36 China Town

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.

The movie was quite good with many twists and turns although it's a comedy thriller and they both don't match. Everyone did a good job in the film and Upen Patel was OK for his first film. I thought it was going to be rubbish but as usual Abbas-Mustan's films are always good. Their films are always copies but they turn out to be better than the original especially Disclosure which was so rubbish that I only seen the first 20 minutes but Aitraaz was brilliant. The best thing is that they're not a complete copy only the basic plot e.g.:

36 China Town- Chinatown (1974)

Aitraaz- Disclosure (1994)

Humraaz- A Perfect Murder (1998)

Ajnabee- Consenting Adults (1992)

Daraar- Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)

Baazigar- A Kiss Before Dying (1991)

Even though Abbas Mastan claim that the inspiration for this movie came to them while watching Chinatown (1974), the movie is actually a scene-by-scene lift of the 1992 Hollywood comedy Once Upon a Crime, starring John Candy and Cybill Shepherd. Interestingly, that movie was also billed as a comedy-mystery, but was also much more comedy than mystery, like this one.

The roles played by Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor were played by Richard Lewis and Sean Young in the original. The plot has been Indianized: the main events in the original happen in Monte Carlo, and here, they happen in Goa, which is kind of the Monte Carlo of India. Several other aspects of the plot have been Indianized: for example, the two protagonists in the original are returning a lost dog (in this, they are returning a lost child). But several things are not changed at all, including the character of the married-for-money Paresh Rawal (played by John Candy in the original), the suave Casanova Upen Patel (played by George Hamilton in the original), and the inspector Akshaye Khanna (played by Giancarlo Giannini).

Despite having seen the original, I found this version to be highly entertaining. Especially impressive was Shahid Kapoor, who has excellent chemistry with Kareena. Akshaye Khanna does not have a very strong part, but still tries very hard. Overall, the movie does not disappoint.

Of course this starts with the usual Bollywood movies..with a lot of songs...

But the story starts taking its grip gradually. Great chemistry between Shahid and Kareena, real good comedy by Paresh, Johhny...Upen Sucks!!! but this guy has potential to do something gr888...Upen needs to be selective in his role....

All in all a great entertainer and would be really more entertaining for you too, if you just go ahead and watch the movie without knowing the ending. Its just superb...

The songs are good and the title track is the best one...Watch out for the remix version at the end..its really picturised very well...

Go ahead and enjoy the MASALA!!!!