Insufferable. Burdened with insipid plotting and lame comedy.
Chandni Chowk to China (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:51
Fresh:24
Rotten:27
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: A thin plot is disguised by high octane dancing and action in this Bollywood crossover comedy.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Jan 15, 2009 Wide
US Box Office: $869,611
Synopsis:
From Chutney in India to Chow Mein in China,
Chandni Chowk to China follows one man's passage from simple cook to kung fu fighter on a thrilling, madcap journey from the by-lanes of Chandni Chowk...
From Chutney in India to Chow Mein in China,
Chandni Chowk to China follows one man's passage from simple cook to kung fu fighter on a thrilling, madcap journey from the by-lanes of Chandni Chowk in Delhi, India, to the grandeur of the Great Wall of China and beyond. The first-ever Bollywood kung fu action comedy, the film brings together the two largest Asian communities, India and China, on one cinematic canvas.
Starring Bollywood's biggest action star, Akshay Kumar, the film parallels the actor's own journey to fame: Kumar worked as a cook before pursuing his passion for martial arts.
Chandni Chowk to China also stars stunning model-turned-actress Deepika Padukone, Bollywood veteran Mithun Chakraborty, Ranvir Shorey, and Chinese martial arts expert and actor Gordon Liu (Kill Bill: Vols. 1 and 2).
Nikhil Advani (Kal Ho Na Ho) directed the film from a screenplay by Shridhar Raghavan (Bluff Master, Khakhee). Ramesh Sippy, Mukesh Talreja and Rohan Sippy are the producers.
The film also features stunts choreographed by veteran martial arts stunt coordinator Huen Chiu-Ku, whose credits include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Kill Bill: Vols. 1 and 2 and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. The musical trio Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy composing the eclectic score, an eclectic Indo-Chinese fusion inspired by the music of China and India.
Chandni Chowk to China focuses on the epic heroic journey of Sidhu (Kumar), a simple cook from Chandni Chowk who longs to escape his dreary existence and looks for shortcuts with everything from astrologers and tarot readers to a magic potato, believing in anything and everything except himself. His fate changes when two strangers from China claim him to be a reincarnation of a war hero from the past and enlist him to come back with them to their village in China.
His opportunistic translator, Chopstick (Ranvir Shorey), tells Sidhu of the women, wine and princely existence that await him in foreign lands; what Chopstick doesn't tell him is that he has become the village's best hope to take on the vicious gangster Hojo (Gordon Liu), who has been terrorizing them. Along the way, Sidhu meets Sakhi, played by Deepika Padukone (Om Shanti Om), a stunning TV model who has embarked on her own adventure to pay homage to the land of her birth, her dead father and twin. Padukone also portrays Sakhi's long-lost twin sister, Meow.
Soon, Sidhu realizes he is in way over his head and faces imminent defeat without a miracle. Only at his lowest point does he meet a Kung Fu master (Roger Yuan) who can help Sidhu find his inner hero, set the village free, and pursue the love of his life.
Chandni Chowk to China was shot at locations across Asia, including the Great Wall of China, Thailand and India.
Chandni Chowk to China will be distributed in North America by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. The film's release will mark one of the largest for any Bollywood film in the United States. --© Warner Bros
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Mithun Chakraborty, Ranvir Shorey
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Mithun Chakraborty, Ranvir Shorey, Gordon Liu
Director: Nikhil Advani
Director: Nikhil Advani
Screenwriter: Shridhar Raghavan
Producer: Ramesh Sippy, Mukesh Talreja, Rohan Sippy
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for Chandni Chowk to China
Tries to juggle Bollywood musical with martial arts action and slapstick comedy and fails at all three.
This is a fun movie, as well as an interesting peek into what entertains audiences in a different culture.
Chandni Chowk to China is a fresh, invigorating mashup of Bollywood and Asian martial arts epics. Then, it stays around a good half hour too long. Way too long.
An energetic, if uneven, movie masala whose ingredients include broad comedy, fists of fury, dark family secrets and musical numbers.
Packs enough entertaining moments in its 154-minute running time to whet our appetite for more films from the subcontinent, but its sloppy audio and low-rent visual effects will likely prove distracting to American audiences accustomed to more polished fa
A wholly missed opportunity to broaden the Hindi film fan base in America.
Half Bollywood, Half Chinese, all nonsense spectacle. Nikhil Advani's sprawling action-comedy has the feel of great ambition designed by committee.
Any hopes of stylistic experimentation or genre fusion are quickly dashed and it becomes evident that this is simply two films: the first half singing, dancing Bollywood and the second a middle-of-the-road martial arts flick.
If Chandni Chowk to China is any indication, a combination of Bollywood and kung-fu movies is something the world needed without even realizing it.
...so energetically off-the-wall that the sheer novelty alone makes it entertain much of the way.
Chandni Chowk to China never captures our imagination the way those twin Tarantino films did, mostly thanks to a lead character who’s too dumb to root for, much less believe in.
Results are wonky, with its detriments mainly attributable to its Indian influence.
Chandni Chowk to China is Bollywood's all-singing, all-dancing, all-Hindi bid to conquer America.
Chandni Chowk is the kind of madness to which you surrender unconditionally or not at all. You'll find the trans-Asian journey from the market street in Delhi to the tyrannized village in China bewitching or bewildering, with little room in between.
Chandni Chowk isn't going to appeal to those not already entertained by Bollywood and kung-fu movie clichés. But it could turn the charismatic Kumar into a global star, making the prescribed happy ending even sweeter for Warner Bros.
Chandni has martial- arts montages and Bollywood song-and-dance numbers. As tacky as the latter are, they're the sweet -- and only? -- draw of the movie. They also give this slight comedy-adventure its epic and unearned length.
In fact, at two hours and 34 minutes, CC2C is too much by a half: too much dancing and fighting and too much footage of the Great Wall of China.
If Chandni Chowk To China is not exactly original, it steals wisely, resulting in a movie that moves and entertains (even if it's too long by at least a half-hour).
Latest News for Chandni Chowk to China
January 12, 2009:
Trailer & Poster Review ![]()
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