Chandni Chowk to China
| Chandni Chowk to China | |
|---|---|
| File:Chandnichowktochina.jpg Promotional movie poster | |
| Directed by | Nikhil Advani |
| Written by | Sridhar Raghavan (screenplay) |
| Produced by | Rohan Sippy |
| Starring | Akshay Kumar Deepika Padukone Mithun Chakraborty Ranvir Shorey |
| Music by | Shankar Mahadevan Ehsaan Noorani Loy Mendonsa Kailash Kher Bappi Lahiri Bohemia |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures Ramesh Sippy Entertainment |
Release dates | 16 January, 2009 |
| Country |  India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Box office | 448,648,679 INR (as of 19 January,2009) |
Chandni Chowk to China (Template:Lang-hi, Template:Lang-ur) is a Hindi film which released on 16th January 2009. It is directed by Nikhil Advani and stars Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles, with Hindi cinema veteran Mithun Chakraborty and Hong Kong action cinema veteran Gordon Liu among the co-stars. The film is the first Hindi film shot in China.[citation needed] However, many parts of the film were shot in Bangkok, Thailand,[1][2] although some of the China scenes were shot in sets in the Shanghai Film Studio.[2] This is Warner Bros. Pictures' first Hindi film.[2] The film is the first Bollywood movie to get a North American release from a major studio.[3]
Cast
- Akshay Kumar ... Sidhu
- Deepika Padukone ... Sakhi (a.k.a. Ms.TSM) / Suzy (a.k.a. Meow Meow)
- Mithun Chakraborty ... Dada
- Gordon Liu ... Hojo
- Ranvir Shorey ... Chopstick
- Roger Yuan ... Chiang Kohung
Plot
Sidhu (Akshay Kumar) is a lowly vegetable cutter at a roadside food stall in the Chandni Chowk section of Delhi. He longs to escape his dreary existence and looks for shortcuts with astrologers, tarot card readers, and fake fakirs, refusing to believe in himself despite his foster father Dada's (Mithun Chakravorty) best efforts. When two strangers from China claim him as a reincarnation of a war hero in the past and take him to China, Sidhu, thanks to devious translations by his con-man buddy Chopstick (Ranvir Shorey), believes he will be taken to an exotic land and feted as a hero. In actuality, the Chinese men want him to rid their Chinese village of the vicious smuggler Hojo (Gordon Liu).
Sidhu blissfully sets forth to China with Chopstick. Along the way he meets Sakhi (Deepika Padukone), the Indian-Chinese spokesmodel known as Ms. Tele Shoppers Media, or Ms. TSM, who is traveling to the land of her birth and of her presumed-dead father and her twin sister, Suzy. Suzy, also known as the femme fatale Meow Meow (also played by Padukone), works for Hojo, not knowing Hojo tried to kill her father. Sidhu, through a series of lucky coincidences, initially manages to sidestep being beaten by Hojo's men, but Hojo eventually catches up with him and exposes him as the buffoon he really is. Hojo kills Dada, and a disgraced Sidhu, left for dead himself, vows revenge. He encounters an amnesiac vagrant who turns out to be former Police Chief Chiang, the father of Sakhi and Suzy. Chiang recovers his memory, with his Kung Fu skills still intact. He takes Sidhu on as his apprentice, and after months of training, Sidhu sets off to defeat Hojo, free the village, reunite the sisters, and win Sakhi's love.
Production
The film, earlier known as Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo and also Made in China,[4] is written by Sridhar Raghavan. Distributed in the U.S. and co-produced by Warner Bros., it is the third Bollywood movie made and distributed in partnership with a major Hollywood studio, following Sony's Saawariya (2007) and Walt Disney Pictures' animated feature Roadside Romeo (2008).[5]
Shooting began in January 2008 and included a schedule in China.[6]
The music is by Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy. The film also features music by Kailash Kher, Bappi Lahiri-Bappa Lahiri and a rap song sung by Akshay Kumar and composed by Punjabi rapper Bohemia. The soundtrack album was released December 2, 2008.
The film was rated PG-13 by the MPAA, for violence and martial arts action.
Release
Box office reception
Chandni Chowk to China earned INR 330 million (210 million net) in its opening weekend.[7][8] [9] The overseas collection for the first weekend was approximately INR 85 million.[10] The film's North American box office was $685,798 as of January 19, 2009.[11]
Reception
The movie received 48% positive ratings on the film-critics aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes [12] and a 44 out of 100 score from Metacritic.[13] Claudia Puig of USA Today said, "This Indian/Chinese cinematic hybrid is likable and entertaining but overlong and occasionally hokey", and that star Akshay Kumar's "physical humor brings to mind Jim Carrey".[14] John Anderson of Variety wrote, "If "Chandni Chowk to China" were a person, it would need Valium", and found that "everything is fast and furious, hilarious, hysterical and frantic. Some of the sequences ... are quite beautiful and, in the case of the dance numbers featuring Padukone, stunning. But it's the fight scenes ... that truly take off".[15] Frank Lovece of Newsday wrote, "Less a Bollywood bonbon than a pan-Asian fusion dish, this combination of Indian musical and Chinese chopsocky is, nonetheless, delicious fun".[16]
Among negative critics, Steven Rae of The Philadelphia Inquirer stated that, "Chandni Chowk is entertainingly goofy for about 30 minutes. And then, for the next two hours-plus, it's agony."[17] Scott Tobias of The Onion described the film as "crass, schizophrenic, culturally insensitive, horribly paced, and shameless in its pandering to the lowest common denominator",[18] while Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said, "This galumphing elephant of a chopsocky revenge-of-the-nerd quasi-musical lacks the lyrical choreographic beauty that has marked such Stateside Bollywood releases as the gorgeous Lagaan".[19] Michael Philips of the Chicago Tribune called the film "a massive and rather tiring showcase for Bollywood action hero Akshay Kumar".[20] Indian critic Taran Adarsh gave the movie 1.5/5 stars, calling it "a big, big, big letdown"[21]. Rajeev Masand of IBN termed it a tiring watch, while praising Kumar's performance.[22].
