This movie gives Boliwood (Bollywood?--that's not the right spelling) the best of good names. Bread-baking Brahmin-caste Sidhu (an amazing and hilarious Akshay Kumar), a denizen of the Chandni Chowk district of Delhi, can't catch a break. He needs money, wants a better destiny, and falls on his face every time. He accidentally burns his winning lottery ticket in the little fire of his home altar as he shouts at the goddess' statue, "OK!! Take it!!"One day he and his goofy Chinese friend "Chopstick" (a very Chinese-looking Ranvir Shorey) are approached by two Chinese villagers. They are sure Sidhu is a reincarnation of a great martial arts hero. They beg him to return with them to China to fight the evil gang boss "Hojo" (the immortal Chia Hui "Gordon" Liu). However, it is incumbent upon the klutzy Sidhu to learn kung fu. Still he goes, with the blessing of the adopted older brother, the elderly Dada, who took him in as a child (Mithun Chakraborthy).
I have to stop there, as this film is just too darned funny, touching and wonderful to spoil. You will die laughing at the clever songs, how fitting and apropos they are and how...well, just plain funny. This film's humor reminded me of Jackie Chan at his best--yet it is truly and purely Indian in all ways. Even the Chinese seem to be straight out of an old Indian village in the Punjab.
Akshay Kumar is a multi-talented prodigy. I cannot believe I haven't noticed him before, but I will be from now forwards. I also deeply admire the powerful presence of Mithun Chakraborthy.
You will never regret having this fantastic Indian jewel in your collection, and you will always go back to watch it for the pure delightful fun. And there is whoopass martial action, as well as a profound lesson for all of us.
Now if you will excuse me, I am going to go sing a few bars of "Hello, I'm a Chinese Guy".
Buy Chandni Chowk to China (2009) Now
Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, in his roles, tends to regularly shift from playing it silly to playing it serious, and most times he does this in the same movie. CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA is a fusion of fatuous farce, mawkish sentiment and high adventure, of Bollywood conventions and soaring Chinese martial arts. There's much to like about this movie, but also much to groan and roll your eyes at.In China the village Zhange struggles under the oppression of the murderous smuggler lord Hojo. In desperation the villagers consult a wise man and learn that salvation lies in the shape of the legendary, centuries-dead warrior Liu Sheng, who has been reincarnated in today's world. Except that Liu Sheng has been reborn to another nationality, another country: in India.
Akshay Kumar plays Sidhu, a dimwitted vegetable chopper plying his trade at a roadside food stand in Chandni Chowk, one of the busiest market districts in Delhi, India. Discontented with his lowly lot, Sidhu (who, remember, is dimwitted) is lured away to faraway China by two Chinese elders. It's actually more Sidhu's friend Chopstick's fault. Chopstick, of possibly Indian-Chinese descent, is one of those manipulative, self-absorbed sorts, and he seizes an opportunity. The two old Chinese men are, of course, Zhange villagers, and they believe Sidhu to be their reincarnated protector Liu Sheng; they ask that Sidhu return with them to kill Hojo. Instead Chopstick (the vaguely Asian-looking Ranvir Shorey), purposely mistranslating, tells Sidhu that he will be feted as a king should he journey to China. So off goes the gullible Sidhu with Chopstick riding his coattails, from Chandni Chowk to China.
I like much of the film's tongue-in-cheek internal mythology. During its best outrageous moments CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA is reminiscent of Stephen Chow's very awesome Kung Fu Hustle (Axe-Kickin' Edition). In both films, kung fu practitioners disregard the laws of gravity as they make impossible leaps and perform other outlandish stunts. Vicious contact propels bodies to improbable distances and with lethal impact (but then folks just get up and dust themselves off). Speaking of internal mythology, the film never does confirm whether Sidhu was indeed the modern day Liu Sheng. And, oh yes, I have to mention the fairly outrageous Cosmos Thumb.
