Chandni Chowk to China

Chandni Chowk to China
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Nikhil Advani
Produced by	Rohan Sippy Ramesh Sippy Mukesh Talreja
Screenplay by	Rajat Arora Sirdhar Raghvan
Story by	Rajat Arora Sirdhar Raghvan
Starring	aditya kaushik Deepika Padukone Mithun Chakraborty Ranvir Shorey
Music by	Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Kailash Kher Bappi Lahiri Bohemia
Cinematography	V. Manikandan Himman Dhamija
Editing by	Aarif Shaikh
Distributed by	Ramesh Sippy Entertainment People Tree Films Pvt. Ltd. Orion Pictures Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	January 16, 2009
Running time	154 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Chandni Chowk to China (Hindi: चाँदनी चौक टू चाईना, Chinese: 從印度到中國/从印度到中国), shortened as CC2C is a Hindi film which released on 16 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. In addition to being shot in China, 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]

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).^[3] It is Warner Bros. Pictures' first Hindi film.^[2]

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 Chakraborty) 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 travelling to the land of her birth and of her presumed-dead [who is still alive] father and her twin sister, Suzy. Suzy, also known as the femme fatale Meow Meow, works for Hojo, not knowing Hojo tried to kill her father. Sidhu, through a series of lucky coincidences, initially manages to sidestep being beaten brutally up by Hojo, 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 (Roger Yuan), the father of Sakhi and Suzy. Chiang recovers his memory, with his Kung Fu skills still intact. Sidhu wishes to learn cosmo Kung Fu. Chiang takes Sidhu on as his apprentice, and after months of training, Sidhu decides to kill Hojo.

Hojo tells a lie to Meow Meow that Chiang killed her father. When Hojo meets up with Sidhu, Meow Meow hugs Chiang and stabs him in the back with a knife. Sidhu attacks Meow Meow, but Sakhi stops him. Meow Meow was shocked and figured out that Hojo lied to her. Meow Meow betrays Hojo and helps her father. They watch Sidhu battle Hojo. When Sidhu almost loses, his dada appears and tells him not to worship a potato and Chiang tells him to use the skill that is special to him. His specialty was chopping vegetables and cooking which helped him beat Hojo brutally in the end. In the end, Sidhu gains Sakhi's love. Right before the credits, pictures appear of what happen to the village. The last one shows that something has happened somewhere in an another village in Africa. They say there is a "To be Continued -- Chandni Chowk to Africa."

Cast

• Akshay Kumar as Sidhu Sharma / Liu Sheng
• Deepika Padukone as Saaki / Suzie / Meow Meow / Ms.TSM
• Ranvir Shorey as Chopstick
• Mithun Chakraborty as Dada
• Roger Yuan as Police Chief Chiang
• Gordon Liu as Hojo
• Kiran Juneja as Chiang's wife

Production

The film, earlier known as Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo and also Made in China,^[4] is written by Sridhar Raghavan.

Shooting began in January 2008 and included a schedule in China.^[5]

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 2 December 2008.

Release

Box office reception

Chandni Chowk to China earned INR 330 million (210 million net) in its opening weekend.^[6][7] The film's total North American box office in the four weeks of running was $921,738.^[8] The film was a resounding flop everywhere.

Critical reception

The movie received negative reviews. It received 46% positive ratings on the film-critics aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes ^[9] and a 44 out of 100 score from Metacritic.^[10] 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".^[11] 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 as are quite beautiful and, in the case of the dance numbers featuring Padukone, stunning. But it's the fight scenes as that truly take off".^[12] 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".^[13]

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."^[14] 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",^[15] 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".^[16] Michael Philips of the Chicago Tribune called the film "a massive and rather tiring showcase for Bollywood action hero Akshay Kumar".^[17] Indian critic Taran Adarsh gave the movie 1.5/5 stars, calling it "a big, big, big letdown".^[18] Rajeev Masand of IBN termed it a tiring watch, while praising Kumar's performance.^[19]

The film has received one award nomination, with Deepika Padukone being nominated for Best Actress at the 3rd Asian Film Awards held in March 2009.^[20]

Controversy

In Nepal, there were protests against the film due to a passing claim that Buddha was born in India; Lumbini, which is the birthplace of Buddha, is located in Nepal. ^[21].

