Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Chandni Chowk to China

Chandni Chowk To China, the first ever Bollywood Kungfu comedy takes you on a madcap Journey from the by-lanes of Chandni Chowk in Delhi, to Shanghai, the Great Wall and rural China, marrying in its wake hilarious gags, breathtaking action, spectacular locations, and heart stirring emotions.

A small village in China is terrorized by one cruel gang lord, Hojo (Gordon). Fed up of his tyrannies, the hapless villagers consult an astrologer who tells them that China’s most famous ancient warrior Liu Sheng has re-incarnated and he is the one who will kill Hojo. Two villagers go in the hunt of this re-born Liu Sheng which happens to be one staying in the famous Chandni Chowk of Delhi in India. This bloke Siddhu (Akshay) in real is anything but their warrior they are in the look out for. Working in a paratha shop, as a vegetable cutter, the portly Siddhu is forever chasing dreams of a luxurious life without wanting to do hard work to achieve it. His foster father, Dada (Mithun) is fed up of his lethargic ways and always tries to make him realize his hidden potential. The two Chinese villagers finally find Siddhu and with the help of a fraud Chinese astrologer Chopstick (Ranveer) manage to take him to their village in China. Chopstick too tags along as Siddhu’s translator. During the journey, Siddhu encounters Sakhi (Deepika) a popular model and falls for her instantly but soon his hopes come crashing as he comes across her lethal side of that of a thief. But little does he know that its not Sakhi but her long lost twin Suzie aka Meow Meow (Deepika again) whom he has got confused with. What happens when Siddhu arrives in the remote Chinese village and how Hojo reacts to his arrival and what it leads to forms the rest of the film!
There had been lots of expectations raised from the slick promos of the film but unfortunately, the film doesn’t really end up being the joy ride it promises to be.
Despite a good built up given to Hojo’s Kung Fu expertise and hopes raised about the one on one fight between him and Siddhu, the climax fight ends up being very short and disappointing.
The music of the film appears better when watching the songs onscreen as they have been very lavishly picturised, especially the title track.

Ghazini

How do you count eight packs? The question plagues you when you first come at Aamir Khan in his new movie. His rippling musculature has been all the focus, through the past month, in print, in TV, in hoardings. That, and the buzz cut, with deep scars running through, showing the scalp. This is an Aamir we haven’t seen before—fronting a frame filling physique, flaunting matter over

If you had 15 minutes of memory, what would you cram into that terrifyingly short span? The name of your loved one, your phone number, your home? If you were a regular joe, that’s exactly what you’d do, but if you are Aamir Khan in ‘Ghajini’, you would bulk up your body, tattoo the name of the man you need to kill, and smear your walls with violent graffiti.
Short term memory loss means you forget, everything, within a short span of time. And the moment you get back into the zone, re-building the pieces of your life, the clock starts ticking again, for the next meltdown. It’s a fascinating premise for a movie, and a few years ago, ‘Memento’, made by Christopher Nolan, gave us a unique hero who suffers from short haul amnesia, while he searches for his beloved’s killer.