Movie Review: Chandni Chowk to China (Hindi) 87

Genre: Comedy/ Action

When I had seen Kung-Fu Hustle nearly four years ago, I had least expected this comic action flick to be re-made in India. No doubt they had the best martial acts action man and current comedy ace Akshay Kumar in the lead, but poor storyline and bad editing makes the journey from Chandni Chowk to China too arduous for comfort with its 154 minutes which felt like four hours. Pretty Deepika was all that I wanted to watch!

CC2C is about a simpleton cook from Chandni Chowk, Sidhu (Kumar) who believes astrologers than himself. A tired father (Mithun) is seen kicking into wingless flight at the drop of a hat. Nikhil Advani wants us to think this to be comedy! Similar silly instances lead to Sidhu bumping into Chinese travelers who believe that he is an incarnation of their ancient warrior ‘Liu Sheng’ and would redeem their village from the local tyrant.

Following the advice of a crooked soothsayer Chopstick (Ranvir Shorey), our simpleton lands in China. Insults from the goon and the death of Mithun lead Siddhu onto a path of revenge and our simpleton sets out to become a Kung-Fu master. The story involves a certain Ms.TSM/ Sakhi (Deepika) and her Chinese twin Meow Meow (also Deepika) and their Chinese father who teaches him the action! Predictably good kills bad in the end!

It’s original was set in 1940s China and portrays a young man aiming to be a gangster with the notorious ‘Axe Gang’ just because being good didn’t work for him. The story also has the lead actor’s fat-lazy sidekick, harp-playing killers, frail looking beast, a mute love interest, the hamlet’s domineering landlady and her husband and other inhabitants who are all apparently Kung-Fu masters! All action here too came with a comic twist.

Warner Bros may have believed that a successful Kung Fu Hustle (though I never liked it as much) made in India with the most successful comic/action star and with some glamorous eye candy would sell the movie. What they completely ignored was that the audience was not really foolish enough to take in dumb and poorly written movies such as this one. CC2C is a truly a complete disaster in the story/ screenplay department.

Agreed, Akshay Kumar carried ordinary movies like ‘Welcome’ or ‘Singh is King’ into the ‘Hit’ orbit. But this time, the magic was not enough, just proving that plain star power doesn’t really work always. My current favorite, Deepika looked pretty for one, and her action stunts in her Chinese avatar stand out. Music is passable. While you may like it for some action towards the end, it is simply not enough to make you feel better!

Rating: 2/10 – If you are not a core Akshay fan, keep away from this disaster!

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