Chandni Chowk To China, 2009’s first big release, starring Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, and Ranvir Shorey, finally hit the big screen. Chandni Chowk To China was expected to break all the box office collections but the record collections of Ghajini set a new a bar for this film. Hype around the movie is good and we can expect some great news for Bollywood trade analysts.

Produced by Warner Bros, this is Nikhil Advani’s first directorial project after the not so good, Salaam-E-Ishq. And he doesn’t leave the opportunity to include a clipping of the film in this one. Looks like he also got the fever of mentioning his old work just like Yash Raj Films, Dhoom anyone? But let’s not talk about that, and let’s review Chandni Chowk To China.

Synopsis

Chandni Chowk To China is about the story of a nincompoop named Sidhu (Akshay Kumar), living in the crowded area of Chandni Chowk, and is a cook by profession. His problem is that he believes too much in luck and doesn’t want to work hard to achieve success. In short, he wants fame and money easily, just like our Indian youth, who audition for Roadies every year in search of fame. But our Sidhu doesn’t have Roadies, so he spends most of his time in buying lottery, and showing his hand to astrologers.

And with this, Chopstick (Ranvir Shorey) comes into the picture, who takes the advantage of Sidhu’s ingenuousness by stealing money from him. But Sidhu’s Dada (Mithun Chakraborty) tells him to work hard and not believe in this non-sense. Fair Enough.

But Sidhu’s destiny changes when some Chinese from a village come to India in search of their great warrior, Liu Shengh, who is supposed to be re-incarnated as Sidhu. They want him to kill the villain of the movie, Hojo, who is ruling their village. Phew! That’s just too much stuff. But there is a whole story of Deepika Padukone, playing the role of Saki, who believes that her father and twin sister, played also by her as Meow, are still alive. Don’t blame me if you’re confused.

Action is bad!

Enough of the story, let’s see how the film fairs. First things first, Chandni Chowk To China is a hybrid of Bollywood’s 80s melodrama and Chinese action movies. Some of the sequences remind me of the famous movie, Shaolin Soccer. Action is supposed to be the UPS of the movie since it is based on Kung-Fu, but it really comes close to our Rajnikant style action, for example; with one kick, Akshay Kumar can almost cause a Tsunami and blows the big boats in air, you know what I’m saying?

Confused director

Another thing which goes against the film is the confusion of the director. He doesn’t know if he wants to make it a comedy or a drama or non-brainer action film. For example; in one scene we see all of them trying to make us laugh and in the very next scene we see a river coming out of Deepika Padukone’s eyes in the form of tears, well not literally. There is no consistency in the scenes. In short there is a chaos of emotions in the movie.

Director also tries to spoof the shopping network programs, which we see often on various channels, but sadly, he falls flat on his face. There was nothing funny about it and Deepika ends up looking like an idiot, which maybe was intentional.

Technical Depratment

Dubbing is seriously third class, even if we cut out the Chinese part, dubbing sucks big time. You can clearly see them saying different dialogues or nothing at all, but you can still hear dialogues. That’s a shame! How about doing us a favor and start using sync-sound technology? Editing really needs some work and some scenes are really not required which increase the length of the movie for no reason.

Most of the songs are used as background scores, which is a good thing, except Chandni Chowk to China. Songs are good, which I already mentioned in my music review. The Rap song is used in the end credits. Chak Lein De is the best in the movie. Cinematography is great, and scenes of Great Wall of China are beautifully captured.

Performances are top class

Performance of Akshay Kumar is top notch. I’ve no complaints against him. He gives his 100% in the movie and his efforts clearly shows. Character of Sidhu looks totally natural on him, and his comedy talents shine again. Ranvir Shorey is not wasted in the movie, like he was wasted in Singh is Kinng, and he shows his talents again and proves why he is one of the best actors of our times. Mithun Da is good as usual, you can clearly see the same intensity in his role which we saw in Guru.

But Deepika Padukone shines as Meow. Her role oozes hotness in every frame and that Chinese make up and long hair, hotness at its best. She’s really good in action scenes, too. It looks like we found another action chick after Priyanka Chopra. I would love to see her doing more action roles. Her performance as Saki is average and sometimes, she really over acts.

Verdict

Chandni Chowk To China is not a great cinema, intellectually, but can be entertaining watch. It’s undoubtedly better than Singh is Kinng and Welcome. Akshay Kumar shines again, with Ranvir Shorey who gives a power house performance. Deepika Padukone is great as Meow but she really needs to work on crying scenes.

Technical department of the film fails, especially in editing and dubbing. About 15 minutes could have been cut easily. Movie is filled with a lot of loopholes and script writer is to be blamed here.

Nikhil Advani really needs to work on his direction. I wonder how he made Kal Ho Na Ho. If Karan Johar ghost directed the movie then I can understand. If they’re making a sequel of this then please improve the action scenes. Show us some Bourne style or James Bond style stuff.

And do watch out for the products they sell in the movie, a machine which can translate any language, an umbrella which can be used as a parachute and can also be used as protection against weapons, I only wonder what material they use because it really contradicts both the uses. And yeah, there is one machine which can make you dance, which is good for guys, who want to impress girls. Only if they were true, sigh!

Rating –

Cast – Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Mithun Chakraborty, Ranvir Shorey

Music Director – Shankar Ehsaan Loy

Movie Director – Nikhil Advani

Post your comments, reviews and suggestions in the comment box below and I’ll reply to them and vote in the poll.

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