Considering the source (Bollywood), the wushu is actually pretty decent, even though I don't quite buy Akshay Kumar as a kung fu fighter (although he's certainly done plenty of action movies). But the inclusion of Chinese actors like Gordon Liu and Roger Yuan both very good as, respectively, the fiendish Hojo and the kind of insane amnesiac beggar/police inspector make it a respectable martial arts venture. Liu (best known probably for The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and the KILL BILL flicks) and Yuan are convincing in their acting and in their kung fu, even if Hojo's hat trick had already been done by a James Bond villain. And, for the sake of cinematic resonance, it doesn't hurt that Roger Yuan bears a striking resemblance with Takashi Shimura, the leader of the SEVEN SAMURAI. But if you've already seen films featuring Jackie Chan or Jet Li or if you've seen KUNG FU HUSTLE, then there's really no surprise in the fight scenes.
The stunning Deepika Padukone takes on dual parts. She plays the conventional love interest Sakhi, a spokesmodel of Indian-Chinese descent working for Tele-Shopping Media (Sakhi is known as Ms. TSM). But the meatier of the two roles is that of Suzy (or Meow Meow). Suzy is Sakhi's villainous twin sister and, as one of Hojo's henchmen, her kung fu is strong. It says something about Padukone's grace and physicality that I find her more believable as a martial artist than I do Akshay.
As Bollywood films are wont to do, the first half starts out in a silly vein as Sidhu's vacuous nature is again and again demonstrated, giving rise to moronic situations (one fellow airline passenger persistently asks Sidhu: "Are you stupid?"). Akshay Kumar seems to get a kick out of starring in madcap comedies, but I find that the quality of these films tends to come and go. Having said that, there was that airplane bit where Sidhu had trouble closing the overhead luggage compartment. For minutes afterwards I was giggling (but in a manly way). But, yes, Sidhu is one of those aggravating dopes, the type who ends up believing that a potato is a god.
And, as usual with Bollywood, the second half takes on a more serious tone, and this is where Akshay Kumar's goofball character transforms himself into an action hero. Akshay, when he turns it on, has tremendous acting chops. (*SPOILER* in the rest of this paragraph.) Akshay is very good and sympathetic during the death of his character's father, the tragedy which fuels Sidhu to master kung fu and to get even with Hojo. Afterwards, though, I did think that he went to the well too much with the blubbering for his dead dada.
Yes, the humor is predominantly cheesy, but there are several genuinely funny moments scattered throughout. I've already mentioned the airplane scene but I also laughed hard and plenty when Akshay gets strapped with the Dance Master G9 device, and at that short musical interlude with the odd little Chinese inventor and during Roger Yuan and Akshay's brawl with White Bull in that little diner and then during the training sessions, with Akshay and Yuan showing very good tongue-in-cheek apprentice/master chemistry. I'm sure I missed other moments.
The DVD, by way of bonus features, also offers 8 and a half minutes of eight additional scenes, the scene most worth watching being the one with Sidhu frantically trying to evade Hojo in a restaurant kitchen. And that's it for bonus features.
Three and a half stars for CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA, an entertaining film somewhat undermined by the banal stuff and by all the overwrought shedding of tears. This being a Bollywood vehicle, much emphasis is placed on the importance of family; Sakhi, for example, travels to China mainly to commemorate her long dead father's passing; the amnesiac beggar's memory is fully restored when he glimpses a photo of his family. Another Bollywood trademark is the song & dance, and the musical numbers here are nicely picturized. I enjoyed the lavish "Chandni Chowk to China" and even "Tere Naina," a brief song which lends to a surreal magical vision of Sudhi and Sakhi gently floating in the air, buoyed by an engineered umbrella. Also note that Akshay handles his own rapping during the song "Chandni Chowk to China (CC2C)" during the end credits. It's a bit disconcerting, though, watching these Bollywood stars in their dance numbers being backed up by Chinese dancers. "Disconcerting" being another good word to describe this movie overall, and I think in a good way. I mean, it's got singing and dancing, a bit of Chinese mysticism and some romancing, and everybody's kung-fu fighting. That is very neat.
