Director: Nikhil Advani
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Gordon Liu
This journey of a smalltime cook from Delhi lanes to China Wall is a bigtime case of too many cooks spoil the broth. The potboiler recipe resorts to as many antiquated Bollywood formula as possible on the pretext of tribute, but the intended homage never quite comes home. The masala ingredients range from the longstanding lost-and-found family formula to double role, memory loss, rebirth, orphaned street child protagonist, revenge drama and also the NRI angle with just the setting being shifted to China this time.
Sidhu (Akshay Kumar), a petty cook from Chandni Chowk is lured by Chopstick (Ranvir Shorey) to China on the fake pretext that he’s reincarnation of their legendary leader Liu Sheng. The Chinese community expects him to fight the fierce mafia kingpin Hojo (Gordon Liu).
Meanwhile, Sakhi (Deepika Padukone) is in search of her Chinese father and twin sister separated at birth. The twin sister for some weird reason is called Meow Meow and happens to be Hojo’s moll. The father (Roger Yuan) has lost memory and is reduced to a ragpicker.
Hojo kills Sidhu’s guardian Dada (Mithun Chakravarthy) who had picked Sidhu as an abandoned child from garbage bin. That’s the trashy tale? Expectedly Sidhu seeks revenge, father-daughter unite, ragpicker gains memory and trains Sidhu in Kung Fu pandemonium for the final combat with Hojo.
Primarily a revenge drama, Chandni Chowk to China seeks liberal references from both Indian and Chinese cinema. While the skeletal pattern of the storyline clearly coincides with Rajkumar Santoshi’s Ghatak , one can also envisage restructured fragments of Sholay (directed by this film’s producer Ramesh Sippy) in several scenes.
Hojo’s squad is a derivative of the Axe Gang from Kung Fu Hustle , while their aerial acrobatics is a by-product of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon . Akshay Kumar’s cook characterization and his martial arts training session are redolent of the animation gem Kung Fu Panda . Sadly unlike Kung Fu Panda that was an apt tribute to the martial arts films churned out through the 70s and 80s, Chandni Chowk to China doesn’t acknowledge but merely apes the classics without revitalized wit or writing.
Despite massive potential, Sridhar Raghavan (along with co-writer Rajat Arora) fails to exploit the traits of the martial arts genre to their benefit, unlike brother Sriram Raghavan who paid smart tribute to yesteryear movies in his film Johnny Gaddaar . The one scene where they attempt to pay homage to retro-cabaret through DVD titles on display falls flat. Rather there are absurd attempts at rekindling Akshay Kumar’s Chura Ke Dil Mera dance.
To overcome the communication barrier, the makers conveniently employ an MLT (Multi language translator) device that instantaneously interprets Chinese into Hindi. The James Bond gadget influence continues with a bulletproof umbrella that also doubles up as a parachute. Rather than exploiting the expertise of Kung Fu King Gordon Liu, the script equips him with lame widgets like a boomeranging hat that slashes his targets to death. Plus the damsel is weaponed with acid-spewing caustic kisses.
The screenplay is crammed with clichés and conveniences. The villain’s sidekick (a sibling of Hellboy ) continues to have cheeky scar marks just below the eye. When the heroine’s cop father regains memory after 20 years (in the most filmi fashion), he continues to head the police department. Akshay Kumar’s martial arts training that should have been the highlight of the film is accomplished in one transition song. Thankfully the perky theme song and Akshay’s agility keeps you hooked.
Nikhil Advani continues to stretch the narrative (remember Salaam-e-Ishq ?) with a 3-hour runtime. In spite of that the storytelling is weak and opts for intermittent background narration to fill up the patches. The background score is loud. The action, though packed with punch, resorts to the regular rope tricks and isn’t something unseen before. Alas, despite learning martial arts through the film, the hero wins in the climax combat through his desi -fighting techniques.
From fighting a duplicate Undertaker to the real Gordon Liu, Akshay Kumar has come a long way. Sadly the same progression doesn’t reflect in his range of performance in some of his recent flicks. Though comfortable in comedy and credible in action, Akshay is marred by a formulaic script. Chinese legend Gordon Liu is not exploited to his potential. Deepika looks good esp. in the Chinese avatar. Mithun Chakravarthy and Ranvir Shorey are strictly passable. Roger Yuan induces some redeeming moments though his Hindi irritates.
Akshay worships a potato in the film that doesn’t rot for six months. Wish one could say the same about the film! Is this the kind of cinema we would like to showcase globally from Los Angeles to London?
Chandni Chowk to China comes with the ‘Made in China’ label – tempting to procure but doesn’t guarantee long-lasting entertainment.
