36 China Town

This movie is a typical bollywood film, keep your thinking caps at home and you can enjoy the movie thoroughly. The first half an hour drags on with 3 (!!) songs, but after that the things pick up. In fact all the scenes seem to have been stretched to give the film its running time. Akshaye Khanna makes an entry just after the interval. Now if the film followed the logical rules of life, it should have ended after half an hour from the interval. But all the suspects lie like kindergarten kids and complicate the matter. Even after all this there is hardly any suspense at all. But the ample comedy, good songs and Upen Patel makes up for all this. Upen Patel's performance deserves a mention, he really exudes that cool persona. Rest all are usual. So all in all its a good enough time pass, provided one is not paying the multiplex prices.

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.

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.

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)

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!!!!