ENTER THE THEATRE IN HALF TIME

MOVIE: Chandni Chowk to China (2009)
DIRECTOR: Nikhil Advani
CAST: Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Ranvir Shourie, Mithun Chakraborty
RATING:



A channel which was in the morning showing the making of CC2C and talking of the superpower of Akshay Kumar, ran its evening edition bashing the movie's no brainer script and toilet humor. Well that sums up the condition of today's world of marketing. Chandni Chowk to China is not all that unbearable and bad a movie but it certainly is not good either.

The first half is full of impossible events, randomly colliding with each other and making you realise that the writers haven't done a job here. The events are not really funny and are kind of maddening. Whenever the dialogue writer realised that little more humour was to be induced in a certain situation, he made Akshay Kumar get hit and scream hard that he got hit on his lemons. Well a movie with a U rating should seriously not have such humour. But as soon as the first half gets over, you first rush out of the theatre to take a break and then come back(Well many did not come back).

Akshay Kumar plays Sidhu, a guy who lives in the Parathe Waali Gali in Chandni Chowk, Delhi 6. He is a "apshaguni" to people around him and spoils their luck by being around. He is an orphan who had been taken care of by his bhojpuri Dada played with relative excellence by Mithun. Ranvir Shourie plays a Guruji. Meanwhile in China, there is menance created by a villain called Hojo.

Prophecy says that to destroy Hojo would reborn Liu Shang, a mighty hero who fought for his motherland on the Great Wall of China. Liu would reborn in India, the land where Buddha was born. Circumstances make them believe that Sidhu was the reincarnation of the warrior. From there starts the journey of Sidhu to go on a mission against Hojo.

The second half proceeds with a rather good pace and you feel yes there is a story here. Deepika Padukone plays a double role here, the same old lost sisters in different countries. The movie is not all that bad I tell you. It certainly isn't a classic and it certainly isn't a must watch but its not that you disrespect the makers by leaving in half time.


The high point about the movie I believe was the title track sequence. I am smitten by the music video of the song as it covers the three generations of Chinese culture with relatively good coreography and great music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy.

I also add that the scope of the project was tremendous. This could have gone on to be a classic as the concept of bringing in a union or clash of two great civilizations was unique. Indian cinema hardly gets a unique script and the irony is that even after we have something unique and also we have producers like Warner Bros and Ramesh Sippy, we still couldn't create meaningful cinema. Keep Trying Nikhil, dont think Kal Ho Na Ho, kal zaroor hoga!!