Chak De India about women's empowerment through sports:Shah Rukh

New Delhi, Oct 14 (UNI) Dismissing the view that his recent hit 'Chak De India' was aimed at promoting the sport of hockey in India, superstar Shah Rukh said more than sports, it was about woman empowerment.

''Chak De..' is about sports - it could be any sport, be it hockey, cricket, football or chess. However, more than that it is about the empowerment of women, the right of the woman to chose what she wants to do in Indian society. Sports was just a backdrop for the story and that happened to be Hockey,'' Shah Rukh told mediapersons during a visit to the Capital to attend the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.

Shah Rukh said he personally liked sports so they made a film that focused on women's empowerment through the medium of sports.

''The attempt was not to glorify hockey or run down the game of cricket as is being construed from a dialogue in the film 'Hockey mein chakke Nahin Hote' (there are no sixers in hockey). It is just that I like sports and want to encourage all kinds of sports. So our team worked together to make a film that focused on problems faced by women in Indian society through a film made on the backdrop of sports,'' the 'King Khan', as he is popularly known in film circles, said.

Refusing to take any credit for boosting the sport of Hockey in the country through 'Chak de India', Shah Rukh said, ''Many people say we won the Asia Cup because of 'Chak De India'. However, I do not think I have done anything for Hockey. On the contrary, I feel we made 'Chak De..' because we play very good hockey. So rather than attributing motives, we should just look at the fact that it is a film about sports - it could be any sport - and women's empowerment and just enjoy whichever team wins.'' He believes that the first and foremost purpose of any film was to entertain and in the process, if the message comes out well its good.

At the same time, he admitted that as a producer, his endeavour was that ''my film says good things''.

UNI