Several shows were cancelled due to heavy protests from students and youth groups.^[22] 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.^[22]

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, 22 January Nepali cinemas stopped screening Chandni Chowk to China.^[23]

Music

Chandni Chowk to China
Compilation album by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Released	2 December 2008
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	38:23
Label	T-Series
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy chronology
Rock on!! (2008) Chandni Chowk to China (2008) Luck by Chance (2008)

The music of Chandni Chowk to China was released on 2 December 2008. The album features composers as diverse as Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Kailash-Paresh-Naresh, Bappi Lahiri-Bappa Lahiri and Bohemia aka the Punjabi rapper.

Reception

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."^[24]

Tracks

The album consists of the following eight tracks:

Tracklist
No.	Title	Music	Artist(s)	Length
1.	"S.I.D.H.U"	Kailash Kher, Naresh, Paresh	Kailash Kher	5:04
2.	"Chandni Chowk To China"	Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy	Neeraj Shridhar, Anushka Manchanda, Shankar Mahadevan	4:26
3.	"India Se Aaya Tera Dost (Aap Ki Khatir)"	Bappi Lahiri	Bappi Lahiri, Ravi K Tripathi	6:29
4.	"Tera Naina"	Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy	Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal	4:18
5.	"Chak Lein De"	Kailash Kher, Naresh, Paresh	Kailash Kher	4:25
6.	"Chandni Chowk To China (CC2C)"	Bohemia	Bohemia, Akshay Kumar	3:44
7.	"Chandni Chowk To China (Remix)"	Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy	Dj Amyth	4:41
8.	"Chak Lein De (Remix)"	Kailash Kher, Naresh, Paresh	Dj Amyth	4:36

References

1. ^ BollywoodMovies.US: "Deepika Padukone in Bangkok", 24 March 2008]
2. ^ ^{a b c} NewsLine365.com: "Chandni Chowk to China shot mostly in Bangkok", no date
3. ^ Chhabra, Aseem, "From Bollywood to Chinatown: Warner Bros. teams with India for 'Chandni Chowk' martial-arts musical", Film Journal International, 14 January 2009
4. ^ Abid, Bollywood Trade News Network, "Mithun in Chandni Chowk to China?" via Naachgaana.com, 8 December 2007
5. ^ Indiantelevision.com, "Warner Bros to distribute Nikhil Advani's 'Made in China'", 21 August 2007
6. ^ Chandni Chowk to China crosses Rs 33 cr at local box office, The Economic Times, 20 January 2009
7. ^ Chandni Chowk To China Grosses 8.50 Crore Overseas, www.boxofficeindia.com, 20 January 2009
8. ^ BoxOfficeMojo.com: Chandni Chowk to China
9. ^ RottenTomatoes.com: Chandni Chowk to China
10. ^ Chandni Chowk to China. Metacritic
11. ^ Puig, Claudia, "'Chandni Chowk' takes meandering journey across Asia", USA Today, 16 January 2009
12. ^ Anderson, John. Chandni Chowk to China (review), Variety, 15 January 2009
13. ^ Lovece, Frank. Chandni Chowk to China (review), Newsday, 16 January 2009
14. ^ Rae, Steven (2009-01-16). "A 'Slumdog' this one surely is not". The Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/steven_rea/20090116_A__Slumdog__this_one_surely_is_not.html. 
15. ^ Tobias, Scott (2009-01-15). "Chandni Chowk To China". The Onion. http://www.avclub.com/articles/chandni-chowk-to-china,22420/. 
16. ^ Gleiberman, Owen. Chandni Chowk to China (review), Entertainment Weekly 14 January 2009
17. ^ Philips, Michael. "'Chandni Chowk to China': Bollywood hybrid fails to fly", Chicago Tribune, 21 January 2009
18. ^ Adarsh, Taran, Chandni Chowk To China (review), BollywoodHungama.com
19. ^ Masand, Rajeev. "Masand's Movie Review: Chandni Chowkasa misadventure IBNLive.com
20. ^ "Awards for Chandni Chowk to China (2009) which still remains a big question.". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1091229/awards. Retrieved 2009-02-25. 
21. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepal
22. ^ ^{a b} India is Buddha's birthplace in Chandnias, Nepal fumes, Daily News and Analysis, retrieved on 20 January 2009
23. ^ Chandni Chowk to China 'banned' in Nepal, The Economic Times, retrieved on 23 January 2009
24. ^ "bollywoodhungama.com". http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/musicreview/13650/index.html. Retrieved 6 December 2008. 

External links

• Official website
• Chandni Chowk to China at the Internet Movie Database