36 China Town

After a decade of anticipation, I finally had the pleasure of delving into the cinematic world of 36 China Town on an online streaming platform one fateful night.

A true paragon of Bollywood, one of the greatest finds in the world of Cinema, Paresh Rawal, displayed an unmatched perfectionism. He played his role exceptionally well bestowing upon us masterful performances in every scene. However, his remarkable acting got ruined as soon as he began his journey into Politics, ultimately tarnishing the brilliance of his acting. There was nobody to blame, but him.

Debuting in this movie, Upen Patel portrayed a coming-of-age playboy in the throes of maturation. Regrettably, his portrayal felt rather pedestrian. On the other hand, Kareena Kapoor's presence was stunning. The role of the cop seemed tailor-made for the talented Akshaye Khanna, yet it became mired in excessive theatrics, hysterical, detracting from its potential impact. In contrast, Johnny Lever's impeccable comedic prowess shone brilliantly, single-handedly breathing life into the narrative despite the film's subpar script and direction. His presence was the best part of the movie.

The plot held great promise, offering a rare glimpse into a coming-of-age casino tale set in India, skillfully blending comedy and crime, a genre that typically resonates well with audiences and is rarely found! Unfortunately, the film's potential was impeded by its lackluster script and direction, leading to inexplicable scenes that failed to coalesce with the overall narrative. Some moments felt gratuitous, inserted merely for amusement's sake, such as the absence of windows in an air-conditioned train, a perplexing detail that would undoubtedly attract social media ridicule if released today, with netizens swiftly taking to Twitter to tag IRCTC, Indian Railways, PMO, and the Railway Minister, thereby propelling it into the viral stratosphere.

Most disheartening was witnessing the Senior Chief Inspector of Goa Police nonchalantly allow the culprit to tamper with vital evidence, all for the sake of amusement, thus betraying the gravity of the crime at hand. Equally unpalatable was the portrayal of the sub-inspector's wife, indulging in inexplicable liaisons with various individuals while her husband regaled in sharing these sordid tales, making it a parody film.

Now, allow me to broach the enigmatic Shahid Kapoor, whose portrayal throughout the entire movie struck a peculiar and discordant note. His character lacked coherence, failing to convey the essence of a protagonist. This stands as an anomaly amidst his otherwise brilliant performances, highlighting a character arc that seemed conspicuously absent in this instance.

36 China Town lured the audiences with its resplendent title and a star-studded cast, coupled with a promising coming-of-age premise. However, the film faltered in its character development and scriptwriting, squandering the potential of a compelling narrative. There were excessive and untimely songs in the film, way too many for 2023. The film did boast moments of genuine comedy that might appeal to some, but, alas, I found it to be an expired offering in the cinematic landscape of 2023!

Not being one to carry my analytical part to a movie theater, especially for a bollywood movie, i pretty much enjoyed this movie.

The songs, apart from the first and last one, are stuffed in the movie for no reason at all.

Akhshay Khanna is wonderful and so are Paresh Rawal and Johny Lever. Upen Patel is OK.

Direction pretty crisp.

The suspense is built up nicely and the end is shocking.. some said, disappointing, but OK for me as i like the movie overall except for a brief 30 minute period of the start which made me squirm and desire to go home. Glad that i stayed on.

Gone are the days of yore when edge on the seat thrillers used to mesmerize you and engulf you in their hunt for the unraveling of true suspense; but encountering a film like '36 China Town' it seems that thrillers have now been reduced to a vestige of RECLINING ON THE SEAT DROOLERS, which have nothing new to roll on the screen .It would be a hyperbole to categorize films like these as thrillers and an insult to the genre, because they stand nowhere near it and every moment they either lull you to sleep or tempt you to make your way to the sign flashing in red above the cinema hall door.

The whole movie stands on a wafer thin plot and is full of frippery. The director duo has taken enough leeway on the part of the public to torture them with their newest offering. Also the films suspense does not thrust like a rapier which was common to their earlier movies like Baazigar, Khiladi etc.The film just trundles along lacking the limpet like feeling a property which most of their earlier films possessed. They seem to have lost their sleight in making suspense films which they were considered masters once. The movie stands in complete shambles due to the fact of this duo not adding the right ingredients to the cauldron of film making. So a feeling of great felicity empowers you when this ordeal comes to an end.