Read Best Reviews of Chandni Chowk to China (2009) Here
This movie is AN ENJOYABLE FUN FAMILY FILM ......The basic theme is a silly man child (Sidhu) who does everything from playing the lottery to making a shrine out of a potato to try to be something special. He's a simple chef who works for his adoptive father who has to constantly kicks his butt to the moon for being so silly and easily led into trouble( very funny sight gags). He is forever being told by his father to seek his destiny not in his life line ON his hand but in hard work WITH his hands. His best friend (Chopstick ) who is half Chinese and half Indian is a conniver of opportunity and a slacker palm reader and charm seller . He constantly tries to sell him worthless Karma charms for profit . Chopstick is approached by the village delegation from China to inform his friend Sidhu that he is the reincarnation of a Chinese war lord of great destiny who needs to come save their village from an evil bowler wearing Mafia style bully HOJO. (think James Bond TOP HAT). When they tell Chopstick what they want he edits what he tells our silly Sidhu, the guy is not that evil , it's not a big deal let's go to China and seek out this guy HOJO and kick butt. Maybe find your great destiny wink wink.Next up a line where people wait for Chinese Visa and our hero is sitting on a bench with a potato (LOL yes he sees the face of Ganesh in a Potato and keeps clutching it for bravery throughout the movie ). The opportunistic infomercial model from hell miss TSM (Deepika) is in line and decides she well steal his VISA CHIP from him ( how she does this is hilarious . All things gadgetry style from China are represented by miss tsm on infomercials that our hero has been watching in India and he has a crush on miss tsm. Deepika plays her long lost twin , Suzie aka Meow Meow warrior princess also. She was stolen as a baby from their Chinese fathers arms during a fight for their lives. The Dad falls over the great wall during a battle trying to save his baby Suzie (meow meow) and is presumed dead. The mom holding Sakhi (miss tsm) believes her husband fell over the wall with her other daughter Suzie and that both died. She goes home to India to raise Sakhi. The evil Hojo has her daughter Suzie. He raises her as Meow meow . Her husband is now an amnesiac old beggar who lives around the Great wall but can't remember that he was once a famous Master of Karate and an important Policeman who was trying to prosecute HOJO. He will play a major role in training Sidhu.
The pivotal transformation point for Sidhu is the only possible disturbing moment for very small children. More or less I would say under age 8 sensitive children maybe 10. Actors are forced to redo extremely emotional scenes that leave them in constant brain chemistry overload and they can not keep an over view of it. Sidhu is made to beg for his fathers life sniveling on the ground like a coward and to finally see how sad and irresponsible he is as a man. To drag this scene out as long as they did was not helpful to Akshay , the storyline or the audience and in my opinion is the only bad spot in the film for family viewing. Again this is the director and the editors fault for dropping the ball and not doing thier jobs effectively . I do not deduct from the movie for this. I do fast forward through it after the initial play out for the young ones.
There are special effects present and are of the Karate variety and mostly of training. Some of the funnier fight scenes are of Sidhu's training with Sakhis father and aren't really violent per se ,more for story line progression ,very little blood if at all and cool effects that young ones will find fun , funny and entertaining . Lovers of slapstick, romance, and sobbing for ones parents will also have their moments, but the wildly fun fight scenes ( even the potato gets in on it) let our hero's have their shining moments of steely looks and buff bodies flying through the air, all done with respect for each Nation and hero. Songs are sung and danced to, family's are reunited , vengeance is had, love is found and A RAP VIDEO ( i hate most rap but this is cute and friendly ) AT THE END OF THE MOVIE THAT'S REALLY GOOD . Pure modern flash and fun.
Never forget that critics are writing for their individual magazines, web pages or newspaper and usually are told to pan one way or another based on their social status, and titillation provided by manipulating peoples emotions that are needed to sell more of their product or advertising. They are often jaded and over exposed to the movie making industry with little real 'eye' left for just plain fun. They can do to a film what a tick does to a dog. Eat off of it with no return. Read reviews from REAL people, and no it doesn't have to be me. Judge it for yourself always .
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What an interesting premise. From the Lord Ganesh appearing in a potato to the evil twin sister, Meow Meow....were unexpected and funny.
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