Controversy
In Nepal, there were protests against the film due to a passing claim that Buddha was born in India; Lumbini, which according to Buddhist tradition is the birthplace of Buddha, is located in modern-day Nepal. Historically, the kingdom of Nepal was not created until the 17th century and during Buddha's life the entire Indian subcontinent was considered Jambudvipa (referred to by historians as ancient India) and that time the modern-day Republic of India did not exist. The Republic of India was created by partitioning British India in 1947. Siddhartha achieved enlightenment in ancient India, and Buddhism was founded in Bihar (see Bodhi Tree)). The controversy develops because the India of Siddhartha's time had different boundaries and names than today.
Several shows were cancelled due to heavy protests from students and youth groups. [23] Protests included threats by Buddhists to burn movie theaters that screened the film, and racial slurs like "Dhoti" (the Indian term for a form of traditional clothing which is used as a derogatory racial slur against Indians in Nepal, see Usage of Dhoti in Nepal) hurled at the Indian embassy in Katmandu[23].
The protests continued for several days, despite the Nepali distributor editing out the piece of narration that mentioned Buddha in the copies of the film shown in Nepal. On Thursday, January 22, Nepali cinemas stopped screening Chandni Chowk to China.[24]
Music
The music of Chandni Chowk to China was released on December 2, 2008. The album features composers as diverse as Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Kailash-Paresh-Naresh, Bappi Lahiri-Bappa Lahiri and Bohemia (musician). Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama.com rated it 3.5/5, claiming, "Chandni Chowk to China is clearly the next musical hit in the making."[25]
The album consists of the following eight tracks:
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
| Song | Singer(s) | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| S.I.D.H.U | Kailash Kher | 5:04 | |
| Chandni Chowk to China | Neeraj Shridhar, Anushka Manchanda, Shankar Mahadevan | 4:26 | |
| India Se Aaya Tera Dost (Aap Ki Khatir) | Bappi Lahiri, Ravi K Tripathi | 6:29 | |
| Tere Naina | Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal | 6:18 | |
| Chak Lein De | Kailash Kher | 4:25 | |
| Chandni Chowk to China (CC2C) | Akshay Kumar, Bohemia | 3:44 | |
| Chandni Chowk to China | Remix by Dj Amyth | 4:41 | |
| Chak Lein De | Remix by Dj Amyth | 4:36 |
References
- ^ BollywoodMovies.US: "Deepika Padukone in Bangkok", March 24, 2008]
- ^ a b c NewsLine365.com: "Chandni Chowk to China shot mostly in Bangkok", no date Cite error: The named reference "news" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Chandni Chowk to China. Roger Ebert. Chicago Sun-Times
- ^ Abid, Bollywood Trade News Network, "Mithun in Chandni Chowk to China?" via Naachgaana.com, December 8, 2007
- ^ Chhabra, Aseem, "From Bollywood to Chinatown: Warner Bros. teams with India for 'Chandni Chowk' martial-arts musical", Film Journal International, January 14, 2009
- ^ Indiantelevision.com, "Warner Bros to distribute Nikhil Advani's 'Made in China'", August 21, 2007
- ^ The great fall of 'Chandni Chowk To China',The Indian Express, January 20, 2009
- ^ Chandni Chowk to China crosses Rs 33 cr at local box office, The Economic Times, January 20, 2009
- ^ Chandni Chowk To China Grosses 8.50 Crore Overseas,www.boxofficeindia.com, January 20, 2009
- ^ CC2C Grosses 21 Crore Nett Over First Weekend ,www.boxofficeindia.com, January 20, 2009
- ^ BoxOfficeMojo.com: Chandni Chowk to China
- ^ RottenTomatoes.com: Chandni Chowk to China
- ^ Chandni Chowk to China. Metacritic
- ^ Puig, Claudia, "'Chandni Chowk' takes meandering journey across Asia", USA Today, January 16, 2009
- ^ Anderson, John. Chandni Chowk to China (review), Variety, January 15, 2009
- ^ Lovece, Frank. Chandni Chowk to China (review), Newsday, January 16, 2009
- ^ Rae, Steven (2009-01-16). "A 'Slumdog' this one surely is not". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Tobias, Scott (2009-01-15). "Chandni Chowk To China". The Onion.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Gleiberman, Owen. Chandni Chowk to China (review), Entertainment Weekly January 14, 2009
- ^ Philips, Michael. "'Chandni Chowk to China': Bollywood hybrid fails to fly", Chicago Tribune, January 21, 2009
- ^ Adarsh, Taran, Chandni Chowk To China (review), BollywoodHungama.com
- ^ Masand, Rajeev. "Masand's Movie Review: Chandni Chowk...a misadventure IBNLive.com
- ^ a b India is Buddha's birthplace in Chandni..., Nepal fumes, Daily News and Analysis, retrieved on Jan 20, 2009
- ^ Chandni Chowk to China 'banned' in Nepal, The Economic Times, retrieved on Jan 23, 2009
- ^ "bollywoodhungama.com".
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