Considering the star cast Shahid and Kareena seem to be too much engrossed in themselves to act well. Also they shriek and shout to ear-splitting decibels at the drop of a hat.Johny Lever and Paresh Rawal fail in their usual antiques of evoking laughter. Debutant Upen Patel seems just like any other model from the fashion world flaunting his six pack abs every now and then. The only saving grace of the film is the performance by Akshaye Khanna enacting the role of a detective with élan. Then we have Priyanka Chopra at the moribund end of the movie just to encourage some whistles form the front rows.

The whole story drags along failing to arouse your alacrity at any instance and the scene where the dead body is found by Shahid and Kareena is total balderdash and the internecine quarrels of putting the blame on each other are totally childish.

All and all the film is a tawdry show and is insipid in nature. The helmsmen have certainly taken the boat the wrong way. This one certainly serves as a punitive for people who have watched this movie and wont draw rewards form the film cognoscenti and certainly wont add good words to the directors repertoire.

36 China Town is a decent thriller with an interesting storyline, although there is absolutely nothing new about it. Abbas-Mastan don't live up to their name after delivering suspense-packed films like Aitraaz, Humraaz, and Ajnabee. 36 China Town is not an edge-of-the-seat thriller, which is a characteristic that has by now become expected from the director duo. This movie still proves to be entertaining thanks to great songs, great performances, and a decent story. Himesh Reshammiya's seems to have the Midas touch in 2006 by striking gold once again with his very catchy tunes. Plus, the songs have been picturized magnificently. Kareena Kapoor looks absolutely stunning. Both Kareena and Shahid give terrific performances. Upen Patel wasn't that good. Akshaye Khanna, Payal Rohatgi, and Isha Koppikar were all good. Paresh Rawal and Johnny Lever made a good comic combo. There were several nice, humorous moments in the film.

I went into this movie expecting a stylised(somewhat overly) thriller from Abbas-Mastan duo and boy was I surprised.

The movie started off like expected with a stylised flashback and a decent attempt to merge to the stories of a few individuals but it was all different and confusing since then.

In fact everything about this movie and the motives behind it such as packaging it as a thriller and the dozen ploy holes (maybe more i lost count after a while) are confusing.

I've reviewed this movie like a comedy with a murder involved maybe even like a spoof as THIS MOVIE CANNOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BE CALLED A THRILLER AND ANYONE GOING INTO THIS MOVIE EXPECTING ONE WILL BE SEVERELY Disappointed also if i did review this movie as a thriller than even one star would be to much.

The story of this movie is promising enough with a few bumbling people all landing up at the same time at China Town(sic) in Goa at the same time a murder happens.

The characters are all caricatures with the henpecked husband, the suave playboy, the tough cop, the bumbling sidekicks etc. Even so they are all tolerable and the performances by everyone is good given the limited premise of the movie.

Special mention to Upen Patel (who I'm sure is dubbed) who has had a decent debut and Johny Lever who thanks to his short hiatus from films (and the fact that his Numero Uno status as the most annoying guy in Bollywood being taken over by Rajpal Yadav) is actually quite tolerable in this film. However he and Paresh Rawal have nothing new to offer in terms of their roles. In fact Item Girl Payal Rohtagi also gave a decent performance.

The songs in this film save for the first one are probably the worst part of this film as they completely destroyed the flow of the film and were played when you least wanted it. In fact one could easily hear the collective sigh of the audience when yet another HIMMESBHAI song was played.

The comedy is nothing special though a few scenes especially those involving the interrogation of the Suspects was hilarious. Some of the scenes even though they were predictable had me falling out my seat laughing.

Also a really funny person throughout the movie was the Stupid Junior Cop who was Akshaye Khannas sidekick all his one liners were absolutely hilarious.

The sets of this film were actually quite good although the crude labeling of the Casino was very annoying (come one people are gambling inside we all know its a casino).

Which brings us to Murder Mystery...the lesser said the better there were a dozen plot holes it was shoddily done and completely unimportant I'm sure almost no one in the audience cared who the killer was....hell it was so bad that the killer actually cracks a joke about the killing after being caught WTF.

Save for the first ten minutes when this movie tries to be a thriller this movie is actually funny.

A good comedy (maybe even a spoof)but the obtrusive songs and the fact that this movie was not supposed to be comedy and a thriller affect its ratings.

Watch this movie if you want to see a good comedy with the background of a murder mystery.

PS maybe subhash ghai saw the box office of the recent comedies and repackaged this movie as a thriller to con us whatever be the reason this movie will definitely reflect negatively against him.