weapons dominate TV and news headline and of course Carter's boycott of Moscow Games. The Soviet head instead decided to play on American soil, at Lake Placid, and lost.
In a preparatory round - US was thrashed badly by the Soviets. In ours, girls team lost to boys.
The YRF movie relied too much on gimmicks - of course the team chose them well. Creating women heroes, a coach whose patriotism is under question and then the State divide and the family vs career battle. They made it very Indian. Wish they were original too.

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