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Gordon Liu
This journey of a smalltime cook from Delhi lanes to China Wall is a bigtime case of too many cooks spoil the broth. The potboiler recipe resorts to as many antiquated Bollywood formula as possible on the pretext of tribute, but the intended homage never quite comes home. The masala ingredients range from the longstanding lost-and-found family formula to double role, memory loss, rebirth, orphaned street child protagonist, revenge drama and also the NRI angle with just the setting being shifted to China this time.
Sidhu (Akshay Kumar), a petty cook from Chandni Chowk is lured by Chopstick (Ranvir Shorey) to China on the fake pretext that he’s reincarnation of their legendary leader Liu Sheng. The Chinese community expects him to fight the fierce mafia kingpin Hojo (Gordon Liu).
Meanwhile, Sakhi (Deepika Padukone) is in search of her Chinese father and twin sister separated at birth. The twin sister for some weird reason is called Meow Meow and happens to be Hojo’s moll. The father (Roger Yuan) has lost memory and is reduced to a ragpicker.
Hojo kills Sidhu’s guardian Dada (Mithun Chakravarthy) who had picked Sidhu as an abandoned child from garbage bin. That’s the trashy tale? Expectedly Sidhu seeks revenge, father-daughter unite, ragpicker gains memory and trains Sidhu in Kung Fu pandemonium for the final combat with Hojo.
Primarily a revenge drama, Chandni Chowk to China seeks liberal references from both Indian and Chinese cinema. While the skeletal pattern of the storyline clearly coincides with Rajkumar Santoshi’s Ghatak , one can also envisage restructured fragments of Sholay (directed by this film’s producer Ramesh Sippy) in several scenes.
Hojo’s squad is a derivative of the Axe Gang from Kung Fu Hustle , while their aerial acrobatics is a by-product of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon . Akshay Kumar’s cook characterization and his martial arts training session are redolent of the animation gem Kung Fu Panda . Sadly unlike Kung Fu Panda that was an apt tribute to the martial arts films churned out through the 70s and 80s, Chandni Chowk to China doesn’t acknowledge but merely apes the classics without revitalized wit or writing.
Despite massive potential, Sridhar Raghavan (along with co-writer Rajat Arora) fails to exploit the traits of the martial arts genre to their benefit, unlike brother Sriram Raghavan who paid smart tribute to yesteryear movies in his film Johnny Gaddaar . The one scene where they attempt to pay homage to retro-cabaret through DVD titles on display falls flat. Rather there are absurd attempts at rekindling Akshay Kumar’s Chura Ke Dil Mera dance.
To overcome the communication barrier, the makers conveniently employ an MLT (Multi language translator) device that instantaneously interprets Chinese into Hindi. The James Bond gadget influence continues with a bulletproof umbrella that also doubles up as a parachute. Rather than exploiting the expertise of Kung Fu King Gordon Liu, the script equips him with lame widgets like a boomeranging hat that slashes his targets to death. Plus the damsel is weaponed with acid-spewing caustic kisses.
The screenplay is crammed with clichés and conveniences. The villain’s sidekick (a sibling of Hellboy ) continues to have cheeky scar marks just below the eye. When the heroine’s cop father regains memory after 20 years (in the most filmi fashion), he continues to head the police department. Akshay Kumar’s martial arts training that should have been the highlight of the film is accomplished in one transition song. Thankfully the perky theme song and Akshay’s agility keeps you hooked.
Nikhil Advani continues to stretch the narrative (remember Salaam-e-Ishq ?) with a 3-hour runtime. In spite of that the storytelling is weak and opts for intermittent background narration to fill up the patches. The background score is loud. The action, though packed with punch, resorts to the regular rope tricks and isn’t something unseen before. Alas, despite learning martial arts through the film, the hero wins in the climax combat through his desi -fighting techniques.
From fighting a duplicate Undertaker to the real Gordon Liu, Akshay Kumar has come a long way. Sadly the same progression doesn’t reflect in his range of performance in some of his recent flicks. Though comfortable in comedy and credible in action, Akshay is marred by a formulaic script. Chinese legend Gordon Liu is not exploited to his potential. Deepika looks good esp. in the Chinese avatar. Mithun Chakravarthy and Ranvir Shorey are strictly passable. Roger Yuan induces some redeeming moments though his Hindi irritates.
Akshay worships a potato in the film that doesn’t rot for six months. Wish one could say the same about the film! Is this the kind of cinema we would like to showcase globally from Los Angeles to London?
Chandni Chowk to China comes with the ‘Made in China’ label – tempting to procure but doesn’t guarantee long-lasting entertainment.
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