Movie Review - Chandni Chowk to China (2009)

Starring Akshay Kumar, Gordon Liu, Mithun Chakraborty, and Deepika Padukone
Written by Rajat Arora
Directed by Nikhil Advani

My second Bollywood movie also happens to feature Akshay Kumar, the star of my prior Bollywood outing, Kambakkht Ishq. Unfortunately, Kumar is the exact same nutty person here as he was in Kambakkht. Granted, I'm just judging his career on two roles (which is really no different than how I'd judge any actor, FYI...), but he's incredibly annoying (reminiscent of Jim Carrey early on in his career) and having to deal with his over-the-top antics and thoroughly moronic facial expressions for two-and-a-half hours can wear thin. His exaggerated and overblown persona worked in Kambakkht because the whole movie was overblown and it didn't seem the least bit out of place, but in this flick, the humor doesn't really match up with the surprisingly good (although ridiculous) story.

Part slapstick comedy, part old-school martial arts flick, part James Bond-y/spy thriller, Chandni Chowk to China is the tale of lowly food stand worker Sidhu (Kumar) from Chandni Chowk, India, who is mistaken for the second coming of Chinese war hero Liu Sheuyn. The folks in a tiny Chinese village are being overrun by the nasty villain, Hojo (Gordon Liu), and they need their former warrior to help save them. Desperate, they ship Sidhu to China to assist in their plight. Along the way, Sidhu meets the lovely Sakhi (played by the gorgeous Deepika Paduhone) who is also traveling to China as part of her job as the star of a commercial for a Dance Dance Revolution type machine. But, if I'm being honest, nothing really happens with their meeting. However, it sets up the fact that Sakhi has a twin sister, Suzie, who has been missing for years. And, here's the twist...the twin sister is working for the evil villain Hojo under the name Meow Meow! And, as if that wasn't enough, Hojo is the man who killed Sakhi and Suzie's father when they were mere infants. So now, in addition to saving the village, you know that Sidhu is going to need to save Sakhi's sister and avenge her father's death, too.

As ridiculous as it sounds, the plot was fun. And the actors, with the exception of Kumar keep the mugging to the camera at a minimum. Gordon Liu who has appeared in numerous Chinese martial arts flicks is actually pretty damn good as the villain -- nasty, but not overdone. Deepika Paduhone is also somewhat impressive. She gives both her roles defining characteristics beyond the simple fact that her hair is different for each of them. The unfortunate thing is that all the actors in the film don't mesh with the "star" Akshay Kumar. It's as if he's in a different movie altogether.

Apparently this is only the third Bollywood movie made and produced with the participation of a Hollywood studio. Shot on location in India and Shanghai, the film looks great -- rich and textured in terms of how it was shot (kudos to the director). And, if I'm being completely honest, the 150-minute run time didn't seem exorbitant. There were minimal musical interludes here -- one or two instances of characters actually "singing" and several more "montage music segments" -- and they certainly didn't detract from the movie.

I really just wish that Akshay Kumar wasn't in this. In the hands of a less spastic actor (and/or a director who desired a less spastic actor), along with the removal of the slapsticky aspects of the script, this film would've been quite good (as opposed to the so-bad-it's-good Kambakkht Ishq). Still, with the exception of the star, I actually quite liked the movie and recommend it to certain folks interested in exploring Bollywood cinema.

The RyMickey Rating: C